13. Clermont-Ferrand - Vernaison

Sunday 9 June 2013

174 km

Elevation gain 1,921m

Riding Time 6 hrs 55 mins

Average Speed 25.2 km/h







Equals the longest stage of the Tour (Velaux-Montpellier), but with very different terrain and weather conditions ! Despite the amount of climbing today, the average speed was higher than on the flat stage through the Camargue when the wind was so strong. Patrick P - t'aurais beaucoup apprécié cette étape dans ton pays !!



Après Prés Hollande's Tulle, La Maison Blanche !

I set off from the Europe Hotel in Clermont Ferrand at 9.30am and had to take the ring road to head eastwards because the town centre was sealed off for a semi-marathon. Many road works are ongoing in Clermont and the road surfaces are really bumpy - this is when my Specialized Roubaix bike with inserts in the forks makes riding that bit more comfortable. Once my GPS had got me on track I made good progress on the relatively flat 40 km stretch to Thiers. The weather was good until this point, but grey clouds were gathering above the mountains.

La ville de Thiers

I then climbed through Thiers and had to take cover from a first rain shower - in the Huit à 8 at Chabreloche (where I had a nice chat with rugby player Patrick - an AS Montferrand rugby fan). In the rain the temperature fell to below 15 degrees, but later on rose back up to 27 degrees on the flat stretch between Boen and Feurs.


Avec Patrick devant le Huit à 8 

The steep climb up to Duerne (35 km from my destination) was where the thunderstorm caught me - I had to take cover under a tree for 20 minutes (see video on Facebook). When the rain eased a bit I decided to get moving again, but too early as it turned out - a further downpour ensured I would not escape a cold shower !

After close to 7 hrs riding time I was happy to arrive at Stéphane and Bénédicte's place in Vernaison. Stéphane is a physiotherapist and treated my stiff legs to a very welcome massage :-)