After yesterday’s heat I was even more motivated to set off early and was on the road by 05:50. Just the one big climb today, but almost 2000m of ascent starting only a few kilometres out of Bourg. It was cool, very pleasant, the road is big and wide and felt pretty flat winding up out of the valley. Legs felt surprisingly okay and I trundled steadily up past the resorts of Tignes, through some tunnels beside the lake and into Val D’Isere. This was only half way up but I wanted to treat this as two climbs of 1000m rather than one big one, so deliberately took a decent break in Val D’Isere for a coffee, a pain au chocolat and some photos of the resort in its summer plumage.
Out of Val D’Isere is the Col de L’Iseran climb proper, going up the valley before winding in open switchbacks up to the tops of the resort lifts before snaking its way to the Col. Again this felt good, I’ve started taking a little spin out of the saddle every time I pass a kilometer marker which helps pass the time and keep the legs loose. Not many people on the climb, I got passed by one guy early on then repassed him on a flatter section and didn’t see him again. Further up I stopped for a photo and had someone close behind me when I set off, thought he was going to pass me but he didn’t and eventually dropped back. Then a Jumbo Visma team car passed me, followed by 7 riders in full Jumbo kit who I assume are in their team but obviously not racing the Tour!
Rolled on up to the top and took a photo, chatted with some Austrian bikers who were heading the direction as me and then started down the other side.
The first section of the descent was pretty steep between the bends, I was on the brakes a lot, feeling like my back brake wasn’t pulling hard enough so I had to adjust that later on. It’s the first time on the trip I’ve felt like I didn’t have enough braking power, obviously with me being >95kg, plus maybe 7kg of baggage it’s a lot to stop so I’m just being careful not to ride the brakes, carry speed when it’s safe and let the air slow me down etc. Stunning views though.
From the top of the Iseran I had maybe 90km of riding downhill with barely a meter of climbing, which feels ridiculous to me, the scale of this place is something else. Having got down the steep bit off the pass though I found a stiff headwind so where I might have hoped to be cruising easily down false flats at 35kph actually it felt more like riding in still air on the flat. There were some nice sections of steeper, technical descending from time to time though, and I started to feel more comfortable dropping the bike into the bends, nice to feel some of the things I learned in Calpe earlier in the year coming back to me.
Stopped for some lunch, the heat was really intense when I set off again, sat on with a group of three bikepackers for a while and picked up another friend later on who was happy for me to draft him for a while down the valley, which was getting less scenic and pretty choked up with the river, the road, the railway, a motorway and lots of industry all hemmed in by the rock either side, but soon enough I arrived at the foot of the Telegraphe, which is my route out in a couple of days.
Took a break and took on some water before carrying on down the valley. I’d planned the Lacets de Montvernier as an optional finisher for today and I decided to carry on and do it rather than turn off early for the hotel.
So glad I did — in height it’s a little baby by comparison with most of the other climbs I’m tackling, but it’s also absolutely bonkers, jammed into a steep gully between two rocky outcrops, it climbs almost vertically on tightly laced hairpins. I took it really easy, stopped for lots of photos and to wonder at the crazy people who decided to build it, then descended down the much more sensible new road.
