Joe Blackmore takes sixth on Tour mountain debut
Joe Blackmore’s first encounter with the Tour de France came when he was just five months old, attending the stage on Alpe d’Huez as a fan in 2003.
On Monday, just 10 days into his debut participation in the world’s biggest race, Blackmore climbed to sixth on Le Mont-Dore having spent all day in the breakaway in this year’s opening mountain stage.
“It was a pretty cool day – but one of the hardest of my career,” he says. “But the last 15km of it were on my own, and I was just suffering. I knew what place I was going for and, yeah, I’m pretty happy to achieve it.”
The 22-year-old was one of three IPT riders to make it into the 30-rider breakaway group on Bastille Day, alongside Michael Woods and Alexey Lutsenko.
Blackmore followed the moves when Victor Campenaerts (TVL), Quinn Simmons (LTK), and Ben Healy (EFE) attacked on the Col de la Croix Morand with around 40 kilometers remaining, but he eventually lost contact on an uncategorized climb heading south towards the finish at Puy de Sancy.
He crossed the line 3:57 behind Giro d’Italia winner Simon Yates. Nonetheless, the result stands as even greater proof of his talent.
“I just kept on fighting,” he ends, in his modest style.
