Day 5
start: Guillaumes (793m)
trailhead: Bouchanières (1418m)
finish: St-Sauveur-sur-Tinée (500m)
riding distance: 39.22 km
on-bike height gain: 977m
on-bike height drop: 1954m
no. of timed "special stages": 4
highlight: long, winding, physical descent from Roure
Day five, regardless of what old timers at the Trans -Provence may think, turned out to be the favorite with riders so far. The combination of technical trails and the majority of climbing on roads gave the riders a little relief from the standard hike a bike and fire road climbs to the top.
First trail of the day, Special Stage Fifteen, definitely drops a long way but also has some hard pedaling sections combined with technical moves. To quote Chris Porter from Mojo "You need the trials skills of Danny Macaskill and the lungs of Indurain" We couldn't decide if that was a complement or not!
A long road climb with opportunities for coffee and cake at the top (which most seemed to take) led the riders in to Special Stage Sixteen, a woodland epic that finally saw them fire through arable fields before reaching the feed station.
Another long road col gradually wound the riders to Special Stage Three - a fast dusty trail that cuts along the edge of ravine and out and along a old road that leads to them through tiny villages and finally into a deep ravine which demands the only carry of the day!
Finally the village of Roure is reached and another of the classic Trans- Provence trails. Zig zagging across open hill side with a enormous sense of exposure on either your left or right depending on which way the trail was taking you held together with perfect switch back corners - faster and less technical than some of the other stages - it definitely has a bit more flow and speed to it.
A final uplift of the day saw competitors reach their camp for the night and much needed rest for day six, the only day that compares to day two in terms of duration.
Day Five results Overall Place Dos Surname First Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Total Time
01 12 CLEMENTZ Jerome 00:28: 00:30: 00:27: 00:38: 00:24: 02:28:
02 35 VOUILLOZ Nicolas 00:28: 00:30: 00:27: 00:39: 00:23: 02:29:
03 06 BAREL Fabien 00:30: 00:30: 00:28: 00:38: 00:24: 02:32:
04 25 WEIR Mark 00:28: 00:30: 00:26: 00:39: 00:30: 02:35:
05 36 RYAN Matt 00:29: 00:32: 00:27: 00:41: 00:26: 02:36:
06 27 BEAUMONT Marc 00:30: 00:33: 00:32: 00:41: 00:25: 02:43:
07 30 SORRELL Rowan 00:32: 00:31: 00:30: 00:43: 00:27: 02:45:
08 20 RICHARDS James 00:33: 00:34: 00:30: 00:44: 00:28: 02:52:
09 32 JONES Steve 00:31: 00:34: 00:32: 00:46: 00:29: 02:54:
10 33 KIRKMAN Mick 00:34: 00:34: 00:32: 00:47: 00:27: 02:56:
11 24 MARTIN Sven 00:37: 00:33: 00:33: 00:45: 00:27: 02:57:
12 01 KIENAST Pascal 00:37: 00:35: 00:31: 00:45: 00:29: 02:59:
13 56 MATHEWS Iain 00:35: 00:39: 00:31: 00:44: 00:29: 03:00:
14 38 GRAVERSE Tim 00:34: 00:37: 00:32: 00:48: 00:29: 03:02:
15 18 MCLEAN Neil 00:35: 00:38: 00:33: 00:47: 00:30: 03:05:
16 42 BROOKES Rob 00:35: 00:35: 00:32: 00:51: 00:29: 03:05:
17 19 MOSELEY Tracy 00:38: 00:36: 00:34: 00:49: 00:29: 03:07:
18 41 HARPER Kevin 00:37: 00:36: 00:34: 00:45: 00:33: 03:07:
19 34 HESTLER Andreas 00:31: 00:43: 00:30: 00:43: 00:42: 03:10:
20 23 MARTIN Anka 00:39: 00:41: 00:35: 00:51: 00:32: 03:21:
Be back with you shortly with day six and guest editor Steve Jones !
