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The Lindsay Crawford diary
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65 year-old former airline pilot Lindsay Crawford is one of the few Americans to ever win their category in L'Etape du Tour, a mass participation event that follows a stage route of the Tour de France.
With the 2007 Tour route announced, this Northern California rider, who has been having fun riding his bike for over 50 years, is ready to take another shot at the title. Cyclingnews will be with Lindsay as he prepares, participates and gives post-mortems on one of the world's biggest cycling events.
January 5, 2007
Time to think about L'Etape du Tour 2007
It's been over six months since L'Etape du Tour 2006 and with the route announcement October 26, it's time to plan for 2007 - Foix-Loudenvielle to Le Louron over 196km. L'Etape will be run Monday, July 18, 2007, one week before the Tour de France tackles Stage 15 on July 23 over the same route. So here's my take on the route.
The start of L'Etape '07 in Foix will be similar to that in 2002. At the start in Aime, there is not much more then 10km of very slight uphill until the start of the climb up to Col de Port.
At least this time, the two lane road of the ascent is a little wider and not as steep as the Cormet de Roseland was in 'the '02 edition. If your start number is fairly high numerically at L'Etape '07, don't be surprised if you have to put your foot down occasionally due to the traffic jam of riders on this first ascent of Col de Port. But not to worry, the last two climbs of L'Etape '07 are where fitness will come into play.
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After 27km the summit of the Col de Port (11.4km climb / avg. grade: 5.3%), there's not a very technical descent through Massat and the beautiful Gorges de Ribaouto into St Girons. If it's a hot and humid day, as is usual in July in the Pyrenees, there will be welcome relief from the trees and the Arac river.
The L'Etape '07 then passes through St. Girons, the former home of Sunn Bicycles, where there is now an annual ride in honor of Fabio Casartelli's death in the 1995 Tour de France, then up and over climb #2 at the 98km mark, the Col de Portet d'Aspet (5.7km climb / avg. grade: 6.9%). After a short descent, the climbing starts immediately on the steep Col de Menté with pitches of up to 12%. On 9 July 1971, Luis Ocaña was descending toward Luchon in a torrential downpour when he lost control on a curve (his brakes didn't work) and crashed out of the Tour de France in the maillot jaune when he had a nine minute lead over Eddy Merckx.
Several tight switchbacks on the descent of the Col de Menté and then there's a respite riding north to start the southbound climb over Port de Bales at Mauléon-Barousse after 140km of riding, with two cols still to climb.
In 2003, I rode over the long and difficult Port de Balès climb when it was only paved to the top. The descent was in poor condition with dirt and rocks for about 6km until it returned to pavement and the Vallée d'Oueil to join the D618 road, above Bagneres-de-Luchon, for the final climb of the day over the Col de Peyresourde. With the summit coming after 159km, the long Port de Balès (19.2km climb / avg. grade: 6.2%) gets steeper towards the top with 8-15% gradients over the last 10km. ASO reports the road over Port de Balès is a newly paved link connecting Foret de Barousse and Vallée d'Oueil.
Next is the final ascent, the Col de Peyresourde (9.7km climb / avg. grade: 7.8%) that is a moderate ascent but with the summit situated after 184km, it will be a true test for L'Etape '07 riders. After topping the Peyresourde, it's a fast descent down to Loudenvielle (watch out for the sharp left turn that Der Kaiser Ullrich overshot on Stage 13 of the 2001 Tour de France) and the arrivée of another L'Etape du Tour.
Thierry Gouvenou of ASO, a former pro rider and works as a "regalateur" for race caravan traffic says: "This parcours has five climbs, including the new and unknown to the Tour Port de Balès climb. It's a nervous course on mostly small roads and is perfect for climbers."
So my training for the 2007 L'Etape du Tour has started and I am considering entering a few more cyclo sportives next year, including ASO's new event, the Etape de Legende. Updates on my training for L'Etape will be posted periodically.
Thanks for reading.
A bientôt,
Lindsay Crawford
