It was supposed to be an easy stage today... but it wasn’t ! And yet we were descending by around 1000m over the 75 km planned... But right from the start we had a headwind, or almost a headwind.
Then, just as we were passing through the town of Istaravshan, we hit a huge traffic jam with cars getting stuck in every direction. It was while zigzagging between the cars - no doubt with the wrong gear - that my chain got stuck in the bottom guide of the derailleur and ended up twisting it... Stopped a bit further on, I tried to untwist it and finally decided to look for a bike repairer. There was a whole row of them on the pavement opposite ! The repairer saw me coming and asked a car that was blocking the way to let me through, then in a few minutes with a big pair of pliers he put the part back more or less straight.
Then, fed up with the very strong wind that was slowing us down and drying us out, we tried to reach a hotel a few kilometres before our goal. It was another ghost hotel that cost us a bit of time, but we took the opportunity to eat a melon bought by the side of the road and set off again with renewed strength !