Two Tour de France Posts

Congratulations to fellow San Diegan Floyd Landis for winning the 2006 Tour de France! In case you missed them, here are links to the two Tour de France posts from the stage that we got to see:

Hollanders know how to party
Allez! Allez! Allez!

Allez! Allez! Allez!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - Race Day

We awoke at 7:00 (AM) to the sounds of the PA on the L'Equippe van, advertising their newspaper and various other Tour souvenirs. After a night of tossing and turning on our 10 euro sleeping bags set on an 8% cement slope, this wasn't an ideal way to start our day. We begrudgingly got out of bed and were pleasantly surprised with the handiwork that had occurred the night before. Since we had left for "the Dutch corner" to party with the Hollanders the night before, we hadn't noticed that the entire road had been covered with acryllic paint T-Mobile logos, devil's pitchforks (for Didi), and various other cyclists' names with motivations in multiple languages.

We spent our day sleeping in what little shade we could find, playing cards, chatting up our neighbors, and watching the steady stream of tired riders make their way laboriously to the summit. I even had a Frenchmen offer me 20 Euro to drive him to the top. Unfortunately I had to refuse, as giving up our spot now could be disasterous, but offered some water as consolation. Disappointed, he pressed onward.

At around 15:30 (3:30 PM) the caravan began to pass through our section of the route. The caravon consists of outrageous "floats" (if you could call them that) throwing "prizes" to the crowd. Grown men turn into little boys as they push, shove, elbow and gouge other spectators, scrambing for their free candy samples, keychains, hats and magnets. The purpose of this caravan is to amp up the crowd as the race approaches (and to advertise, of course). I have to admit that it worked for me, as I was waving my arms like a kindergartner and getting into the scrum with the rest of them. Beth fared better than I in the "swag" department, catching a good bit of the goodies, all while covering the event with our camera.

The wait during the next hour was almost unbearable. We (my new Scottish friend and I) found an RV with a satellite TV hookup, and watched with race as the riders approached, judging their distance by the helicopters following the peloton.


Finally the riders began to arrive, and I watched the legends of cycling pedal by. The group was fairly tired from the nearly 180 grueling kilometers they had already traveled that day, and as a result began to spread out on the climb, allowing us a great view as they passed. I have to admit, though, that I had a hard time recognizing the faces that I had until now only seen on TV. I did spot George Hincapie, and was able to run alongside him for a short bit, encouraging him with "Allez! Allez! Allez!/Go! Go! Go!" He looked to me, but seemed a bit to tired to respond. Seeing as he had a lot of work still to do, I'll let it slide.

The caravan of riders and vehicles ended with a blue van labeled "Fin de Course." At that point, we packed up and worked our way slowly back to Grenoble. We had originally planned to camp another night, but it became apparent that we would be the only ones doing so, so we decided to try our luck in Grenoble. It wasn't easy, but we managed to find a place right by the train station.

Seeing Le Tour in person, and sharing the intensity with about one million people was an amazing experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. This was somewhat of a pilgrimmage for me, and I'm so happy to have been able to do this with Beth, and on our honeymoon no less!


Update: Added pictures!

Hollanders know how to party

Monday, July 17, 2006

After cleaning house at the Decathlon (a sporting goods store) in Grenoble, purchasing a tent, two sleeping bags and two tripod chairs for 50 euro, we arrived at l'Alpe d'Huez at what seemed like just the right time. We parked about halfway up the final climb, just above turn N° 7 and set up camp on the road. Shortly after, the entire road filled in with vehicles behind us. Beth and I met a French family that we had initially mistaken for Americans, who had been following the entire tour. They were big Discovery fans, as their car was bedecked in American flags and Discovery-clad stuffed animals. I found myself wishing that I had brought my bike as I watched countless riders of varying age and condition making their way around the switchbacks that I had memorized from watching the tour on TV. After a delicious meal of bread, cheese, salami, and pesto (from Cinque Terre), Beth and I headed up the road to check out the scene.


Hollanders know how to party. They set themselves up with a DJ booth and a bar next to the church at turn N° 9. The orange clad mob drank beers and danced in conga lines while singing along to cheesy techno remixes (a la The A-Team theme). It was gloriously campy, and ended up turning into a great way to pass the time as we waited for race day.

Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso pulled from Le Tour!

Friday, June 30, 2006

The Tour de France's two favorites, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, were ejected from the Tour in the wake of a Spanish doping scandal. The two riders, expected by many to finish in first and second (I have my own opinions of this as well), were suspended by their teams in the face of evidence brought to them by investigators for Operación Puerto in Spain.

This is big news. According to Velonews, the Tour has been "thrown into its biggest crisis since the 1998 Festina scandal." 51 other riders were named on the list, including other notables Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile), Joseba Beloki (Astana-Wurth), Marcos Serrano (Astana-Wurth), Roberto Heras (Liberty Siguros-suspended), Tyler Hamilton (Phonak-suspended) and Francisco Mancebo (AG2R). CSC's team manager Bjarne Riis says this:

I think it's a huge blow for everybody. I'd rather be here because Ivan has won the tour. Right now it's not the case. It's a hard situation for all of us, but this is life. But you have to stand up and face it. It's easy to sit down and cry, but you have to be responsible for your own life. The only thing I want to do is be responsible for my team.

I have no other choice.

The timing of this investigation is just uncanny. With just one day before the start of what could have been (and still could be) the most exciting Tour yet, this is a huge blow. The Tour organizers take these allegations very seriously, and so do the teams. Here's what a friend had to say about it:

But I hate this, and regardless of what comes out of this, Jan definitely had contact with that sleazy doctor, and Jan definitely lied about it. Innocent until proven guilty, but if you're T-Mobile, and staring at a very likely Tour de France victory, everything you've dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into for the last five years, you don't pull Jan out of the Tour unless you've seen some pretty hard evidence. And then for CSC to pull Basso AFTER Jan is already gone? Ivan Basso was nearly guaranteed a free ride to the Yellow Jersey with Jan gone, so don't tell me CSC didn't see something scary.

This Tour was shaping up to be very exciting now that Lance has retired. There was a feeling that it was wide open, that it was anyone's race to win. Now that some of the biggest players are now out, that feeling is stronger than ever.

Update: Francisco Mancebo has now retired!