The harshness of the desert
12 August, third stage.
It’s been a very rough night, apparently. I slept like a log: thanks to Javi’s wise advice, I never travel without earplugs. When I wake up in the morning I find the tent shaking like mad and full of sand. There’s sand in my clothes, in my sleeping bag… I come out of the tent wrapped up to my eyes and see the organisation’s staff struggling to hold down the marquees. We’re in the middle of an incredible sandstorm, I’d never seen anything like it. It seems clear that the stage can’t go ahead, at least not in full, and we see the organisation sensibly decide to cancel it. Rest day.
13 August, fourth stage.
The storm hasn’t let up, the wind won’t give us a break. The organisation decides to shorten today’s stage, cutting the flat first part and racing only the final section, up in the mountains. We’re driven there by van and set off to ride the last 55 kilometres of the stage.
The profile goes up all the way, getting steeper as we near the finish. The stage is hateful, an ugly track climbing into a ferocious headwind. I’m riding with Nines, an Austrian, a German and two Italians and, apart from Nines, none of them takes a single turn at the front. To be honest I’m fed up to the back teeth with pedalling into the wind, the landscape is hideous, and I end up giving my travel companions a telling-off. We put in a burst and pull away. We keep pushing hard but it’s getting to me, so I spot a good wheel and stop pulling: I’ll sit on a wheel for a change.
After a while of asking myself what the hell I’m doing here and why I don’t just get in a van, the landscape starts to change radically. Mountains come into view, a beautiful climb lifts us above the desert and the wind seems to drop a little. I get a second wind and start pushing hard, catch up with Nines and the two of us head on up. After 3 hours and 44 minutes we reach the finish, now in the mountains. 39th on the stage, 37th overall. The landscape is beautiful and tomorrow’s stage looks promising, although the cold is starting to make itself felt.
We don’t know it yet, but things are starting to change radically.