Barel and Lau win Trans-Provence day 2 special stages

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The previous four years of glorious autumnal weather that Mavic Trans-Provence has been blessed with, was ended abruptly on Monday morning with a storm of biblical proportions.

In special stages 1 and 2, racers battled through rain, sleet and hail high up at nearly 1800 metres in the mountains - with the usual route quickly becoming, in places, swollen rivers

The camaraderie of the event showed itself once again at the feed stations - where spare clothes were shared out and riders huddled for warmth.

By early afternoon, the storm had blown itself out and riders pedalled some warmth back in to there bodies with the long climb via a cancelled special stage 3 due to the morning storm and up on to the now near mythical special stage 4 "Donkey Darko".

The combination of warming sun and some of the finest riding in Europe changed what had been epic mostly due to the shocking conditions back to epic for all the right reasons, with great trails and great competition all shared with friends.

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