Day 9: Portofino to Alassio (and beyond…)

The boy’s reward for battling through the terrain and the weather on Day 8 was dinner in Portofino, one of the most stunning little ports on the Riviera di Levante.

Day 9 of the tour saw our heroic gladiators in lycra tackle another 85 miles towards the finish line in Monaco, and today they would face the considerable challenge of crossing Genoa, a big city and major port that suffered tragedy in August 2018 with the collapse of the Morandi bridge, a section of the A7 motorway in the Centre of the city.

The collapse claimed the lives of 43 people, and the legacy is that of traffic chaos, as all the motorway traffic makes its way through city streets. As a safety measure, the team decided to use the support vehicle to get through the city, and the lads set off again from the western end of the town past the airport.

The scenery is beautiful along this part of the coast, providing great cycling territory for the boys and they were soon making good progress in good weather. 

In fact, the lads were doing so well that they decided to push on beyond the day’s official finish line at Alassio, and ended up riding all the way to San Remo, just 30 miles short of the target of Monaco! Incredible effort, with over 110 miles covered in the day (including 15 in the van!)

So, all the boys have got left is a relatively short stage of 30 miles to ride on Day 10 – I think a lie into 8 am might be in order, especially after 9 days of 6 am alarms!

Assuming the lads can summon up the energy to bosh the last 50km tomorrow, the final blog will contain some fascinating (and some less fascinating) facts on The Grande Finale. Well Done Lads! 

With over £1,000 donated yesterday, the ‘pot’ currently stands at amazing £8,576… surely we can get this to £10,000 by the end of Day 10.

Any donations to the wonderful Candlelighters would be greatly appreciated and can be made online at: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/the-grand-finale