It was always the intention of Wandering to be a spectator on this stage of the Tour of Britain but Lord Twynyrodyn expressed a curious interest when it was mentioned in a conversation between them, so it was two Strollers that made the short journey to the Storey Arms at mid-morning.
The start of this stage was from the National Trust's Powis Castle completing a loop of Welshpool before a fast descent of the Honddu valley. Soon after leaving Brecon the A470 gradually begins the climb in the shadow of Pen-Y-Fan, as the steepness of the gradient increases after Libanus, which starts the seven-kilometre SKODA King of the Mountains climb up to Storey Arms.
There were big crowds lining the route north of Storey Arms as we took our vantage point. Because of significant head-winds the peloton was behind schedule as they thundered past heading towards the open moorland that eventually descends to Penderyn and Hirwaun.
A brief climb to Ystrad Mynach through Nelson and Parc Penalta, towards Llanbradach to the edge of Caerphilly. The route passed Caerphilly Castle taking the one-way system the wrong way in order to maximise the approach to the climb, which proved to be one of the iconic moments of this years Tour of Britain.
The stage was eventually won by Leopold Koenig, of the Team NetApp with Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, of Endura Racing taking second place on the stage and overall GC winner.
Brief video footage taken by Wandering as the peloton passed our vantage point on the climb to the Storey Arms!!
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