Trans Provence Day Three...
Six day endurance race across the beautiful region of Provence
With day four in full swing we look back at yesterday's Trans-Provence stage from Villars-Colmars to Guillaumes in the east of the Provence Region - the half way point on this epic endurance mountain bike race that goes from Alps to Sea.
With a total distance of 32.6km you could be fooled into thinking this might be an easy day on the bike in Provence...but you would be wrong! Although the riding distance may be short, remember that these athletes are on enduro mountain bikes and completing all of this off road. With an on-bike height gain of 944 metres (that is nearly a kilometre of vertical!) plus a technical on-the-bike height drop of 2260 metres, this a challenging day!
A major highlight of this half way stage is that they are travelling through the beautiful Mercantour National Park which has stunning scenery and some really wonderful singletrack trails to enjoy. The finishing town of Guillaumes is a mountain village located in the Haute Vallée du Var at the top of the Gorge de Daluis. The village is at the junction where the Tuébi river joins the south-flowing Var, and is surrounded by steep, forested mountains.
With stage four under way today the event is due to finish after stage six at Larvotto Beach, Monte-Carlo this weekend. And it is close race so far with only seconds separating the top riders. Along side amateur enthusiasts there are some big names in biking taking part, including ex downhill racing champions Fabien Barel and Nicolas Vouilloz, British current downhill biker Matt Simmonds and newcomers to the field like Joe Barnes.
For more details about the event, how to take part or information about taking on this trip in non-competitive fashion then check out the website.
