Within minutes of departing, the rain started as the Alpine weather quickly closed in. Whilst this was a welcome cooling relief from the 25-30 degrees experienced earlier, it was to become their ultimate challenge.
Toby, Neil and Dave rode together for most of the Galibier, with Neil successfully achieving the Col first amidst the snow covered terrain, rain and a temperature reduced to approx 8 degrees.
The ride back towards the valley brought extreme challenges as the temperature, rain soaked kit, combined with wind chill, took all three riders to their limits.
Thankfully, Jason and Iain had agreed to catch them in the "support car" though hadn't expected them to have progressed so far. We met them at the base of the main descent, with the shouts of "Volvo Volvo" coming from Toby with signs of relief! All three riders were soaked through and chilled to the bone.
After warming through at the local cafe, Toby, Iain and Jason returned back to the Chalet by car, whilst Dave and Neil continued to cycle back to the Col de Telegraphe and down to the town to Dave's car.
An absolutely heroic effort from Toby and especially from Dave and Neil - well done chaps!!
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