Le Loop 2023: Stage 1 Bilbao – Bilbao

Cycling summary

Breakfast: 6 am

Transfer: None

Start time: 07:30

Distance: 182.0 km

Terrain: Hilly

Climbs: 3 Cat 3, 1 Cat 4

Finish: 18:27

Time in saddle: 8:48

Temp: Cool start, rising to 33 in the shade and 40 in full sun

Drinks: Not enough – possibly 6 litres

Suffer scores: 8

Local lowdown

Bilbao is home to the Guggenheim museum and a must-see attraction. On the route today we pass through Guernica, which suffered terribly during the Spanish Civil War in 1937 and is the subject of one of Picasso’s famous works, a denunciation of the bombing that took place.

Tale from the Tour

Good start to the day, though a bit misty at first so I couldn’t get a good shot of the donkeys as we went past. I don’t think the trip will be complete without one!

Rolled along nicely to the first feed stop, which was by a transportation bridge. Transporting what, I don’t know.

At the feed stop we had a bunch of somewhat grumpy Polizia paying close attention and even filming us! I think they were a bit fidgety because they were concerned about large cycling groups on the road. We were 116 on the road this morning, though had split into small groups so in the end they were happy an left us alone. It reminded me of 2016 when the Spanish Guardia Civil (a bit like the French gendarmes – we don’t have an equivalent in the UK) forced us to stop on Stage 9 when the route took us from France, through the Spanish Pyrenees and onto Andorra. That time the stand off lasted quite some time before they were finally happy for us to continue.

After that we were by the sea for quite some time and enjoyed spectacular views, all while the route continued to rise and fall significantly – to the point where the total elevation gain was just shy of 3,300 metres. For comparison, a Saturday morning club run would typically clock up about 1,000 for 60 miles and a ride of about the same distance as today could get to 2,500. With the heat as well, that made it really hard.

The beach was a popular one – so much so that we passed a line of parked cars that must have stretched for 2 miles! I think they could have done with one of those trains that ply the sea-front at home to take the drivers from car to beach (I assume they dropped their passengers and kit for the day at a sensible point).

We passed through the aforementioned Guernica – not too many photo opportunities.

Towards the end of the day the hills just kept on giving. A few times I needed to pull over on the shade and pour water over my head. I would say cold water, but that had heated up to. Still, it was a blessed relief.

The “best” was still to come. A matter of 8km or so before our hotel was a climb that hit 18% in places. Such a climb is always tough but I can do them – though coming at the end of such a brutal stage I just had to unclip and walk a short way else I’d have probably fallen off.

I’ve gone for a suffer score of 8 as an average for the day. Cyclists will know that when the average gradient is stated as 8%, it usually means that there are some beastly sections to deal with (the last climb today had an average of 10%, for example) as well as some easier bits. Well that was today alright!

Tomorrow we have another hilly ride – longer (in fact the longest of the Tour this year), but allegedly with less climbing. We shall see. It’s still going to be hot though and I’m hoping that I will soon be acclimatised, as happened in 2019.