stage 7 Auron to Nice

For the last stage we started near Auron and then had a 32 km neutral start, descending all the way.  It was cold, even though we were not going fast behind the motorcycle escorts.  But then we started the 70km timed section at the base of Col de St. Martin and I heated up pretty quickly.  I was 30 seconds behind number 414 in overall GC for 50+ and I found him right away at the bottom.  I stayed on his wheel for a while then went past him and got to the top ahead of him but I stopped to zip up my vest and he didnt so he got past me.  But I soon caught him and passed him on the descent and caught up to a pretty fast group. We eventually had 20 riders for the 30 km descent.  It was fast--wide sweeping bends for the most part instead of hairpins and then we had a long more or less section through the gorges, with a bit of a tailwind.  At the end I had gained 4 minutes on 414 so I ended up in 41st fir the stage, 3rd in 50+.  In GC I ended up 58 of 300 or so and 7th in 50+ out of about 58.   But the overall winner for Haute Route was Michel Roux, also 50+.    After the timed section we rode easy for a few more km to Vence then we regrouped and all rode together in a controlled pack into Nice right by the beach.  Later our GF tours group had a nice dinner overlooking the sea.