Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) on internship at Pic du Midi.

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Pic du Midi

  • Bruno Armirail is participating this Wednesday in the Flèche Wallonne with the Groupama-FDJ team.

  • The Pyrenean cyclist previously completed a ten-day stage until Sunday at the Pic du Midi, at 2,877 m altitude.

  • The 26-year-old Bigourdan, who mainly wanted to prepare for the Vuelta, found himself blocked for two days by snow and wind in the observatory.

This Wednesday, Bruno Armirail is competing in the Flèche Wallonne within his Groupama-FDJ team.

“I will continue with Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday but it is not sure that I am very well, confesses the 26-year-old Pyrenean, originally from Bagnères-de-Bigorre.

I will also be doing the Amstel Gold Race on October 10th.

But my goal is the Vuelta, which starts on October 20.

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Because the large Armirail (1.90 m) has to accept an unprecedented ten-day course at the Pic du Midi, near his home, to "make" red blood cells and improve its performance.

And as he explains, “you don't feel the benefits right away”.

A breathtaking panorama before the classics of the Flat country.

- Guillaume Pineau / Pic du Midi

The Bigourdan rider attacked this adventure perched at an altitude of 2,877 m while his colleagues completed the Tour de France and completed it on Sunday, a few hours before the world coronation of Julian Alaphilippe, which he was able to follow on TV.

“I had to do close to 1,000 terminals including the home trainer, details Thibaut Pinot's teammate.

But we think more in hours: I had planned 40, and I did a good 32 or 33. ”Not bad, given the rather harsh weather conditions for the season, even in the mountains.

A felt temperature of -15 ° C

During most of the course, Armirail went down in the morning by cable car to La Mongie.

He climbed the neighboring passes of Aspin, Tourmalet, Soulor and other mythical places of Pyrenean cycling before going up to Pic du Midi in the afternoon.

The weather was already not very nice, but everything went wrong afterwards.

“Friday and Saturday I was up there all day,” he says.

Between the snow and the wind, we were stuck, the cable car could not work.

It was -15 ° C in temperature felt on Friday morning!

Fortunately, the forecasters of the Pic du Midi had warned me and I had assembled a home trainer Thursday afternoon.

But frankly, the course went really well and I recommend it to other athletes.

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An internship almost at home

By the way, how did he find himself up there, in this astronomical observatory where scientists rub shoulders with tourists who come to enjoy a sublime panorama (in good weather), a little closer to the stars.

“Being from Bagnères, it was a bit stupid to go on an internship in Tignes or abroad,” notes Bruno Armirail.

The mayor of his town served as an intermediary with the director of the Pic du Midi, which the runner relaunched in early September, when he saw a little more clearly in a program necessarily blurred by the consequences of Covid-19.

“I had my trainer David Han on the phone every day, and I myself checked the oxygen saturation in my blood regularly.

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And when he was not pedaling, the third in the last French time trial championship (won by Rémi Cavagna) mingled with the staff whose meals he shared.

“We talked a lot about cycling, even with people who didn't know much about it.

And they showed me around.

It was really great.

"

From now on, Armirail has returned to his family, at Groupama-FDJ, with a view, therefore, on the Tour of Spain.

But with also some vagueness as to the form of its leader, who has experienced a traumatic Grande Boucle.

“I don't really know if Thibaut Pinot will want to play the general or not.

If so, I will take on the role of a teammate to help him.

And if he wants to do stages, I will take breakaways from time to time.

Why not on October 25, when he will play at home, since the Vuelta will arrive that Sunday at the top of the Tourmalet.

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