Race Notes: Col du Galibier

18 km at 6.9 percent. The mountain publishes its terms and waits.

Km 0–8: Conversation pace, false confidence. The valley lies to everyone equally.

Km 8–14: The hairpins. Heart rate at threshold, thoughts reduced to one syllable each. Watts are honest in a way feelings never are.

Km 14–17: The tunnel junction. Choose the old road, always — suffering deserves a view.

Summit, 2 642 m: Four minutes of being briefly, completely simple.

What you train is not the legs. It is the negotiation with the voice that suggests stopping. Today the vote was 51–49. A win is a win.