The full "La Morzine" report!

Weather was far from perfect on raceday. I was out on the bike with my personal "Chaperonnette" Delphine (thanks again!;-)) at 7 (one hour before the start). Rain, 7 degrees. Far from the perfect conditions to tackle the Joux Verte immediately after the start, but the circumstances are the same for everyone right?

 Well, I had the impression my legs were about to cramp up when I rode past Delphine after 2 to 300 meters of climbing while trying to close the gap to the first group.

 I briefly touched the back of the front goup on a descending part of the climb, but had to let go and find my own rhythm on the next uphill section. We reached the top (where it was around 5° and raining again) with a group of 5 to 6.


After a short flat section, we found ourself on the climb to the col du Corbier. An Italian rider (well, I think he was Italian since he had a cycling bib from Bergamo), "costaux" but very strong, and myself set out the pace, and slowly but surely we left the others behind. The following descent (very dangerous because of the gravel left by the roadworkers some days before, luckely the event organizers warned us at the start), allowed the others to come back, but on the slopes of the next climb (Col du Grand Taillet), we left them behind again.
On the following descent, I caught up with 3 riders, one of them was Arno Van Helvoort (world-famous cyclosportive blogger/rider (amongst others riders that is;-)), which I had sent a brief mail prior to the event, since his program of sportives matches mine). He did make it into the first group, but was left behind on the Corbier and waited from the next group to catch up on him. As I had anticipated from previous results, we were at about the same level. I was glad to know I was riding with someone with experience on what was to come...

Next up was the short but steep climb to La Vernaz, where the first food stop was, and where Delphine would be waiting the first time.

Again, I made it to the top first with the Italian guy, followed closely by Arno and another rider. Delphine did a great job in giving me a fresh bottle of Isostar, and encouraging me. She offered me some more food as well, but I refused. Bad idea...

Since most of the other riders had to stop for the "ravitaillement", Arno, myself and another rider found ourselves climbing to the top of the Col de Jambaz at a rather easy pace, set out by Arno mostly, but still, I started to suffer... Near the top of the Jambaz, a group of around 10 to 15 riders caught up on us, also containing most of the riders I had already left behind. The Bergao-Man was back after a foodstop as well.

I knew that the Joux Plane (final climb, then just downhill back into the finish line at Morzine) was a hard climb, so I tried not to waste too many powers, but I slowly but surely started to feel hungry. Why on earth didn't I take any food from Delphine when she offered it?! I felt very good at the time, and underestimated the distance of this sportive (compared to les 3 Ballons). So, I resorted to my "grand-finale" liquid gell-foods (waaaay to early of course, but I needed it!). However, my sensations on the bike only got worse. I started to get really scared from what lied in front (the "Beast" aka Joux Pane), and when our group nearly fell apart on the way to Samoëns (where the Joux Plane starts), I decided to gamble, stay at the back and not waste anymore of the few powers I had left. Delphine would be waiting at the start of the climb, hopefully it wouldn't be too late to add a bit of fuel to my tank and be able to ride a good Joux Plane climb....By the way, all this time the Bergamo guy kept on determining the pace in our group. Very strong rider!!!

Anyhow, upon arrival in Samoëns, I saw the fluo-green bag I had given to Delphine from far away on a long (slightly uphill) stretch heading to the foot of the Joux Plane. She had everything ready, and I immediately asked for more water, grabbed the honeybread out of her hands (at a 25km/h speed, it was like she had done it before!;-)) and asked for more food. Strangely enough, I almost immediately felt better after having eaten a bit. I knew that from now on Delphine would be close behind, and this mere fact together with the constant food & drink supply made me believe in a good result again. On the Joux Plance, 3 or 4 riders took off quite fast (as Delphine so nicely put it, the group fell apart almost instantly, and on this hard climb, it was every man for himself). Only some very lucky ones had up-close support;-). One of those riders that rode way was the Bergamo Man (agian, tons of respect for him!). I didn't really have another choice but to look for a pace of my own, and as long as the gradient stayed behind 8%, it went alright, but I found myself suffering bigtime and struggling not to do a "Parkeggio" when the gradient went up. Arno passed me with 20K to the finish to go, and we wished eachother good luck. I was passed by 2 more riders I think, but caught up on 2 others as well, and I think I made it to the top as 5th or 6h from my group. However, near the top, I recognized Arno's outfit, and noticed that he was suffering bigtime and riding slower than I was....


When almost at the top, I accelerated a bit, and saw another rider quite closely in front of me. I decided I wasn't going to let the descent make their legs feel better again (since it would be hard to ride away from them on the descent), so I shifted up and rode like crazy on the nearly flat road near the lake at the top.

I caught up on Arno and the other rider. Arno immediately had to let go on the following short uphill section, but the other rider didn't. However, on this technical (but still very fast) descent, I didn't reall have any trouble to leave him behind as well. I rode into Morzine all alone, 2 more turns, and I passed the finish line. Happy with my performance (as usual, when I know I gave it my all, but also knowing that the steep uphill sections need to go a lot better when it's "Honesty Tour" time mid-August)), and happy as well to notice Martin Van Oostende waiting for me (an old friend, from my early days as a sportive-rider, a very good rider himself, that battles it out for the win at some sportives and in general classifications on "trophées" all over France. Due in part to the bad weather conditions however, he decided not to start in Morzine. Hopefully we can ride together in La Vaujany next week!).

I finsihed 45th overall, and 10th in my age category. Since I already participated in les 3 Ballons as well, I am currently ranked 11th in my age category in the Grand trophée, nice to see, but I figure this is just because there aren't many riders that rode both events. Still, I'm curious to see where I end up in the overall classification at the end of the season, and perhaps, who knows, in the future I might decide to ride the entire "Grand Trophée"...

Anyway, the pasta afterwards was great (I shared it with proud supporter Delphine), and after a brief after-race chat with Martin and Arno, we loaded the car and set course to Nice! See you in one week in Vaujany! Bye for now!


Below are some pictures Delphine took of me suffering on the Joux Plane. Enjoy!;-)