Florence - Siena
Ascend: 1274m Descend 1127m
We awoke after a poor nights sleep at a rather non salubrious hotel. Even if we were still in the mid 70's, Hotel Albatross in Florence would still be considered a complete fleapit and best avoided.
After the worst breakfast buffet I have ever experienced, we packed the support car and immediately began to regret last nights decision to chain my bike to the lampost outside. 
The route for the day was to take us straight through the heart of Florence, where the Men's Cycling World Championship was taking place with a field including our very own Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome.
By an incredible stroke of luck, at 10:15am on the outskirts of Florence city centre, Grant and I stumbled upon the race route itself, lined with barriers, but otherwise deserted. We asked a Marshall if it was ok to cycle on the route, and we could not believe it when he said "yes", even though the race was due to start in 45 mins time. Here's the pic that the race Marshall took of us, we were like kids at Christmas. 
As we ride around the route, despite a couple of attempts by the police to stop us, we were waved and cheered by some of the crowds gathering in central Florence. We had LITERALLY stolen Wiggo and Froomie's thunder.
More fool us, because the forecast for the rest of the day had turned dramatically against us: 
We cycled as fast as we could out of Florence, and in doing so, we managed to out run the first two storms, however, there was no escaping the third, you can see it building here behind me. 
As the lightening forked dramatically across the skies all around us, the rain then came down harder than it has for all of the tour so far - for 3 hours. Solid.
Due to the days strenuous mountain climbing, we were late arriving at the rendezvous point with my Mum and Dad, as a result all the restaurants in the pretty village of Gaiole in Chianti were now closed. Sunday hours it seems.
Grant and I were soaking wet, and having stopped were beginning to feel extremely cold. We made a quick decision to push on to Siena and complete the stage as we only had 21 miles left to go.
Thankfully we arrived in Siena just before 5pm, thoroughly exhausted, starving and very cold. Fortunately the hotel is cosy, there is a pizzeria next door (where I type this now), and after cycling 385 miles in the last 5 days, tomorrows rest day comes just in time, here in Siena.
Some great, if not the best days, lay ahead as the tour heads towards the big finish in Rome next Saturday. Stay tuned.
Brett x
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