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Tour diary
For anyone interested, account of a week following the Tour in the Pyrenees, thinly disguised as a family holiday... sorry its quite long..
Sunday... rode the Etape, well documented elsewhere
Monday ..Skelders, Paul and I met for Steak frites, lots of beer, tarte au chocolate, and Etape war stories, in a leafy sunny Pau square. Very pleasant, very smug!
Tuesday. Bagneres to Pau stage. Watched it from the lower slopes of the Col du Soulour. With the families (4 adults, 5 kids aged 6 and under, 1 dog). It was hot and sunny. Grabbed a spot on a bend, about 6% gradient so had a great view. Picnic by the side of the road waiting for the Tour... for those whove not done it, watching the Tour come through takes about 3 hours.. first you have the publicity caravan, sponsors wacky vehicles throwing out free promotional samples which the crowd go nuts for, often fighting each other! We traded some washing powder sachets for some sweets with the French old dears next to us.. they were very excited! Then its the team cars, press cars, tour officials, technical vehicles, and lots of police. Finally the cars thin out, and the anticipation builds... a shout goes up when the first helicopter is spotted and eventually the riders appear. They were split into 5 groups this day, with Armstrong in the front group looking for some glory. Got a great view of them all and they were slow enough we could recognise riders and shout out encouragement. Team cars in between the groups.. then finally they all through and the broom wagon comes through. Yellow jersey group comes past us:
Wednesday. Rest day. We drove up into mountains near Spain but even then couldnt avoid the Tour. Saw the Omega Pharma Lotto team out for a spin en masse, and then climbing the Portalet saw a single Radioshack rider descending behind a team car... in torrential rain.. not how I would spend my rest day...
Thursday. Pau to Tourmalet. The big one... the stage we all cycled in the Etape on Sunday. The plan had been for Paul and I to drive close and cycle up the Tourmalet , but 24 hours of torrential rain and thunderstorms and a neurotic dog (dont ask..) put paid to that. Instead we set off early and drove, and unexpectedly got half way up the Tourmalet despite the road being shut. Tried to get lunch in bageres but it was chaos.. all restaurants full and all sandwhiches sold out. There were Spanish cars everywhere... far more than French. Resigned to a diet of supermarket crisps and chocolate we dumped the car and started hiking up. But the Tour is a marvellous event... in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain we found a Basque pub... it had been towed there on the back of a car.. draught beer and sizzling Spanish sausages.. fantastic! Pub:
Sunday... rode the Etape, well documented elsewhere
Monday ..Skelders, Paul and I met for Steak frites, lots of beer, tarte au chocolate, and Etape war stories, in a leafy sunny Pau square. Very pleasant, very smug!
Tuesday. Bagneres to Pau stage. Watched it from the lower slopes of the Col du Soulour. With the families (4 adults, 5 kids aged 6 and under, 1 dog). It was hot and sunny. Grabbed a spot on a bend, about 6% gradient so had a great view. Picnic by the side of the road waiting for the Tour... for those whove not done it, watching the Tour come through takes about 3 hours.. first you have the publicity caravan, sponsors wacky vehicles throwing out free promotional samples which the crowd go nuts for, often fighting each other! We traded some washing powder sachets for some sweets with the French old dears next to us.. they were very excited! Then its the team cars, press cars, tour officials, technical vehicles, and lots of police. Finally the cars thin out, and the anticipation builds... a shout goes up when the first helicopter is spotted and eventually the riders appear. They were split into 5 groups this day, with Armstrong in the front group looking for some glory. Got a great view of them all and they were slow enough we could recognise riders and shout out encouragement. Team cars in between the groups.. then finally they all through and the broom wagon comes through. Yellow jersey group comes past us:
Wednesday. Rest day. We drove up into mountains near Spain but even then couldnt avoid the Tour. Saw the Omega Pharma Lotto team out for a spin en masse, and then climbing the Portalet saw a single Radioshack rider descending behind a team car... in torrential rain.. not how I would spend my rest day...
Thursday. Pau to Tourmalet. The big one... the stage we all cycled in the Etape on Sunday. The plan had been for Paul and I to drive close and cycle up the Tourmalet , but 24 hours of torrential rain and thunderstorms and a neurotic dog (dont ask..) put paid to that. Instead we set off early and drove, and unexpectedly got half way up the Tourmalet despite the road being shut. Tried to get lunch in bageres but it was chaos.. all restaurants full and all sandwhiches sold out. There were Spanish cars everywhere... far more than French. Resigned to a diet of supermarket crisps and chocolate we dumped the car and started hiking up. But the Tour is a marvellous event... in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain we found a Basque pub... it had been towed there on the back of a car.. draught beer and sizzling Spanish sausages.. fantastic! Pub:
Comments
The second group, Menchov etc came through, then there were no more team cars or camera bikes.. just riders appearing on their own or in groups out of the mist. Amazing. They cut the corner aiming right at us and with no one else around they seemed very vulnerable, most seemed to seek eye contact and pass as close to you as they could.,.. using you as a target to get themselves up the mountain:
Often you would catch their eyes and shout encouragement then suddenly realise you had no idea who the rider was! Some were very recognisable though. Cadel ironically nearly ran over my dog. Sastre virtually ran over my foot. Later on more team cars appeard and saw a few riders holding onto wing mirrors, knowing there were no cameras around. You really could not have got closer to the riders, and the sense of drama was remarkable. Eventually the gruppetto went through and we trekked back down. A 14 hour day by the time we got home, cold wet and very tired... but worth every minute... especially knowing you had cycled the same stage yourself 4 days before.
Friday. Went to the start of the stage at Salies-de- Bearn. Starts are always very relaxed, you can wander around the outside of the team bus enclosure and riders village, and see the riders arriving, see the bikes etc, and they are happy to chat and sign autographs (well some are!). Saw a mechanic riding Contadors bike round and round and adjusting the gears. Saw Cavs bike up close:
Then saw the riders riding down to sign on, no helmets, very relaxed. Shouted encouragement to all the Brits, Cav in particular which doubtless contributed directly to his fantastic win later that day in Bordeaux. Then the riders line up and off they go.
Thor gives an interview... Yes I will keep the Green jersey to Paris.. yeah right:
Satuday. Time to head home... but that meant driving north, via Bordeaux where the TT was... I couldnt could I? Oh yes it had to be done, so we conveniently found ourselves driving round the Bordeaux ring road at just the right time... dashed off down a side road, followed some locals round a route baree sign and got a spot on the road 15 km in, to watch the top 20 riders come through.. though just missed Brad which was frustrating. Again the riders seemed quite vulnerable, on their own riding a tough hot windy TT, ... though their style and power was truly impressive. Helicoptors came over very low following Sanchez and Contador. I timed the gap between Schleck and Contador at exactly three minutes, ie dead level. But Schleck looked like he was on the edge. To my untrained eye Menchov looked the best, neat and focused. After Alberto went through it was back to the car and listen to the climax on the radio. Couldnt make it to Paris on Sunday... have to save that for another year.
Contador in the TT:
Following the Tour is great fun for a cycling fan.. but the family really enjoyed it too. Or at the very least the kids now think it is normal to sit by the side of the road for 3 hours watching cycling! Go watch the tour, do the Etape.... even better do both!