Jens Voigt did it again, for the third time in his career to win the maillot
jaune. The French call him "Yents Voit" (as Jon Voight, the well-known
actor, "The Champ" 1979 among others), whereas the German call him
"Yents Folk-t" (completely ignoring "L" phonetically). I can not
describe it accurately but please guess.
Come to think of it, Voight could be an alternative spelling of Voigt. Does
Mr. Voight somehow have German trait in his family?
Saturday, 30th March, it rained most of that part of Europe so the air
was really damp and the road surface was still wet. As soon as I hit the
hilly highway (Autobahn in German), I was annoyed by the thick
fog. It was sometimes so thick that I can not see beyond 20m or 30m
and the highway signs. I had GPS navigation system in my car and it
helped. I think I could have never made it to Les Vieilles Forges in
time or I could have turned round without it.
My car can show the outside temperature and I noticed that the
temperature varied from 3.5 to 8.0 rather rapidly within a few
kilometers. When the temperature dropped below 6.5, I ran into
the fog. The foggy area was on and off all the way to Les Vieilles
Forges except for the short strech in Belgium.
I stopped at the "Aire de Berchem" in Luxembourg. It is a parking
facility with a gas station, restaurants, restrooms and a shop. My
plan was to look for that flag. According to Wikipedia, "the red lion is
the official ensign for ships registered in Luxembourg." I could not
get one and I drove on.
It was my first time ever to go to Criterium Inernational. I could not
see the opening stage on Saturday as I had work. I left early Sunday
(around 01:00 past midnight) only to get to Les Vieilles Forges around
06:30 in the morning. I had thought that the race start was somewhere
in the village but it turned out the start was at the lakeside swimming,
camping, kayaking and resort facilities. "Equipe Parking"
sign was there. There were already 10 cars or so waiting in the parking
lot on the side of the road where the Equipe parking was. I saw French
and Luxembourg license numbers but not German ones.
Who in the right frame of mind would drive to this little French
resort village all the way from Germany? It was still dark.
I knew they were coming soon or later. And it did. Around 06:45,
EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI bus and team cars came. I was trying to
get some sleep in my car but decided that I had no time to doze off.
It was still dark!
By 07:30, all the team gathered and the mechanics were busy
unloading the bikes and the soigneurs were putting the bidons
on the bikes. It is unusual for a race to take place this early in the
morning. They had two stages that Sunday.
Anyway, I got JJ Haedo, Jens Voigt, Anders Lund and Chris Anker
Sorensen autograph my Team CSC retro sweater and I could not be
happier. I saw the start and left for Monthermé, the goal of the second
stage.
jaune. The French call him "Yents Voit" (as Jon Voight, the well-known
actor, "The Champ" 1979 among others), whereas the German call him
"Yents Folk-t" (completely ignoring "L" phonetically). I can not
describe it accurately but please guess.
Come to think of it, Voight could be an alternative spelling of Voigt. Does
Mr. Voight somehow have German trait in his family?
Saturday, 30th March, it rained most of that part of Europe so the air
was really damp and the road surface was still wet. As soon as I hit the
hilly highway (Autobahn in German), I was annoyed by the thick
fog. It was sometimes so thick that I can not see beyond 20m or 30m
and the highway signs. I had GPS navigation system in my car and it
helped. I think I could have never made it to Les Vieilles Forges in
time or I could have turned round without it.
My car can show the outside temperature and I noticed that the
temperature varied from 3.5 to 8.0 rather rapidly within a few
kilometers. When the temperature dropped below 6.5, I ran into
the fog. The foggy area was on and off all the way to Les Vieilles
Forges except for the short strech in Belgium.
I stopped at the "Aire de Berchem" in Luxembourg. It is a parking
facility with a gas station, restaurants, restrooms and a shop. My
plan was to look for that flag. According to Wikipedia, "the red lion is
the official ensign for ships registered in Luxembourg." I could not
get one and I drove on.
It was my first time ever to go to Criterium Inernational. I could not
see the opening stage on Saturday as I had work. I left early Sunday
(around 01:00 past midnight) only to get to Les Vieilles Forges around
06:30 in the morning. I had thought that the race start was somewhere
in the village but it turned out the start was at the lakeside swimming,
camping, kayaking and resort facilities. "Equipe Parking"
sign was there. There were already 10 cars or so waiting in the parking
lot on the side of the road where the Equipe parking was. I saw French
and Luxembourg license numbers but not German ones.
Who in the right frame of mind would drive to this little French
resort village all the way from Germany? It was still dark.
I knew they were coming soon or later. And it did. Around 06:45,
EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI bus and team cars came. I was trying to
get some sleep in my car but decided that I had no time to doze off.
It was still dark!
By 07:30, all the team gathered and the mechanics were busy
unloading the bikes and the soigneurs were putting the bidons
on the bikes. It is unusual for a race to take place this early in the
morning. They had two stages that Sunday.
Anyway, I got JJ Haedo, Jens Voigt, Anders Lund and Chris Anker
Sorensen autograph my Team CSC retro sweater and I could not be
happier. I saw the start and left for Monthermé, the goal of the second
stage.
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