What a day! We rose early to have a quick breakfast before setting out to see the stage on Monte Bondone!

 

Jacquie got a ride with 3 Belgians and a local Italian so that she could meet us at the top of the mountain.

 

I then set out with 5 others from Palù on our bikes and was immediately dropped by all of them on the descent - one of them on a mountain bike with toe clips and one without a helmet!! They are nuts...

 

We did about 20 km before “hitting” the climb, which supposedly only averages 6-7%... Yeah right. It was SOOO steep.

 

I rode most of the way with one fellow before we were caught by Simoni’s older brother and passed. The fellow that I was riding with then took off with him (they knew each other well apparently!). Simoni’s brother was riding Gibo’s “Spider Bike” from the 2003 Giro.

 

Once I got to the top (17 km of climbing) there was a pretty large gathering at the top of Simoni’s friends/family that we were invited to. We ate and drank there before setting up camp to see the stage finish.

 

I don’t know what to say about the stage itself as Basso seems to be invincible!!

 

Afterwards Jacquie headed back in the car (a little side note here: at one point on the way to the car Jacquie found herself walking along side Basso before his “minders” realized what was going on. I told her she should have pinched his ass, but she hadn’t thought it was a good idea...) and we headed out on our bikes, weaving in and out of traffic on the skinniest of roads at like 70+ km/h!

 

I was rather tired that night so we packed it in early as we needed to be up in good time to make it to the “Plan de Corones” stage the next day...