<p>And so came Friday, 22nd of July, the day we had planned for the toughest stage of all. The plan was simple, cycle along the Maurienne Valley, climb Col de T&eacute;l&eacute;graph, Col du Galibier, race down Galibier and Lautarets and finish by getting as high up Alpe D&acute;Huez as the huge crowds allow (more than 400,000 spectators were expected on the mountain that day). Then, crawl up to V&eacute;nosc any which way we can and grab the telecabine up to Les 2 Alpes.</p> <p>We were worried about the organizers closing Galibier early, as they had done the previous day, which would have been a disaster, keeping us the wrong side of the mountain range and stopping us from getting back, so, with just 4.30 hours sleep, our alarm went off at 5.45. Slip into our cycling gear, grab some quick breakfast (our amazing hosts at Lancheton got up in the morning to serve it, after giving us dinner the previous night out of hours already!) and start pedalling.</p> <p>500 m into the planned 130 kms, Chema decided to make our Tour more realistic and similar to the pro one. He started drinking out of his bottle, whilst holding the handlebars one handed (front brake hand to boot) and then attempted to unnecessarily avoid a manhole. I put it down to lack of sleep and a significant degree of exhaustion, but the result was spectacular! Front flip in the air, land on his back, with bike crashing down on his head. Kids, wear your helmets! Had Chema not been wearing his, his Tour de France would have ended right there. And ours too. Amazingly, with some bad bruises, many scratches, a sprained wrist and a much more awake disposition, Chema was able to continue.</p> <p>We went bit by bit to St Michelle du Maurienne, where the T&eacute;l&eacute;graph climb starts. The T&eacute;l&eacute;graph is a beautiful mountain, very different in character to others in the Alps, as it is covered in forests. It is still a hard climb, though, 12 kms at 7.4% average, with ramps of around 10%. Carlos climbed it in 1.08 hrs, with Chema taking the same time and Nacho and I coming in less than 2 mins later. A quick 4 km descent to Valloire and the real challenge started immediately (after a quick pitstop for croissants and Coca Cola, keep the sugar up, baby!). The T&eacute;l&eacute;graph is actually part of the climb to Galibier, 37kms in total, at demanding percentages (Galibier, for the last 16kms, is again around 7%, with the last 9kms at 8% with ramps of up to 13%-14%, a real monster). The objective was to get to the summit by 11.30am, which we reckoned would be safe to get through. They all made it apart from me, I lost 28 min on the Galibier climb with Chema, 22 with Carlos and 15 with Nacho, getting to the summit at 11.40, after 4.20 min of riding. The climb to Galibier took me just under 2hrs. The last km &nbsp;is amazing, 14% for the first 500m, with a chasm on the right of the road which looks pretty inviting at times! Despite my delay, we still got through, and started the massive descent to Bourg d&acute;Oissans, a drop of nearly 2,000m in height. On the way down to La Grave I raced some Tour cars, a few motorbikes and several tourists cars, and proved once again that in those roads the bike is king! We had an excellent lunch at La Grave (really pretty mountain village with spectacular views, some excellent restaurants and great walking on the glaciers) and then proceeded to race a group of Italians all the way down to Freney, where they realized Spaniards are stronger and gave up the ghost ;-) We completed the descent and then, disappointment (or so we pretended). Alpe D&acute;Huez totally closed, no chance to get on the mountain! After 5 hrs 40 min on the bike at our racing pace, we had to get into a bar to watch the stage and drown our sorrows in Leffe Blonde. The atmosphere was fantastic, more than 100 cyclists watching the stage in the bar we chose, and it is very interesting and special to watch Contador, Schleck, Evans et al taking on the same mountains we have just gone through. Their battle on the descent resembled our scuffle with the Italian riders!</p> <p>After watching the Frenchman Rolland beat Sanchez and Contador at Alpe D&acute;Huez, we got on our bikes, rode to V&eacute;nosc, took the telecabine, went for a shower and reconvened for an alpine dinnerof fondue, pates, steaks and local red. A fitting celebration for the end of our Alpine exertions. The next day, still 78 kms to Grenoble, but all downhill.</p> <p>Looking back, there were many special moments in the Tour, that hot chocolate at Alpe D&acute;Huez, soaked to the bone, both Galibier climbs and their breathtaking open views combined with the lack of oxygen and the pain of the continuous, unrelenting climb, the huge descent from Croix de Fer, in near freezing temperatures and getting close to 90 km/h, the atmosphere in the cycling bar on the last day, the encouragement we got from spectators waiting for the main race, the beautiful views and the very satisfying feeling of having climbed a 2,645m high mountain on your bicycle. Twice! We will be back next year, although it may be the Pirennees. We were missing the mountains already!</p> <p>To read reports on previous days go to:</p> <p><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px;"> </span></p> <p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; line-height: 19px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Day 1 go to:&nbsp;<a style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: #2a42c6; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" href="http://www.justgiving.com/Santi-Dominguez-Vivero-TDFDay1">http://www.justgiving.com/Santi-Dominguez-Vivero-TDFDay1</a></p> <p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; line-height: 19px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Day 2 go to:&nbsp;<a style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: #2a42c6; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" href="http://www.justgiving.com/Santi-Dominguez-Vivero-TDFDay2">http://www.justgiving.com/Santi-Dominguez-Vivero-TDFDay2</a></p> <p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; line-height: 19px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Day 3 go to:&nbsp;<a style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: #2a42c6; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" href="http://www.justgiving.com/Santi-Dominguez-Vivero-TDFDay3F">http://www.justgiving.com/Santi-Dominguez-Vivero-TDFDay3F</a></p> <p>Day 4 go to:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Santi-Dominguez-Vivero-TDF2011Day4">http://www.justgiving.com/Santi-Dominguez-Vivero-TDF2011Day4</a><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px;"> </span></p> <p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; line-height: 19px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; line-height: 19px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Over the next couple of days I will publish the final instalment, the road down to Grenoble and the trip back.</p> <p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; line-height: 19px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">To donate to my charities, go to:&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><a style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; color: #2a42c6; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" href="http://www.justgiving.com/teams/santitdfcustmf/">http://www.justgiving.com/teams/santitdfcustmf/</a></span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px;"> </span></p> <p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; line-height: 19px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>