Tour de France 2007: Stage 18

Stage 18 (Cahors - Angoulême)

This day, I was at the ravitaillement. The day before, I stayed at a camping
site nearby.


The breakaway group.


The peloton passed.


Thomas Dekker is clearly visible.

Tour de France 2007: Stage 19 Part III

Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team

Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto

Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team

Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi

Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne

Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team

Tour de France 2007: Stage 19 Part II

Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team

Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld

Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi

Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne

Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank

Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir

Chris Horner (USA) Predictor - Lotto

Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance

His signature: the tongue!

Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank

Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre - Fondital

David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir

Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom:
Completely out of focus

Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne

Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas

Axel Merckx (Bel) T-Mobile Team

Pictures.

Tour de France 2007: Stage 19 Part I

Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom

Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Française des Jeux

Pictures first, then stories.

Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux

David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval - Prodir

Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre - Fondital

Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram

Kjell Carlström (Fin) Liquigas

Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner

Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux

Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep Innergetic:
In the green jersey


Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile:
Being followed by a Festina car without a spare bike.

Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux

Pictures first, then stories.

Deutschland Tour Part II (Stage 3)

(As usual, I don't have any good pictures. I don't care. I want to be
there and see the races with my own naked eyes rather than through
the finder.)


Can't touch this!

There is a NO-NO in cycling sport which has to be respected at any
cost.

You should never touch riders during the race.

It is dangerous. You may accidentally push the rider off the balance.
You never know. There is an exception to this rule as to any rules.

Unless the rider invites you to touch.

What am I trying to say? I touched Team CSC riders twice during
the race lately because THEY induced to me do so.

Here, I have a picture of Kurt-Alse Arvesen coming up to me. As he
passed me, he put up his left hand with palm wide open. What should
I do? Of course, I gave him my left hand, a high five.

Today, August 12th I was at the feed zone, somewhere 1 km after the
end of the feed zone. I was waiting for the race to arrive. Two-man
breakaway passed first followed by the peloton.

They came quietly so I missed the photo opportunity.


The peloton was controlled by Team CSC and Fabian Cancellara
was the leading man. He recognized me and yelled, "Hey..." He then
raised his left arm high with an open palm (Descente logo was visible)
and swerved toward me.

What should I do? Of course, I gave him five.

I reapeat, "You should never touch the riders during the
race unless the rider invites you to do so."


Chronologically, I left home around 2:00 AM and arrived at
Ruhestein, a summit point after the feed zone around 4:00 AM.

It was a starry night. It was still pitch dark. I took out my
painting equipment and started painting.

"Jens Voigt, Andy Schleck, Bobby Julich, Chris Anker Sorensen,
Fabian Cancellara, Juan José Haedo, Volodyimr Gustov,
Alexandr Kolobnev", in other words, all the Team CSC riders
and "CSC" several times.

"Go LEVI" and "Vai Manuele MORI Dal Giaponne"

Go LEVI because I met the Leipheimers at TdF 2007.
Vai MORI for a MORI fan.

The painting was done by 5:30? AM, I think. Then I moved to
Mitteltal, the small village located near the ravitaillement. On my way
down to Mitteltal, I tried to find the signs, debut and fin de
ravitaillement but did not. So, I parked my car in a parking lot in
Mitteltal and slept.

I woke up around 9:30 AM and drove near Obertal. The ravitaillement
was between Mitteltal and Obertal. I slept until close to noon. When I saw
Euskaltel-Euskadi and Quickstep's team cars, I decided to get up.


The ravitaillement was like this. You can see the steep grassy hill up front.
The riders were going to climb after the lunch.

The team cars gathered among me. As usual, I went to Team CSC
staff and had a chat. I painted "Jens, CSC and yellow jersey" beside
the Team CSC car.

As written above, I waited for the race to arrive about 1 km from the
end of the feed zone. After the high five, I picked up three musettes
of Rabobank, one Euskaltel-Euskadi, one Gerolsteiner, One Quick Step,
one Liquigas, one AG2R and one Gerolsteiner bidon and one
Skil-Shimano. Some of the musettes still had munchies inside.

After that, I drove to Offenburg, the finish. I arrived at the finish
around 15:40. I parked my car and walked up to the race course,
It was 500 meters from the finish. The publicity caravan was still
there.

These are the "Chaperon" people waiting for the targeted riders to come
home.


Alexandr Kolovnev came home.


Volodymir Gustov came home. He later recognized me and we exchanged
hello. All Team CSC riders and staff who participated in Critérium du
Dauphiné Libéré knows me better now. He was there, too.



Fabian Cancellara came home. He was way behind the peloton. I am sure he
was not feeling good. He was to abandon the race the next day. But he
padded me on my back as he passed. The picture is blurry but this is all
I got.


Here is Jens Voigt immediately after Anti-doping control and TV interview,
giving out his autograph to so many people. he was sitting on a trailer that
carried the media box or other stuff installed at the finish.

Deutschland Tour Part I (Stage 3)

I am going to see the race and do my part Sunday Juy 12th.

So the good news is that Jens Voigt took the yellow jersey from
Robert Förster.

The 3rd stage starts in Pforzheim and finishes in Offenburg.

Here is my plan: I will drive to Ruhestein (meaning quiet or calm
stone), a hill after the feed zone. I will be there sometime before
dawn. I will be waiting for the race at the feed zone. After that, I
will try to reach Offenburg in time.

The problem is that from the feed zone to Seebach, I will have to
follow the race, in other words, I use the same road as the race, before
I leave the peloton. It will be difficult to reach Offenburg in time.

I'll see what I can do for Team CSC riders.

Tour de France 2007: The rest days

After Stage 8, I drove to a camping site and checked in. It was a rest
day for the riders but NOT for fans like me.

This year, the two rest days were set after two mountain stages and
before yet another mountain stage. I think it is a great idea NOT to
have three consecutive mountain stages. I don't know whether riders
appreciated or not. We just want to watch a bicycle race. Three
consecutive mountain stages scheme is OUT. 

This rest day arrangement presented a problem for fans like me. 
There was no rest day for me because I have to drive to that mountain 
on the rest day BEFORE the road was closed for the public. 

Last year, I used the rest day at a camping site to do some laundry,
rest and relax. This year there was no way I could do some laundry.

Fact:
The road leading to the summit (high mountains) gets closed
at its foot (for safety reasons, I guess; too many cars along the
route pose a great threat to riders and spectators alike)
sometime in the evening one day before the stage is held
when too many campers and cars are expected.

On the other hand, le Mont Ventoux (Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré)
was open to the public until sometime in the morning of the race day.
I arrived at the village at the foot of le Mont Ventoux around 4:00 AM
of the race day, I think, but nobody stopped me. There were many
dedicated fans with cars or campers but there were no real
congest ions in along the course.

I arrived at Le Reposoir around 22:00 of July 13th. The road was
closed. Later I learned it had been closed 18:00 or so. Le Reposoir
is at the foot of Col de la Colombière.

To make sure that you are at the right spot with the parking place
up in the mountains, you have to be there early. The earlier, the better.

I can take my bike to get to the summit but I have to carry a load of
paint, water and other stuff with me.

The first rest day, July 16th, I checked out a camping site early in the 
morning (7:30 AM) and did some quick shopping before driving to Col
du Galibier. I passed the control point (where the traffic was to be
cut off later in the afternoon) around 10:00 AM. The race was to
arrive "one day and 6 hours" later.

Later, in the afternoon of 16th, an American couple asked me 
when the race would arrive. They did not know what to expect. When 
I told them about the race schedule, they decided to leave.

The second rest day, July 24th, I was already on top of Col d'Abisque.
I had arrived there in the evening of 23rd. I was to spend two nights
there. Not surprisingly, I was among so many people (majority of
them had Basque flags with them) during the whole time.

Next year, if I was to follow many TdF stages, I would like to
have a simple camp shower equipment and a power generator.