Tour de France 2007: Stage 16

This is a preview.


July 23rd (Stage 15)
I drove to Col d'Abisque immediately after seeing the race at the
ravitaillement of Stage 15. I was determined to secure my parking place
near the summit. I remember arriving on top of Col d'Abisque around
9:00 PM. It was misty and I saw many cows. There were already cars
and campers along the route.

I was to stay there to nights before the race. 

I approached the summit from the other side. The race would come
from the otherside. As the pictures show, they put up barriers along 
race route for 3km or so. At first, I thought they were to prevent the 
spectators from stepping into the riders' path. Later I realized that
they were to prevent the sheep and cows from wandering into the
course.

The first night it was rather warm due to the thick condensation of
moisture in the air. 

July 24th (The rest day)
Sunny. I had all day to do nothing but wait and paint. In the morning, 
the sky was still gray but it cleared before noon. The road became dry
quickly. The road was to be closed around noon of 24th.



July 25th

It was sunny. The weather turned fine the previous day so
that at night it was cold. The starry night and chilling air and the
cars, trucks and motorhomes driving up and down among the
sound of distant cowbells.

I woke up early and resumed painting the road. The first thing
I saw walking up to the road was a BIG drawing of the Basque
organization called ETA. What does "GORA" in Spanish mean?

Chris Horner

Carlos Sastre

Mauricio Soler and watch the painting by me, CSC and Team CSC.


This is a preview.

Cadel Evans

This is a preview.

After the finish, the riders came down the mountain on their bike.
Here comes Inigo Cuesta. My tent neighbor for two nights were three
Spanish young men and they told me that they come from the same
town as Cuesta. They were happy that I draw Inigo Cuesta's name
numerously.

Christian Vande Velde is here. You can see the Stars and Stripes and the
Team CSC flag. You can almost read the name, 'Cuesta' in front of him.

Jens Voigt and Kurt-Asle Arvesen came in a small group. I did not know
at that time but Erik Zabel was also in this group.

I can NOT see the riders because of those annoying flags. Who put those
flags there? Sorry, I did. Here you see the flags (Swiss for Cancellara,
Norway for Arvesen, Germany for Voigt, Denmark for the team, USA for
Vande Velde and Luxembourg for Schleck). They are flying in a good
mood, aren't they?

The reason I did not display my Spanish flag was simple; this
region was the Basque dominant one and I felt that only Basque flags
were allowed.

In the end, the big peloton arrived. Fabian Cancellara is in front. Notice the
CSC drawing in the foreground? You know by now who did it.