Today was the day I had come for; the real Queens stage with 5,450m of climbing over 3 hors category climbs and 171km. It puts my effort into context, given that they will do twice the climb in about half the time that I took, plus 30 extra miles. Phenomenal.

I had a relaxing morning with a wander round, some breakfast and making the most of the WiFi at the Refuge. I left @10:30am. The staff were already setting up for a busy day serving food and drink and there was already a procession of cyclists riding up to the summit. 

Of course it was just like rolling out if bed for me, but I still had to stop 3 times in the 1km because I was breathless. Maybe I had underestimated the effects of the altitude. When I got to the top it was chaos. I definitely made the right decision to summit yesterday evening.

Somehow I managed to find a place sitting on a fence behind the hoarding opposite the summit. How long before they decide to wrap this into a tour or VIP package ? In the words of the song, ‘will anything ever be this good again’ ? What I didn’t know at the time is that I would be there for 4 hours before the riders actually came through. However, the time seemed to pass quite quickly and maybe I enjoyed the rest. 

Suddenly there was a large cheer and a young lad in a polkadot shirt appeared out of nowhere with his proud Dad. Whether he had cycled it all or just part of it I don’t know, but it was impressive. If I’d worked for social services then I might have had a moral obligation to ask a few questions but he seemed happy enough. He was 9 years old.

From 12noon the gendarmie cleared the summit and then they stopped people cycling from the north 100m short, so no summit photo for them. Then the main sponsors of the King of the Mountains competition handed out T shirts to eveyone for maximum publicity; it would have been rude not to take one. The Italian next to me described them as ‘more pyjamas’. And then the main publicite caravan procession started. I think that it is bigger than ever with sponsors wanting maximum publicity for their spend. While I do enjoy the whole experience, I do find the sustainability credentials if the event difficcult to accept with all these vehicles driving the length of the route (3,320km] and some, and all the hats, T shirts and key rings that are handed out which then probably just sit in a drawer.

As the time wore on the wind became stronger and there were a few drops of rain meaning that my waterproof covered up the sponsors T-shirt. They had also been giving out plastic capes, but I had drawn the line about taking one of those.

The first sign of the riders approaching is the sound of the hellicopters overhead which happened just before 3pm. First over the summit was King of the Mountains leader, Richard Carapaz from the Education First team. He was accompanied by Sepp Kuss from Visma-Lease a bike. There then followed a few individuals, including Ireland’s Ben Healy before the top 4 all came over together, Pogacar, Evenepoel, del Toro and Paul Seixas, France’s new big hope.

Unsurprisingly the peleton had splintered with all the climbing together and the previous 19 days of effort, so it was a great decision to see this stage.

Then after 30 minutes it was also over after ‘l’autobus’ came over the summit, aiming to finish inside the cut-off time.

The next challenge was to get off the mountain down to Valloire in the north as I still had 55 miles to do to get to my accommodation. ‘Le gendarmerie’ seemed to be directing people in different directions, but to be fair they soon got it sorted and soon I was freewheeling downhill.

At a few locations there large screens had been erected to see the stage, but unfortunately I still had a long way to go and couldn’t hang around.

Down in Valloire I stumbled across a straw sculpture exhibition with entries from all over Europe which was interesting.

I left Valloire on the route du Telegraph, which must, I presumed lead up to Le Col du Telegraph, a climb that I had missed in my planning. It was about 3.5 miles of gentle ascent which took me back up to 1,566m, which I managed before another 7 miles of steep descent to St Martin du Marrianne.

From then on I was following the flat and straight D1006 along the valley adjacent to a railway line, river and motorway for 30+ miles. While the adjacent mountains were impressive and the road surface and traffic good, it wasn’t the most interesting of rides and so I put on some music to pass the time.

I eventually arrived at Chez Antho in Betton-Bettonton @8:30pm after stopping to ask a few locals as I had lost my phone connection. Quite organised for me, knowing that the accommodation was remote and I would be arriving late, I had ordered a meal and that arrived promptly after I had showered; cold courgette soup, which was actually very nice, pork and potatoes and a sickly chocolate mouse, but I needed the calories.

So that was the end of the  day; one of extremes. Five hours of watching Le Tour and 5 hours of hard cycling, 60 miles. Seeing the stage on top of the Col du Galibier had been a fantastic experience. Le Tour must be the best freely available sports event worldwide.