French accent symbols on some of the French words. I will correct them
later.
I arrived early but there were already Gendarmerie officers diverting
the traffic at the roundabout. The small town was beautiful, at least
pretty. It was around 8:30 in the morning but there were already people
gathering in front of the stage where riders put their signature before the
start. The start was around noon so those people were determined to
just stand there and wait for 4 hours. That is usual for dedicated fans.
Before the race (and caravan start and everything), these people cheer
the patient spectators up with freebies. Skoda miniature cars, Festina
reflective bands and Grand Mere ground coffee beans were offered. Here
you can see a man with a tricycle with a load of free samples.
She is a Festina girl. She is slightly leaning backwards because she had
a pair of Rollerblades and was resting on her heels. Together with the
Segway girl below, she was handing out so many freebie safety bands.
And people were relentless with "Give me that thing!" hands. I
wondered how these nice girls could be so cheerful and smile so
gracefully.
Early in the morning, so not so many people were there. This is the start.
Do you know Segway? That day, one of the Festina girls was on a Segway.
Stuart O'Grady before the start. The problem was that all the Team
cars and buses were inside a well-protected area where only people
with a pass could get in.
This was taken at about 1km from the start gate. Some of the Team CSC
riders noticed me. Look Inigo Cuesta and Fabian Cancellara are looking
at me and even smiling at me.
This day I decided to skip the ravitaillement as they were located in a
remote area and it was not easy to get there by car. I drove to the finish.
I arrived just in time. The publicity caravan was about to arrive.
This is where I waited for the race to arrive. The famous last 1km gate.
At the finish, the dancing girls took their sweaters off. It was not hot but
definitely warm in the afternoon.
When they left the start town, they had a thick sweater on.
Quick Step was preparing for the sprint. Just 1km before the finish.
This is a preview. Not finished!
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