Fortunate enough to have been to four of the climbs in
today's race, I’ll be looking forward even more to watching the latter part
of the stage on SBS tonight.
Here’s an extract from my latest book, High Spain Drifter, which
describes my thoughts of my solo climb over the Port de Balès, albeit when I left from
Bagnères de Luchon. (Today, like on almost all occasions, the climb starts
from Mauléon-Barousse).
... Located between the Barousse and Oueil
valleys, the only access to the pass known as the ‘Port de Balès’, prior to the
1980s, was a solitary 4-wheel-drive track from the north. A few years later,
another track was built from the opposite direction, from the tiny hamlet of
Bourg-d'Oueil. However, neither route was accessible for conventional vehicles or
road bikes.
Though slightly shorter in length, the
favoured route in all five races was from Mauléon-Barousse. An imposing climb through rugged mountain terrain,
it is otherwise a road less travelled, save for cycling enthusiasts and the
carnival-type atmosphere of the Grand Tours, which seem to be making the climb
a biennial event.
Undoubtedly the most controversial incident
in the climb’s short history was in Stage 15 of the 2010 Tour de France,
finishing in Luchon. The spa town’s streets were electric as popular French
national champion Tommy Voeckler came first across the line. But the real
theatre of the race had occurred 20 kilometres earlier, when Luxembourg cyclist
Andy Schleck had dropped his chain on the ascent of the Port de Balès.
Holding an overnight lead of 31 seconds over
Alberto Contador, Schleck’s chain came off while he was launching an attack on
the leading bunch of riders, which included the Spaniard. Perhaps uncertain of
their opponent’s plight – though Contador was shown glancing back at his adversary
as he fumbled with the chain – the other race leaders, Denis Menchov and Sammy
Sanchez, continued their battle up the remaining 3 kilometres of the climb.
Newspapers later reported that the Luxembourg
rider seemed infuriated that he was back wearing the white jersey – for the best-placed
rider aged 25 or under – instead of the yellow. Schleck’s accusative words,
‘For sure these guys don’t get the fair play prize today’, referring to not
only Contador but the other two riders who went with him, seemed a clear
indication that this was indeed how he felt.
By the time the Tour reached Paris, Contador
was ahead of Schleck, the runner-up, by the same margin, 39 seconds. Rather ironically, though some would say that
karma finds its own way, the Spaniard was stripped of his title 2 years later,
for use of a banned substance, Clenbuterol. In May of the same year, Schleck
was, fittingly, awarded the yellow jersey in his own country, prior to the Tour
de Luxembourg. Stating that it was something of a hollow victory for him, it’s
just another solemn reminder of how many titles have been left vacant when
supposed cycling heroes have later been proven to be drug cheats...
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