Galibier - the Ascent!

It was an 8am start:

THE PLAN = get to the top or as close to the top of the Col du Galibier before the road closed at 12:30pm. We made good time, even with a petrol and quick supermarket stop for lunch supplies (and we were told the road would be closed until 8:00pm so we got dinner too).

Mulder with the Aussie flag all ready to go!



Street decorations in Briancon

There were 100’s if not 1000’s of amateur cyclists of all shapes and sizes on the roads as well as lots of campervans or camping cars as the French call them.

The backsides of some cyclists along the way up the mountain

Unfortunately due to this we only made it to the last village in the valley Le Monetier les bains, still about 25km before the summit of Col du Galibier. From here the only option was walking.

25ks - as far as Mulder was allowed to go

Getting closer to the top... slowly on foot

With our packed lunch we started trekking up the mountain.

Dave, the flag, the view

Welcome to the alps!

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We found a spot at around 20ks to go (knowing that the further we went, the further we’d have to come back) and climbed up an embankment to sit on the grassy hillside for lunch and a little snooze. We had to wait most of the day on the mountain and let me tell you it was freezing. The day was sunny but the wind-chill was hard to take.

I love this cold weather - cant you tell?

Some Crazy fans sporting an alternate yellow and spotted "jersey"

Dave made a cape of the Aussie flag and was wearing it when some campers saw him and started waving and holding up a “Go Cadel” sign. We went over for a chat and expecting fellow Aussies and found out they were Belgians who had toured Australia 4 years ago and fell in love with it. As a result their favourite rider in the tour was Cadel! Their names were Monique and Bart and they invited us into their massive camper out of the wind for beer, wine and to watch the Tour on their satellite TV – Luxury! Dave was introduced to “the BEST Belgian Beer” by Bart, who then told him it was “quite heavy” – turns out it was 9%. We chatted until the riders were about 5kms away and then jumped out to watch. At that time Cadel was in a 2^nd pack about 4mins from the lead group containing Andy Schlek.

Dave with Monique and Bart - Go Cadel!

The Schleks attacking the Lauraret

Dave getting in on the action - pity he didnt push the Schleks off their bikes...

We got some great pics with Dave providing encouraging words as the riders climbed the mountain. Once they had all passed we jumped back in Bart and Monique’s van and watched the finish back on TV again. It was very fortunate to have met them and made the wait so much more pleasant!

PS we didn’t get stuck on the mountain until 8:00pm we pretty much walked 5ks back to the van and drove back to Briancon – easy peasy!