World Championship in Stuttgart Part VII

Thursday September 27th 2007. Stuttgart, Germany

My automobile.


It was raining. I drove to Stuttgart, 130km away, and arrived at Herdweg
around 4:00 AM (in the morning!). I wanted to paint there on the street. I had
to give up the hope of painting since it was raining rather heavily. By noon it was
getting to drizzle.


The first rider is getting geared up. It was still raining and the road was wet.


Benoît Vaugrenard (France)

Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Belgium)

Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)

Dmytro Grabovskyy (Ukraine)

Knut Anders Fostervold (Norway)

Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)

Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)

Brian Vandborg (Denmark)
Has he already got a new contract? He finished at 4th place last year.
Why did he get this starting order? He deserved a better place, did not he?

Marco Pinotti (Italy)

World Championship in Stuttgart Part VI

Sunday September 30th 2007. Stuttgart, Germany

Christian Vande Velde climbing Herdweg.


At one point Thor Hushovd attacked and surprised the spectators. Norwegian
fans were cool, though.


The only picture of Carlos Sastre (with his compatriots).


Dutch team worked hard to tack in the initial breakaway.


Matti Breschel.


Alexandr Kolobnev. Everybody remembers his brave attack.


Jens Voigt.


Juan José Haedo.


Philippe Gilbert. I was supposed to paint his name on Herdweg. I am
sorry that I could not.


Fabian Cancellara.


Bobby Julich.


Lars Bak.


Kurt-Asle Arvesen.


Andy Schleck.

World Championship in Varese Italy 2008

The life goes on and the World Championship 2008 (http://www.varese2008.org/)
is already on its way.

From my place Varese is about 530km to drive. It is as close or far as Paris is from
my place. I have been to Paris several times. Twice I drove there on weekend.
I left for Paris Saturday night (actually 1:00 AM Sunday) and watched the
Prologue of Paris-Nice and drove back home arriving home early Monday
morning and then went to work. A really crazy weekend trip.

Who is coming to Varese 2008?

World Championship in Stuttgart Part V

Sunday September 30th 2007. Stuttgart, Germany

Bernard Kohl and a lot of riders.


Erik Zabel takes a look at his devoted wife as he passes by. You can also
see Fabian Cancellara.


Christian Vande Velde and (I think) Marcus Ljungqvist. I think I was
going to pick up Marcus's musette later. He is raising his left hand and
(I guess he was going to discard his musette) doing something.
The man who is fishing the T-Mobile musette could be Dave Zabriskie.


Can you tell which woman is the wife of Erik Zabel? I was there briefly while waiting to
collect something from the riders after the feed zone. Jens Voigt passed by and
shouted something to Mrs. Zabel.


Norwegian flags and banners and the works.


Matti Breschel? Lars Bak? Chris Anker Sorensen? Whoever it is, he is looking
at Christian Vande Velde (I think).


Fabian Wegmann, Micheal Boogerd and Davide Rebellin.


94 Kurt-Asle Arvesen.


Kurt-Asle Arvesen surrounded by his fans.


This is sometime near the last round. I think Samuel Sanchez attacked and
other riders are trying to react to it (or at least so it seems). Bettini and Schumacher
are on the lookout. The Belgium rider, I think, is Philippe Gilbert.


Kurt-Asle Arvesen is leading the break. You can also see Jens Voigt and Bobby
Julich. This was around 10th or 11th round.

World Championship in Stuttgart Part IV

First part of pictures are the road painting.

Kurt-Asle Arvesen. I painted "Arvesen". I did not know when I painted this
(between 3:00 - 5:00 AM) that this section was going to be the crossing
path. People just walked over him. This was not intended.


Chris Anker Sorensen. I painted "C.A. Sorensen".


Andy and Frank Schleck. I painted "Andy" and "Fränk" and then "Schleck".
I also painted "CSC" here.


"Schleck". You can guess why those Luxembourg fans are stationed here.


Matti Breschel. I painted "Breschel".


Here, I painted "Cancellara".


Fabian Cancellara. I painted "Fabian" and then "Cancellara".


Christian Vande Velde. I painted "Vande Velde".


Bobby Julich. I painted "Bobby".


Dave Zabriskie. I painted "Zabriskie"


Juan Jose Haedo. I painted "J.J. Haedo". It is not easy to read but it is not my
fault. You can also see "Schleck" and "Arvesen" here. As you can see, people
are crossing the street here.


Karsten Kroon and Lars Ytting Bak. I painted "Karsten" and "L.Y. Bak".


Carlos Sastre Candil. I painted "Sastre".


Marcus Ljungqvist. I painted "Ljungqvist".

I later picked up his musette and gave it to a Swedish family,
who are also Arvesen Fan Club members. Don't you think it is so strange that
the only thing that I picked up that day was Marcus's musette and I met these
wonderful people from Norway and Sweden? It is not an accident that I got
that musette but was a fate.


I made this man happy. This musette was obtained by me first then it was
transferred to him.


Alexandr Kolobnev. I painted "Kolobnev".

He came so close to becoming the World Champion. Notice
the Norwegian flag underneath? Under the orange street light, the flag was
almost invisible but I tried to avoid any object already drawn before my
efforts. I unintendedly painted over the Norwegian flags but those flags
were impossible to notice. Sorry guys.

I did not paint for Jens Voigt. Why? Because his name was already there painted
by German fans. Sorry Jens.

I kinda party-crashed the Kurt-Alse Arvesen fan club dinner on Sunday.
I was kindly invited by the members but I was (am) not a fan club member.

My Goooooooooood! I had a dinner with Kurt! Not only was I in the same
banquet room with other fans but I sat with him and his family!

Check out his site. (http://www.kurtalsearvesen.com/)

I repeatedly wrote in my blog that Arvesen was one of the most friendly
guys. I knew from my own experience that he really CARES about his fans.
And now I know that he has so many very dedicated fans and he cares about
all of them.