OUR 1000km CHALLENGE continues as we depart from Caceres and head north to the mountains……

DAY 3

177kms, 26kph, 2361m

20160506_122455After pastries and coffee and some more cakes in Plaza Mayor, Plasencia, we picked up the pace; well, to be honest, we drafted the support van until we neared the mountains on the border of Extramadura and Castile e Leon.

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The climb passes through the snow capped mountains of Sierra de Francia, an area requiring greater exploration by bike. In fact, it was whilst climbing the various switchbacks and technical sections that presented themselves on this Mountain, that another Tour was born –  the Pro Climb Portugal Tour – like I said, inspiration comes at the most unlikely of moments.

Exhausted but happy, we arrived at our hotel in a remote village on the edge of lake Santa Teresa. The sports physio eased away the pain from our strained muscles before we settled down to a relaxing meal overlooking the lake.

 

DAY 4

170km, 28kph, 1043m

20160507_110008The physio must have worked miracles. We awoke to a gloomy day but over 500 kilometres of the tour had been completed and we felt good.

We rode out of the village and through the fields full of strutting white egrets, stabbing at the insects disturbed by the grazing cattle. With a gentle breeze on our backs the sun began to shine and as our legs warmed up, the pace quickened. We sped into Salamanca at 37kph and entered the most splendid of all Plaza Mayors for breakfast.20160507_135621

Salamanca has got to be one of my favourite cities in Europe but I won’t linger, we have 140kms to cover.

After drinking an extra coffee and taking a few photos we were back on the pace. This was a day for bum up, head down riding. The road was straight, the tarmac smooth and by the time we had arrived at Tordesillas 90kms later, our cabinet was bulging with Strava Trophies.

 

 

 

 

DAY 5

165km, 25.6kph, 1300m

The weather had changed and after puncturing early, I did my recovery miles riding in the support van. The rest of the team were obviously tougher than me or was it because they had drafted my wheel most of the previous day?

20160505_135159Whilst the others forged ahead I went food shopping with Carlos; the boys deserved a good meal tonight and I was cooking. Two boxes of food later and a free bottle of Moscato from the shopkeeper, we caught up with the others and followed them into Cantabria and our last stop.

Tonight was a celebratory meal. The tour was almost complete and tomorrow was a downhill stage.

 

DAY 6,

165km, 27kph, 1161m

Final day and the sun came out to play.
20160509_114737 Well fed and recovered we rode through the snow topped Cantabrian mountains and took on the thrilling 80kph descents, hairpin bends and sweeping mountain passes. An exhilarating ride to end a truly memorable tour.20160509_115705

We arrived in Santander, exhausted but with memories to last a lifetime.

 

Adriano Placidi

Team Director at Volta Pro Tours

My thanks to Gentil and Carlos for helping to organise this tour and secreting in the support van an endless supply of great wine.