Col du Tourmalet

So he in the moment is going to be somebody that's going to override that.

But for somebody who has invested in once in every couple of years cycling holiday and they're going up to Tourmalet wanting to do their best.

And if they're just number driven and they see a number, I don't want to go over that, but they're like, let's say their training is outstripped.

that number.

But it's one of those things you sort of look at, well, this might help, this might help, this might help.

And over time, until I sort of had hit this plateau where, based on sort of numbers, the time, the effort that I put in, felt like I should be doing better.

And this gets back to sort of the, whether you want to call it sports psychology, sports performance, how much enjoyment impacts and listening to your body does versus overanalyzing a number was, and I talk about my sort of moment on the backside of the Col de Tourmalet this summer, I'm like, you know, I'm just turning the screen off.

I just put the map on and on my map screen on my Garmin, there's nothing on there but the little arrow.

Like, we saw it in other races, but...

Did Sykes drop him on Tourmalet?

You know what I mean, right? No, no,

like...

It's a close discussion.

Is it time trial that got Remco that big buffer?

I can't remember what happened on Tourmalet.

I think Sykes dropped him.

That one has 5,400 meters of climbing over 174 Ks.

So that day, they're going to tackle the Col de Soulon, the Col de Tourmalet, Orquête d'Encison, and then the finish atop the Col de Portée, which is over 2,200 meters above sea level, the highest point on next year's route.

That one actually ranks amongst the hardest mountain stages of the race over the last decade.

The following day is not a mountaintop finish, but there are three very tough climbs culminating in the Côte de Marie Blanc, which is almost eight kilometers at 8.6%.

many, many times, although in recent years, since Christian's taken over, they have more.

So he's very much about, you know, last year we celebrated the Alpe d'Huez and there's many years where we celebrate the Tourmalet.

But he also wants to celebrate new climbs or climbs that weren't so well known, like the Goncourt-en-Vie, like the Code La Lose last year, which we've done now, what, three times, I think, in the last 10 years.

So I think part of this is also his desire to create new dreams, I guess, and show the country off in different ways as well.

And we've got a basically a batshit crazy Queen stage, as of our stage 18, from pole to the Col du Porté.

We've got the Col du Salou, we've got the Tourmalet, we've got the Hurchette d'Ancisson, and then a finale on the Porté itself.

Opening question, has the ASO given Rem Cuevna pole an actual... route to winning the tour or just a better chance of getting into the mountains in the yellow jersey a

fighting chance I think I don't think there's quite as much time trialling as there was when in 2012 which was weighted to but it was part of the tour story that Bradley Wiggins would win I still maintain that it was part of the show it was 2012's it was right and he was at his zenith

And if we look at the elevation meters, even before that, you have everyone's favorite climb, which it doesn't need any introduction in the Tour de France if you watch the Tour de France.

the Golden Tourmalet, which is a monster.

It was a scene of Pogacar.

I would even

say the Soulard is not to be underestimated, but of

course, the Tourmalet is a different beast.

Yeah, I mean, but that's basically it.

It's your warm-up.

Is it two, three HCs?

We got the Col de Soulon, Tourmalet, the Orquête, Don Cezanne, Don Cezanne, And then the Cote d'Ivoire, that's probably three, if not four.

Yeah,

the

stage.

This has the Souvenir Jacques Corée on the Tourmalet and the Souvenir Henri Degrange, same stage.

16k is 9% to 2200m.

That's pretty hard.