Thanks to Bruce Mackie for the photos

The l’Etape du Tour is always special – after all, how often do get the chance to ride a stage of the Tour de France just days before the pros do? But this year’s Etape was truly a once in a lifetime ‘classic’, with an epic summit finish atop the mighty Mont Ventoux and with Contador, the Schelck brothers, Lance and our very own Bradley Wiggins providing a thrilling back story.

A record 8500 riders took part in the 2009 Etape, amongst them 12 brave souls from London Phoenix. Our riders put in superb efforts and were rewarded with some excellent times. However, the undoubted LP star on the day was Jane Kilmartin, who showed her class by finishing as the 6th fastest woman!

She said:

“It was about 35C at the bottom of Ventoux and I was going strong until that point. I got to Bedoin at 11:45 and then blew up because it was so hot and I was only going at 12km an hour. I had been aiming for 1:40 to climb Ventoux but ended up with 1:59 as I stopped several times. I still managed to complete the course in well under the 7H mark (6:43) so I was quite pleased.”

Jane, we were ecstatic! Well done, a truly phenomenal performance…