Hot day - cool Gelato

Stage 5 - Sexten to Falcade.

Today promised to be a really tough day: 130km, 3200m of climbing and hot weather. Yes, it was hot and it was hard. Today was the worst day for me so far. My legs were fine but the stage had a long middle section with rolling hills and strong winds - stuff that my body is not made for.

It seemed that we lost a lot of time initially due to me not being able to hang on during the flat sections. The micro accelerations and bursts are just not possible anymore. But once we got to the first really big climb (Passo Cibiana) I found my rythm and we made solid ground. The second climb (Passo Staulanza) was even better. It got hot, though, and we almost ran out of water.

Once we reached the top, we had a looong downhill section. Adnan did an amazing job setting the tempo downhill and we overtook many teams on this section. We were just flying. He is an extremely good descender and it is fund to ride on his wheel. It feels really safe since he always chooses the best line.

Once we reached the bottom with about 8km to go we reached the final climb of the day. It was really hot by that time. We pulled all our strength together and I actually managed to dig so deep that I put out my 20 minute best wattage of this Tour so far. Granted we have been riding to conserve energy but at this point it is difficult to mobilize reserves. Just to put this into perspective: In my training rides I put out around 280-290 watts for 40-45 minutes. On any of the climbs here we are averging 230-240. Can't do more and we are still overtaking many people. On the last climb today, I put out 275 watts for 25 minutes. That was pretty decent. But we were cross-eyed by the time we reached the finish line.

The hotel we are staying in is great. We met some fellow riders which was fun. Also, Matthias Kessler - the doped T-Mobile rider - is staying here. He seems like a nice guy and he is riding the Tour for training. We actually arrived only 18 minutes behind him....must have had a bad day.

In terms of stats of the day: Rank 109, Kcal 3900

Tomorrow is the last mountain stage. Yeehhawww