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Quite a different day to yesterday. Low cloud and bordering on cold.
It is at this point that the day started to go awry. The start of the climb was 500 metres from here but the Etape du Tour was on that day and the rode up to Col de l'Abisque was closed for that ride.
The Etape is the Alpine Classic ( the hardest one day ride on Victoria) on steroids.
The course is the hardest day of Le Tour set aside for thousands of recreational cyclists. The we're riding the course set aside for 18 July.
So what were we to do?
That debate lasted 20 minutes and finished up with 2 alternatives. The Hautacam or Cauterets and the climb to Pont d'Espagne.
I chose the latter as I did not think my legs were up to the Hautacam with the advised 17% gradients. Have since checked the profile. It was a 17K climb at a 6.8% average. Do not think my legs would have had that in me even without 17% gradients.
Cauterets is a spa town, a ski resort and a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.
Pont d'Espagne is a brick-built bridge that spans the Gave de Marcadau at the point where it meets the Gave de Gaube, near one of its sources high in the French Pyrenees.
The Pont d'Espagne is at an altitude of approx 1500m. The name translates as Spanish Bridge. There is a car park nearby and it is possible to get to Lac de Gaube by ski lift. The nearest towns are Cauterets and Lourdes.
Our climb was roughly 16K climbing 1100 metres. Because of the conditions the higher you got the colder and wetter it got. One 15% pinch about 1.5K from the top.
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