Tour de France 2007: Stage 14

Stage 14 (Mazamet - Plateau-de-Beille)

Dave Leipheimer and a fellow American are pumped up and ready to go.




Antonio Colom Mas, I think. He was leading the race at this point.


Dave gave his brother Levi a bottle of water.


The man with "GO LEVI" T-shirt is the father of Levi Leipheimer. Dave in front.


Are these riders Andreas Klöden and Andrey Kashechkin?


This Euskadi rider can be Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau. Astarloza was also destined
to see his name on the road in 200 meters if he was paying attentions. In any
case, he and his teammate, Zubeldia was going to be passionately welcomed
by their fan in orange T-shirt soon, which fact I am very sure of.


Michael Boorgerd and Haimar Zubeldia Agirre or Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau.


Bernard Kohl, Oscar Pereiro Sio and Alejandro Valvelde Belmonte, I think.

Amets Txurruka? or ???

He could be Haimar Zubeldia Agirre. If so, he was going to see his name painted
on the road just 200 meters later. Why? Because I painted his name on the
road in exchange for some sweets at the request of some Basque fans.


Denis Menchov. He came before Jens but finished almost 5 minutes after Jens.
He was not having a good day.


Jens Voigt and Vladirmir Karpets.


Thomas Dekker and Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga, I think.


Christian Vande Velde and Kim Kirchen, Charles Wegelius, Chris Horner,
Iban Mayo Diez, Carlos Barredo Llamazales, I think but I am not sure.

After the race was all over and I was on my way down on my bike along with
other cyclists, Christian came from behind and shouted at me, "Watch out,
watch out" and passed me. As he passed me, he turned to me and smiled.

Why do I, a Team CSC fan, NOT have a single good picture of Team CSC
riders? You may be wondering by now.

I tell you why. Because I am not looking at the Team CSC riders through
finder or LCD monitor on the back of the digital camera but directly at them
with my own eyes. I am shouting their names or something. That is why.

I don't have a picutre of Inigo Cuesta here at Stage 14. What happened with
Cuesta that day was, I caught him climbing almost alone. He recognized me
as I shouted his name and said, "Thank you" to me. These two words are
at least one thousand times valuable to me than a well focused photo of him.


Paolo Savoldelli and others.


George Hincapie came. The man running along him is NOT Levi's brother.
I met them again later. The last time I met them, they told me they had
a wonderful dinner with the Leipheimers and the Hincapies on the eve of
Champs-Élysées finish. See you guys next year!


Sylvain Chavanel and Alexandre Botcharov, I think.


Markus Fothen came.


This small group includes Frank Schleck. Christian Knees, Egoi Martinez De Esteban,
David De La Fuente Rasilla, Johan Van Summeren, Iker Camano Ortuzar
and Ludovic Turpin.


German Champion Fabian Wegmann came before David Millar but finished
after Millar.


David Millar and "LEVI" on the road painted by me. I think he did not take the bottle.


Alexandre Vinokourov was being protected by his teammates,
Daniel Navarro Garcia and Serguei Ivanov.

Francisco Perez Sanchez, and Nicolas Portal of Caisse d'Epargne were there.


Marcus Burghardt came. The man wanted Marcus to take his bottle of water.
Instead, Marcus gave him his bidon for his efforts. Or he just wanted to get
rid of this annoying man.


Then the peloton came. You can see Fabian Cancellara in front.

When you see this car, 'Voiture Balai (Broom stick car)', you know the race is
going to end soon.

Is it "Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux"? He finished at 165th and was
the last person to finish.