Following a hard but short stage the day before, stage 6 was a return to the norm; a 124km stage with over 2300m of climbing. Fortunately for the many hundreds of tired legs, mine included, the first 40km was relatively flat. After a controlled neutral leadout through the Worcester town centre on main roads, we soon switched to fast-rolling gravel fireroads for the easy stint to the first water point.

From here on in however, the riding got a lot harder, as nearly all the 2240m of climbing was packed into the latter stages of the course. And it was savage ascent after savage ascent. Up and down, the course weaved a challenging route through increasingly green lush countryside, a stark contrast from the sandy vast open plains ridden through early in the race to the now fertile European-esque countryside. The temperature had also cooled to more reasonable levels affording a respite from the early high heat.

This stage was billed as being extremely tough, but despite the figures it actually felt a whole lot easier than many had feared. Indeed, many conceded it was actually a lot easier than it had looked on paper and not the potential hardest stage of the race that it might have been.