Stage 1 - a bit of climbing!

05:30 wake up then after breakfast we set off the 10km to catch the ferry to the official start line of stage 1. A we are cycling in the touring class we were able to sneak a start on the serious guys and girls by catching the early ferry, thus starting at 08:20 rather than 11:00. We also appeared to have sneaked a start on the organisers - as none of the route direction signs or feeding depots were in place as we went through.

Stephan set off at a good pace and 5hrs 57 minutes and 38 seconds, 144.5km and 2189 ascending metres later he was 1st to reach today's timed stage finish line. Iain took things his way, finding it tough on the big climbs (and a bit easier on the downhills) and reached the timing line after 9 hours.

There seemed to be a real battle for today's stage victory with a group of about 6 racing towards the summit fnish, but we cannot yet report the official results. All we can say is that these guys go up mountains faster than we do the flats!

After the additional 27km to the finish line / tour camp we've now settled into our cosy cabin, deciding how many beers we need to have with our pasta. Tomorrow's another day....