Tour de France - Etape 5 (Pau to Laruns - 163km, 3,500m)

This is the Road to Hell... (mountain edition)

Mountains are most definitely for admiring from afar, or skiing down - whoever thought cycling up them was a good idea, was obviously masochistic.

The numbers describing the climbs do not do them justice at all.

• Col du Soudet is 15.2km long at an average gradient of 7.2%

• Col du Marie Blanque a mere 7.7km at an average 8.6%

The Soudet was longer, but had a slightly lower gradient - although the official technical term is that they were both bloomin' steep.

I've learnt it is required to take a photo with the Col sign so here I am rocking the Altus kit - even did a bit of upselling for someone who owns some commercial property!!

After all that climbing the mist had come in - so no scenic views.

So all in all a great day, super tough off the back of the previous 4 days, especially with the mountains; I felt strong and finished with something left in the tank for tomorrow, but the cumulative fatigue is building up - I know it is their job, but have no idea how the pros do the speeds they can - I hit about 70kmph on the descent and that was plenty fast enough.

Tomorrow has 3 mountains to go over which are slightly more famous:

1. Col d'Aspin (5.6km @ 4.8%)

2. Col du Tourmalet (17.1km @ 7.7%)

3. Cauterets-Cambasque (16km @ 5.4%)

I can't believe that 5 stages have been completed successfully so far - still a long way to go, but feeling confident that my endurance is getting stronger.

The support, encouragement and interest has been amazing - thank you.

Big shout out to the Altus Paris team - I'll let you know in the next couple of days what is happening around Paris - would be amzing if I got to see you guys.

À demain

Griff