Day 5: Knight Frank Cycle to MIPIM 2025
Grenoble to Gréoux-les-Bains - 249kms
After a good rest overnight, the peloton is ready to roll out of Grenoble at 6.30am. Today is a day of all the weathers: from a clear dry morning, a sunny first stop, freshly fallen snow with some rain thrown in, and then an afternoon that gets steadily wetter.
Despite this (or perhaps, sometimes, even because of) Teams SLR, ME Engineers and Lockton seem to be enjoying themselves - and there are plenty of Alpine views, stunning climbs and exhilarating descents to take their minds off their tired and aching bodies and remind them why cycling is, most of the time, pretty great.
It's also a day of ascending, with almost 4,000m to get over today. The first stage is a beast, with 1,529m of ascent and one of the climbs lasting 30kms. What goes up, must come down - and then back up again, with another 40km climb to contend with on stage 2 into lunch. Freshly made soup warm up the riders after the snowy col climb, before they set off for the afternoon's two stages.
The shivery, damp arrival of the final stage's riders into Gréoux-les-Bains is quickly forgotten after a hot shower, a cold beer and the final night dinner. There are speeches, awards, thank yous, and some good-natured naming and shaming, as well as a reminder of why they are all putting themselves through this endurance challenge: the charitable projects that they are helping to support, including funding specially-adapted trikes for children with cancer via Cyclists Fighting Cancer; providing inspiration and purpose for young people from disadvantaged areas in London via the Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust; and helping to match children with approved adopters at Coram's Adoption Activity Days.
The fundraising target currently stands at £160,064. To help them reach their £200,000 target, you can donate here.
