L'Etape du Tour

L'Etape du Tour takes place today.
For those unaware of the details, the Etape is an organised ride which has the same route as one the stages of the Tour de France.  It is one of the most popular sportives in Europe, and is on the must-do list for many cyclists.
The Etape is brilliant.  The roads are closed.  It is well organised and marshalled. The sides of the roads are packed with spectators who are getting excited that the Tour is arriving in a couple of days.  The Dutch have parked up their camper vans already.  Cowbells are rung, bands are playing.  It's a great atmosphere.
There is one big downside to the Etape.  The Broom Wagon.  This is the grim reaper for any cyclist who is slow, or who has had mechanical problems. Throughout the whole route there is a cut off time. It's mainly to do with when the roads must reopen, but it is also to deter riders who are relatively slow. If you are slower than the cut off time, you are stopped and forced onto a bus.  The Broom Wagon is merciless.  When I did the Etape, a couple who were staying in our hotel had 2 punctures in the first 5 miles.  They were stopped and placed in the Broom Wagon.  Even though they were only 5 miles from the hotel, they were transported to the end of the route.  This journey took 7 hours, and apparently there were no toilets on the bus. They then had to get back to the hotel.
I did the Etape in 2012.  The route was Albertville, Col de la Madeleine, Col du Glandon, Croix de Fer, Col du Mollard and La Toussuire.  This year's route is similar.  My big worry was of course the Broom Wagon.  I'm quite a slow cyclist.  I knew that I could finish the route OK, but could I do it fast enough?  When I reached the top of Madeleine I knew that I was a couple of minutes slower than the cut-off.  I also knew that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people behind me.  Throughout the rest of the ride I became more and more behind the cut-off time, but there was no sign of the Broom Wagon and still many people slower than me.  It was puzzling, because I was expecting to be stopped at any point.  It was a relief to start the last climb and not to be stopped at the bottom of it.  At the end I was half an hour behind the stated cut-off.  It turned out that when the first rider finished, he was an hour later than the organisers had expected.  They realised that they'd messed up the timings, and I think they added an extra hour and a half to the cut-off.
Out of 6000 starters, 4400 finished.  I was placed 3745, and was 120th out of the 160 women who finished.
It was disappointing how few women participated.  The up side of this was that the crowd at the side of the road went bonkers when they saw a woman, and gave great support which really helped.
I did have one dark moment.  When I started the last climb I thought "Brilliant, only 10 miles to go!".  I then realised that this 10 miles would take me nearly 2 hours.  Grim. 
One thing which really surprised me was the number of people who had obviously not prepared and trained enough for the event.  For example, towards the top of Glandon, which I admit is steep (about 13%), there were people walking and stopping because of cramp.  If you're walking/cramping on the second climb out of four, you're definitely  Broom Wagon candidates.
I hope everyone doing the Etape today enjoys it.