The 2010 Etape du Tour is from Pau to the summit of the Tourmalet.

I’ve produced a spreadsheet that allows you to estimate your time. I’ve ridden the Etape three times myself (2003, 2004, and 2006) and used a similar spreadsheet to estimate my time. It has proven accurate to within about 10 minutes. In 2003 and 2004 I placed just outside the top 1000 riders, and was about 20 minutes short of gold standard time.

To estimate your time you need to provide 6 pieces of information:

1. Weight (rider + equipment). This is the total weight of everything, including clothes, shoes, food, water, tools etc. The easiest way to measure it is to set up the bike as you will ride it (including full waterbottles, tools, pump, food etc), put on the gear you will wear when riding the etape (including shoes and any spare clothing or food in pockets), pick up your laden bicycle and weigh yourself on the bathroom scales.
2. Power (when climbing). This the power output you can sustain over a long climb of about an hour. I’ll give you a way of estimating this later.
3. Slight incline speed (km/h). This is the speed you can sustain on a slight incline (1%-3%)
4. Flat speed (km/h). This is the speed you can sustain on the flat in a group of riders.
5. Slight descent speed (km/h). This is your speed on a slight downhill. (1%-5%)
6. Descent speed (km/h). This is your speed on a steepish (more than 5%) downhill. Note that it is not your maximum speed, it is your average speed and takes into account the corners.

The spreadsheet

The spreadsheet is at: Etape 2010 spreadsheet. You’ll need to download the spreadsheet to use it.

As well as allowing you to estimate your time, it allows you to ask What if? questions about how you ride the course.

• What if I reduce my weight by 1kg? Depending on your power output, your time will improve by about 2 to 3 minutes for each kilogram of weight saved.
• What if I go 10km/h faster on the steep downhills? Surprisingly this only shaves about 3 minutes from your time.
• What if I go 5km/h faster on the flats? This improves your time by about 10 minutes.

Why does the spreadsheet work?

The spreadsheet works because, for the Etape, the climbs dominate the stage. Differences in speed on the flats and on the descents make relatively little difference to your overall time, so you don’t to estimate these speeds very accurately. The climbs are steep enough that wind resistance does not really come into play, so your speed is determined pretty well by your overall weight and your sustainable power output – if you know these two things, you can make a pretty good estimate of your overall time.

How do I estimate my climbing power output?

You can estimate your time either using an ergometer (say at a gym) or by doing a timed climb. For either method you need to warm up and then start riding at a heart rate that you can sustain comfortably for several hours – if you know what your lactate threshold rate is, it will be slightly below this rate. On an ergometer read off the power rating for this heartrate – make sure you have been riding long enough for the heartrate and power to settle. If you use a timed climb (ideally this should have a steady gradient) then ride the climb at this heartrate. Enter the total weight of you and your equipment, the length of the climb, and the altitude gained into the spreadsheet and it will give you an estimate for your power output.

The route profile

I obtained the route profile from http://www.letour.fr/ augmented with climb profiles from http://www.climbbybike.com/

Col de Marie Blanque steep climb with over 3km at or near 11% gradient

Col du Soulor steady climb, mostly at at around 8%

Col du Tourmalet mostly at around 8% with last kilometer at 10%

Advice on riding the Etape

Below are some words of advice. They are mainly intended for riders not experienced in riding long mountainous courses. If you know what works for you, then use that.

What gears should I use?

The choice of gears is determined by the steepest parts of the course. You need a gear low enough to allow you to ride at a comfortable cadence on the steepest parts of the course. This year the Etape has some steep sections, so you’ll need low gears.

There is a section on the spreadsheet that calculates your cadence on the steepest part of the course. If you want to keep your cadence above 50rpm on the steepest sections, then you can see you’ll need low gears. I advise the largest possible sprocket, normally 27 or 28 teeth. This means something like an 11-28 or a 12-27 rear cassette. To go with this you’ll need either a triple chainring with a 30-tooth inner chainring or a compact chainring with a 34 tooth inner chainring. A standard chainring (with an inner chainring of 37 or 38 teeth) just won’t cut it. (For the record, I’ve always used a triple chainring when I’ve ridden the Etape, even though I hate triple chainrings.) A 30×28 gear is not overkill for this course. Every year that I did the Etape I saw riders who got off their bikes and walked. They did not have a low enough gear.

But the pros don’t use such low gears, I hear you say. That’s true, but they are pros. A top professional might way 65kg and have a power output of 400W while climbing. Add 10kg for bike and equipment and put the figures in the spreadsheet. You’ll see that a top pro can maintain a good cadence riding a 37×21 or a 37×23 gear.

How should I ride the course?

Assuming you have trained well, you need to do four things to get a good time:

Climb well. This means keeping a good pace on the climbs. It also means riding on your own: unless you are experienced it’s easy to either get behind a rider who is going a bit too slow or a bit too fast. My strategy is to climb by heartrate and cadence, for me this means something like: “keep the heartrate at 145bpm and the cadence at 85rpm”. You’ll need to find the figures that work for you. The heartrate needs to be a rate that you can sustain for several hours, it will be below your lactate threshold rate. The cadence is what is comfortable for you for long climbs.

Eat and drink well. Make sure you don’t dehydrate or bonk. Talk to other riders and get experience of how much to eat and drink on long rides.

Descend well. First and foremost this means don’t crash. Don’t take risks on the descent. From the spreadsheet you can see that even going 10km/h faster on the descents won’t make much difference to your time. It also means don’t brake too much. Too much braking tires you out – you need to be reasonably relaxed on the descents. If you’ve never done long descents you need to get some practice in before the Etape.

Get into a group on the flats. On the flat parts of the course try and ride with a group. Save your energy for the climbs.

Good luck!

Brilliant. A whole website dedicated to cycling board games. I didn’t even know this sort of thing existed, but now I do I want one. Yet another item for me to search for on ebay! Oh the lady will be pleased.

I don’t know about anyone else but I want to play Les Cracks.

Go here for more weird and wonderful goodies surrounding cycling… and gaming.

It’s official, the Tour de France is coming back to Morzine next year in 2010 over the 11th 12th and 13th July. We’ll be checking out the route to make sure we find the best spots to watch the action from, with a rest day included in Morzine-Avoriaz it’s going to be really, really busy. We’ve seen a couple of road races this summer on the roads round St Jean D’Aulps and Morzine that were tiny in comparison to Le Tour and still pretty impressive.

Link to the official Le Tour site

Lendo o post sobre os 3000 km fico lembrando de algumas situações onde tentamos passar a emoção de uma situação – neste caso uma pedalada – pros amigos ou pessoas aqui no blog, seja com relatos, vídeos, fotos etc.

Eu assisti o vídeo abaixo já fazem alguns anos. É um comercial da Nike com o Lance Armstrong – provavelmente um dos maiores ciclistas de todos os tempos – que não vende nenhum produto específico. Armstrong venceu a luta contra o câncer, e logo depois ganhou o Tour de France, a prova mais tradicional do mundo, na qual o americano tem 7 títulos consecutivos. Podem falar em apelação, alienação, consumismo, mas é fato: hoje em dia as (boas – ou más rs) pessoas que trabalham com publicidade vendem emoções. E o comercial vende a história de luta e vitória de Armstrong, além da emoção de pedalar. Vale apena assistir. Cuidado pra não sair depois comprando produtos Nike desenfreadamente.

At this time of year the Tour organisers always leak tit bits of information about the following years Tour de France. This is in anticipation of the release of the final route on October the 14th.

A few days ago they leaked that Morzine can expect to see Le Tour on July 11^th and that the following day would be a rest day. This is great news for Morzine, Le Tour last past through here in 2006 (and previously he in 2003 and 2000, click here for further information) there have been rumours that the arrival stage might involve some sort of time trial like in Annecy this year. We will have to wait in anticipation)

Further information can be found on the Dauphine website.

Name those riders.

To all those who bought or donated items for Stuart’s auction I give you my sincere thanks……Thanks for showing me that the cycling family is strong and supportive of those in need.  I don’t know the exact numbers of the money raised as of yet but I can tell you quite a few of the items got more attention than a teenager’s cell phone, and the bids were changing faster than the ink could dry from the previous ones.  In the end, it didn’t matter so much what was bid on and won, as much as who won.
Speaking of winning, did you happen to see the results of the Leadville 100 which took place last Saturday as well?  It seems the Tour de France is the perfect training event for the race across the sky as none other than Lance crushed the field and the course record while beating last year’s winner, Dave Wiens, by about a half an hour.  Oh yeah, and if you think you could slow him down by letting some of the air out of his tires, think again; with about ten miles to go, he got a flat rear tire and without the aid of his team car, quickly realized he rides better than he wrenches, and finished with the same flat tire.

Photo by Bruce Turner

Another winner you might not have heard about is a guy by the name of Owen Murphy…..Who?  O-W-E-N M-U-R-P-H-Y! He finished the Colorado Trail Race in 4 days, 3 hours and change, beating the old record by about a day.  That’s 470 miles, Denver to Durango, on a mountain bike without feed zones, domestiques or room service.  Only about ten yahoos completed the entire course and to the winner goes……..well, his name is Owen and he is most likely faster than you on a bike!

News from my side….the time finally came…the old Specialized Enduro got replaced.  Yep, she was a good ride alright and we had a lot of good times together, but the rough miles, hard landings and fast descents were getting to be a bit too much for the old girl.  It was time to upgrade to a new model; better built, firmer shocks, anxious to try new obstacles….The Trek Remedy.  Like the Enduro, the Remedy is more of an all mountain bike, meaning it’ll go anywhere and tackle just about anything….Or as much as I can throw at her anyway.  With a bit more travel and refined suspension, the Remedy gives the trails a brand new feeling and I can’t wait for the Fall trip to Moab and Grand Junction.  We’re still getting acquainted and figuring air pressures and settings, but so far, it’s a keeper.  One thing I just couldn’t part with was my old seat, torn up as it is, some things just feel right.

Ah yes, the Fall trip! Is it that time of year already??……Well, no, but planning is key and if you’re planning to ride this winter, might I suggest keeping your eye out for some inexpensive closeout shoes a couple sizes too big to allow room for a thicker pair or two of wool socks and a little wiggle room? You know, just in case you get a snow day!
Finally, don’t forget your summer time goals either just because Fall is on her way…. there’s still plenty of time to reach them!

Steve Lacey

Daniel Rebour was a French illustrator of the post war era. During the 1940s, 50s and 60s Rebour created precise line drawings for catalogues and magazines documenting the innovations, intricacies and curiosities of bicycles and their components. His exquisitely detailed and beautifully crafted illustrations show a love for the bicycle and its mechanical beauty and strike a fine balance between technical precision and artistic expression.

Words by Joe Hall at the Rapha.blog.

So I have not long been back from Paris and after sifting through what seems like thousands of photographs I have finally sorted out enough to post.

Now I could quite easily sit here and ramble on about how amazing it was to see all the pro riders whizzing by at speed and how excited I was to be a small part of Le grand finale but I will let my weak photographs do all of the rambling for me!

View the whole set on Flickr.

For every sports fanatic there are always a handful of sportsmen for whom we reserve an adulation which goes beyond simple enjoyment of their talents. Our love of these men excuses their faults, relishes their often sporadic highs with the same degree of personal triumph as our individual endeavours and more often than not finds us (several pints deep) in heated discussion with anyone who will listen to our inflated estimations of our hero’s genius. This affection also rises above the fickleness of team allegiances and on more than one occasion I have been torn between screaming abuse and saluting a superior power; a dilemma particularly well versed with one Stephen Roger Waugh.

What attracts us to these men and women is unique to each person. For my father the pattern appears to be the mercurial, effortless and occasional brutal genius of the likes of Viv Richards and Dennis Bergkamp. For a friend and former colleague at the University newspaper, his fixation seemed to be solely concentrated on Paul Scholes meek, understated class and total absence of pretension. Another (who should know much better) has a bizarre fixation with the former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, though part of me suspects (and hopes) that particular example was exaggerated to our sometimes bitter disputes.

For me, it has always been those capable of bridging the divide between the qualities of skilful sporting sophistication and the back street fighter who draw me in. Michael Atherton was my boyhood hero for the way he carried the English cricket team on his increasingly rickety back. Of more recent years Martin Williams and Owen Hargreaves, never the centre of attention but as often as not the driving force, scrapping for possession in order to allow the flair boys to flourish and pulling off the odd piece of unexpected magic themselves.

Another who has been a personal favourite since he tore up the velodrome quite spectacularly in the 2004 Athens Olympics is Bradley Wiggins. His gold then, four years before the GB cycling team had waltzed beyond the rest of the World, was brilliant but for me hero status was confirmed in 2007 when, on the anniversary of the death of the legendary Tom Simpson, Wiggo launched a punishing solo breakaway at the Tour de France which was tragically hunted down just a few kilometres from the finish line. Here was a Brit who, on cycling’s biggest stage, was willing to throw himself at the greatest race there is. He may have stood no chance overall but having someone’s results to look out for was refreshing.

Then came the Olympics last year and two further Gold medals. As proud as I was, there was also bitterness at the way Hoy and Pendleton hogged the headlines. Don’t get me wrong, hats off to two of the greatest sprinters the Olympics has seen but I just couldn’t take seriously cyclists whose talents only stretched to a few hundred metres.

The last few weeks then have been some of the finest I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. Cavendish (a sprinter yes, but one who has to haul himself through hundreds of miles of pain before he gets a glimpse of glory) alone made it a tour to remember for British fans with his sensational six stage victories but to witness our Bradley slogging away alongside the likes of Contador, the Schleck brothers and Lance Armstrong when the race entered the Pyrenees was something quite phenomenal.

Expectations rose as the tour continued but for me that one day was enough. Just that glimpse of black socks amongst the Astana powerhouses left me with a warm feeling that I hope never fades.

That he could hold onto his top five place and equal Robert Miller’s best British finish was merely proof that he is amongst our finest living sportsmen. And if next year comes and it all proves to be a fluke, so what? Wiggo I salute you.

I just checked the result of the TDF ttt and noticed that Silence-Lotto didn’t wait for VdB when he fell. He lost seven minutes on Astana and about 4min 30sec on the rest of his team. I imagine dinner was a little difficult that night!

173rd  Jurgen van den Broek (Bel) Silence-Lotto @ 7min. 04sec.

Worryingly as Le Tour fever comes to a close it appears that the 2009 version will be remembered for Armstrong’s comeback and Contador’s victory and not another baby victory tribute. The online world caught alight with varying opinions on Cavendish’s “call me” victory salute, whilst BikeSnobNYC crudely referred to the Contador victory salute as “finger banging”.

Australian Neil Stephens is remembered fondly for two things: his mullet and his rocking baby victory salute upon winning a stage of the 1997 tour.

More recently, former winner, Carlos Sastre, took things to another level with a pre-prepared dummy (pacifier) tribute. Whilst I am celebrating the baby tribute I’m not sure that I want to advocate props. Frankly the picture of an adult sucking a dummy is disturbing and on a practical level did he carry the dummy for the 200 odd km or ask a domestique to bring it up from the team car?

It seems that once a baby reaches childhood it then can become part of the podium celebration. Two famous advocates of this are Robbie McEwen and the king himself Lance Armstrong.

The current tour is a worry because with only one stage remaining there has been plenty of additions to the various categories of victory salutes but not one for the baby salute. We can only wait in hope that the Paris podium contains a few kids of the various jersey wearers.

I am calling for an Operation Puerto style investigation into these developments. My extensive research has revealed that of the 2009 stage winners only Fabian Cancellara and Juan Manuel Garate are owning up to be dads on their websites but significantly they did not do the rocking baby tribute or whip a diaper/ bottle/ dummy/ out of their jersey upon crossing the line. Is it that:

a) Findings such as”Male endurance cyclists may be at risk of significant changes in the structure if not the quality of their sperm” is affecting the current peloton;
b) Dads are not winning;
c) Dads that do win are not prepared for a celebration along the lines of Carlos Sastre or our very own Neil Stephens.

We need answers!

On a completely unrelated topic I had to post the Evian Baby commercial to just prove to myself that I am up with all that is happening on the interweb thingy.

stage 21 – Montereau-Fault-Yonne Paris Champs-Élysées 164 km
Sunday 21 july

Tour de France Standings—Through Stage 21 Through stage 21 Rank Rider Time Behind
1 Alberto CONTADOR 85:48:35 -
2 Andy SCHLECK 85:52:46 04:11
3 Lance ARMSTRONG 85:53:59 05:24
4 Bradley WIGGINS 85:54:36 06:01
5 Frank SCHLECK 85:54:39 06:04
6 Andréas KLÖDEN 85:55:17 06:42
7 Vincenzo NIBALI 85:56:10 07:35
8 Christian VANDE VELDE 86:00:39 12:04
9 Roman KREUZIGER 86:02:51 14:16
10 Christophe LE MEVEL 86:03:00 14:25

stage 20 – Montélimar Mont Ventoux 167 km
Saturday 25 July

WOW. What a performance from Mark Cavendish! He is now the best sprinter ever with his five (six, with that in the last stage) victories in the same Le Tour. I cannot stop watching this video over and over again! He looks like super-human. Check out especially the view from the helicopter from min. 1:43.

How marvelous is the human body! What great design it has and how adaptable it is (take for example cycling). Even corrupted, the human body still shows us a glimpse of how perfect it once was.

Vrijdag 18 juli 1969, rit 22 : Brive – ‘Clermont-Ferrand’ (198 km)

Burgemeester Urbain Van Kerckhove weet niet meer waar hij het heeft. Zonet is een apetrotse Jef Van Rang zijn kabinet binnengestormd met de vreugdevolle mededeling dat het eerste na-tourcriterium niet in Ronse dan wel in Sint-Lievens-Esse zal plaatsvinden.  De burgemeester hoorde het eerst donderen in Keulen, maar al snel bracht Jef hem met beide voeten op de grond.

De geruchten als had Ronse niet de nodige middelen meer om het  criterium te organiseren, waren dus waar. En daar was Jef als de kippen bij om een oplossing te zoeken. Hij trok samen met de Plakker,Dirk Van Der Haeghen, naar de Belgische Wielerbond  om een oplossing te zoeken voor het bijna-failliet van de organisatie in Ronse.  De twee Eskenaren hadden er niet beter op gevonden om het criterium naar Eske te halen. Hoofdsponsor Van Der Haeghen stelde zich hierbij persoonlijk garant om de wedstrijd zelf te organiseren in Eske Merdjië.

En dus zit de burgemeester met tal van praktische problemen opgezadeld. Even had hij eraan  gedacht om gans de boel af te blazen, maar dan zou hij zich bijzonder onpopulair maken bij zijn bevolking. De Palingrijders waren immers dé ploeg van de Tour. Samen met hun kopman Eddy Merckx zouden ze komende maandag als helden ontvangen worden en hij kan het bijgevolg niet maken om zo een op til staand volksfeest te annuleren. Dus beslist hij maar om alle verloven van het gemeentepersoneel in te trekken en morgenvroeg om acht uur te verzamelen aan het gemeentehuis in de populierestraat.

Intussen staat Café De Paling in rep en roer. Dirk Van der Haeghen en Jef Van Rang zijn daar als ware helden ontvangen. Iedereen is daar door het dolle heen. Er heerst een getrek en een geduw om het nieuws te horen dat Eddy Merckx met zijn Palingrijders een criterium gaan rijden in Eske. Dirk besluit op aandringen van een paniekerige  Gomar, die vreest voor vechtpartijen, op de ronde tafel te klimmen en de aanwezige supporters toe te spreken.  Hij bevestigt de komst van het na-tourcriterium te Eske en hij somt de namen van alle deelnemers op. Een uitbarsting van blijdschap overstemt hem. Het is zelfs zo erg dat de supporters door het dolle heen raken en de Plakker van de tafel sleuren. Samen met Jef Van Rang wordt hij op de schouders van de opgehitste supporters geheven en worden hun namen gescandeerd. Eske staat op ontploffen!

Waar het er minder geanimeerd aan toegaat, is in de Tour. Opnieuw is het drukkend heet en eer staat een rit gepland in het Oud-Massief met op het eind de beklimming van de 14 km lange beklimming van de Puy de Dôme. Met een gemiddeld stijgingspercentage van 7,5 % een nogal zware beklimming voor de uitgebluste renners.

Tot op 70 km van de aankomst blijft het peloton aan gemiddeld dertig per uur de kilometers er doormalen.  Er zit geen spirit meer in de vermoeide rennerslijven. Tot plots Gert Caubergs van de Westvlaamse Vanancaploeg het hazepad kiest. In navolging van zijn broer Jos, wil ook hij zijn rit meepikken. En het lijkt hem aardig te lukken want het peloton, onder leiding van de Palingrijders, reageert totaal niet. Zo krijgt Gert Caubergs de kans om zijn voorsprong uit te diepen tot maar liefst zeven minuten aan de voet van de Puy de Dôme. Sportdirecteur Bert Allosie maant zijn renner aan tot kalmte. Want de klim is lang en lastig.

Als het peloton op haar beurt aan de beklimming begint, neemt Peter Vervoort het heft in handen. Als een bezetene neemt hij het kopwerk op zich en onder zijn gebeuk ontstaat er een achtervolgende groep van 6 renners : Vervoort, Merckx, Pingeon, Poulidor, Gandarias en Gutty. De voorsprong van de Vananca-renner slinkt  nu snel.

Bert Allosie rijdt bijna constant aan het wiel van Gert Caubergs. Hij schreeuwt zijn renner als het ware vooruit want halfweg de klim krijgt hij het moeilijk en telt hij nog vier minuten voorsprong. Bert Allosie raakt nog meer opgewonden als hij te horen krijgt dat achteraan de Kannibaal alleen in de achtervolging rijdt. Het wordt nu echt wel moeilijk voor de Vananca-renner.

Op één kilometer van de aankomst en de top bedraagt de voorsprong nog amper twee minuten op een ontketende Merckx. Caubergs krijgt het nu echt moeilijk en hij zwalpt verder richting aankomst. Zijn sportdirecteur raakt nu echt in paniek en brult nu meer dan hij het uitschreeuwd. Met een allerlaatste krachtinspanning sleept Gert Caubergs zich naar de aankomst en behoudt hij alsnog één minuut op een sterke Merckx.  Op de meet staat Caubergs bijna stil. Maar de rit is binnen en hij valt dan ook van moeite in de armen van een onthutste radioreporter. Hij kan geen pap meer zeggen.

Merckx is desondanks toch blij met zijn tweede stek en zo diept hij zijn voorsprong in het klassement uit op Pingeon tot 16′40″. Een echt slagveld wordt dat nu achter hem. Waar het ook een slagveld wordt, is in Eske. De supporters hebben een ganse namiddag alles aandachtig gevolgd en het bier vloeide rijkelijk. De eerste “lijken” liggen al onder de tafels hun roes uit te slapen. Wat gaat dat komende maandag worden bij het na-tourcriterium te Eske ………….

Vele wielergroeten van uw reporter ter plaatse,

Kamiel Vélo

http://www.youtube.com/user/blogdepaling

http://nl-nl.facebook.com/pages/Sint-Lievens-Esse-Belgium/De-Palingrijders/42488893723?ref=s

depaling@gmail.com

The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
~G.K. Chesterton

Nestled in the Haute Savoie region is the scenic canal-laced town of Annecy which borders one of the most striking pure azure lakes of Europe with the Aravis and Bauges alpine foothills framing the backdrop. The waters simply stun. A university town, Annecy is also renowned for its cultural landscape with the International Animated Film Festival held each June.

Yesterday, Lac d’Annecy was the site of the second individual and final time trial (TT) of the Tour. In the Contre-Le-Montre, sometimes called the “Race of Truth,” the riders have an individual staggered start and compete solely against the clock without the drafting benefits of the peloton.

Haut-Savoyard cuisine includes a hallowed house denizen, gratin dauphinois—that velvety, sumptuous potato au gratin which is savored hot that night and/or cold for lunch the next day. (See Obama Fare — Gratin Dauphinois). An au gratin treatment with leeks is likewise luscious.

LEEKS AU GRATIN

Preheat oven to 375 F

10 leeks, rinsed thoroughly, roots trimmed, white and green parts cut into 2″ pieces and then quartered
1/2 lb bacon, cut into 2″ pieces
1 C chicken or vegetable stock
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Pinch of dried thyme
2 T unsalted butter
2 T all purpose flour
1 C whole milk
1 egg yolk
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
1 T Emmenthal cheese, grated
1 T Gruyère cheese, grated

Sauté the bacon in a heavy skillet until browned. Pour off some of the rendered fat and then add the leeks, stock, salt, pepper and thyme. Cover tightly and cook until the leeks are tender and the stock has evaporated, about 25 minutes.

Make a béchamel—over medium heat, melt the butter in a medium saucepan, stir in the flour until smooth, add the milk and cook while constantly whisking. Bring the sauce to a gentle boil and cook for 5 minutes. In a bowl, mix the egg yolk and cream together, then whisk them into the sauce. Add to the leek mixture, stirring constantly.

Pour the entire mixture into a shallow glass baking dish, sprinkle with the cheese, and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.