Europe – Page 10

July 27, 2014

Stage 20: Tony Martin Wins Time Trial!

Today is Stage 20: the one and only time trial. I have been following Tony Martin’s career since he rode for Columbia HTC. He has mastered the discipline of the time trial where the best in the business maintain their focus and wattage for a solid 50 to 70 minutes.

Tony Martin, 3 time world time trial champion, crushed it!

This year Tony was put on the spot at the pre-Tour Team Presentation when they asked him how Mark Cavendish is as a leader. He froze. You could imagine the thought balloons above his head as he fished for something to say that would please the home crowd. Mark just leaned across the bikes and grinned at him. It reinforced the image some may have of a reserved Germanic machine.

Waiting outside the Omega Pharma Quick Step team bus yesterday at the departure, I saw the other side of Tony Martin. He has a charming smile and he has charisma. He also speaks English well and is very patient and polite with fans.

Bike camera installed on Tony Martin's bicycle. — Bike camera installed on Tony Martin’s bicycle.

Yesterday the mechanics outfitted his bike with the on-bike camera. (They were going to upload the film to the OPQS website depending on how the race went; did not see anything on site).

I started the tour without a “favorite team” as I admire riders on BMC, Trek and other teams. Then standing at OPQS team area waiting for riders to wrap up their team meeting, I chatted with Davide Bramati, the sport director, and began to realize how many of their riders I admire. Of course there is Mark Cavendish. This video of Mark Cavendish in team car with Davide Bramati is fun.

Mark’s early departure meant that his teammates were freed up from recreating the lead train on possible sprint finishes and Matteo Trentin won stage 7 and Tony Martin won stage 9 and now stage 20.

This is the team where Brian Holm is also a sports director. I enjoyed watching him in the Tour movie Chasing Legends. Plus they have “Prince Harry” or Mark Renshaw.

In the first week, back in Yorkshire, (that feels like a million years ago) one of my Trek Travel teammates really like OPQS and now I can say they are my favorite team too.

July 26, 2014

Incredible Access at Stage 19 Departure

My last VIP pass to a departure village was in Maubourguet. Thanks to Thomson Travel we arrived in plenty of time for a coffee and a slice of pear tart in the official Village before the team coaches arrived. Then we went to the area where the team buses park.

Each stage is set up differently depending on the space designated in the host town. This day the road barriers were set up so the buses lined up on one side and the cars parked across in the pedestrian area at a diagonal leaving about one lane for journalists, fans, team cars and racers to pass one another.

Today I noticed how much camaraderie there is among the teams and riders. Racers were stopping on their way to sign in and chatting with friends. Some would get stuck in traffic and oblige signature seekers like me. I had to keep my wits about me so as not to miss an opportunity. Some riders like Marcus Burkhardt spend a lot of time chatting with friends.

Kiwi cyclist Jack Bauer for Garmin-Sharp speaking to Thomson spectator Greg

My top priority today was getting an autograph from the Kiwi Jack Bauer at Garmin Sharp for my friend Barry Bridgman in St Heliers. Then I moved on to Omega Pharma Quick Step. I got so many signatures that my flag is almost full.

The night before we were awakened by raucous thundershowers. The rain continued lightly and at the start it looked like a wet ride. The wet roads dampened riders’ spirits and created the conditions for a largish crash inside 3 km. This took Peter Sagan out of the sprint finish and may have distracted the peloton enough to allow Garmin Sharp’s Ramunas Navardauskas to stay away and win.

Jens Voigt rides to the start of Stage 19 — Jens Voigt rides to the start.

Jens Voigt has a terrific blog on Bicycling.com. He summed up Stage 19 in a very funny and profane rant. I read it on Thomson Spectator Greg’s iPad but it may have been removed for being too irreverent. Bottom line: Stage 19 was s**t!

July 24, 2014July 24, 2014

Stage 18: Great Day on the Mountaintop

As mountaintop experiences go, this was one of the best. About 80 Thomson guests and staff met by bike or van about 1.2 km from the finish on the epic Hautacam. The road is barely wide enough for tarmac and barriers so we hiked up the hill to the finish. We saw Bob Roll again and then I hung out for a couple of minutes and met Christian Vande Velde who is enjoying his first year as an NBC commentator. I asked him if the pace is different than cycling. The days are longer as a broadcaster. And he cannot just ride his bike off the mountain at the end like the racers do. The traffic can be tremendous getting down at the end of a race. Oh yes, Christian signed my flag.

I enjoyed looking at how they set up the finish since there is really nothing but road and mist at the top of Hautacam. Then I took my time scrambling down the side of the road to the Thomson Bike Tours compound of tents. Again they sent people 4 days ahead to reserve and protect our spot. In addition to the televisions broadcasting the race in English, there was a live band. The lovely Gigi and her band got us dancing and added to the party atmosphere.

The Tour put barriers along the road for the last 3 kilometers. This takes the “piss out of the spectators.” Fine with me. It makes me nervous when spectators run alongside or touch the cyclists. The Tour de France issues all sorts of warnings and there are gendarmes all along the route trying to keep fans in order, yet people will still crazy, especially when alcohol is involved.

The caravan went by and only a few of us went to catch swag. The Thomson cyclists had ridden their bikes up Hautacam after a few big days of riding and many of them were checking their eyelids for leaks.

The the race came roaring up the hill. We had already watched Nibali attack at the bottom of the climb. He is silencing (I hope) the critics who question if he would be wearing the yellow jersey if Froome and Contador were still in the race. As Sandy from Melbourne says, “Your Aunt would be your Uncle is she had balls.” Give the shark a break, he won the yellow jersey on Stage 2 and his team has kept him safe from crashes and attacks. He is the yellow jersey and nothing but catastrophe or a positive test will keep him from the top of the podium.

As riders went by I found myself possessed with the spirit of Wolverine and I shouted. “You are awesome. Go, go, go!” The other fun part of a uphill finish is the racers are spread out. On the rail I met George from South Africa. There are VIPs and then there are VIPs. He is a Europecar muckety-muck and he has ridden in the team car following the racers for 2 days. I found it hard to believe him when he said he enjoyed cycling up the hill and watching with us from the side of the road more than the team car.

The hardest part of the day was getting off the mountain. We were sun soaked and tired and the traffic was miserable. Our van driver Collum did a phenomenal job navigating the pedestrians, cyclists and bad drivers. We did not get back to the hotel until 10 p.m. A couple of non-Thomson cyclists crashed including one teenager who thought he was invincible until he was not. (He will be okay after having some bones set.)

After a quick bowl of pasta I crashed. This morning we go to our last VIP departure. Only 3 stages left.

July 23, 2014

The Queen Stage in St Lary

Thomson Bike Tours regularly stays at the Mercure Hotel in St Lary Soulan for the Pyrenees portion of the Tour de France. This year it just so happens to be on the course of Stage 17 and a quick gondola ride up to the finish line.

Thomson Cyclists rode their bikes the 10 km straight up to the finish line. Spectators took the gondola. We all messed about this morning watching the finish village come together. Jacinta introduced us all to Phil Liggett and I scored his signature. He is a huge favorite with all of us and he was very down to earth and lovely about posing for pictures and giving autographs. I returned to the village and hotel and did a couple of chores and then checked in on the race in the bar.

It was fun watching it with the Thomson cyclists and other hotel guests. When we thought the caravan was passing, we left the comfort of the bar lounge and stood in the hot sun for more swag. Then we returned to watch the race. It was an exciting day. Although only 124.5 km, it included 3 category 1 climb and ended with an HC finish in St Lary Pla d’Adet. When the leader “Kiri” had 20 km to go (a quick descent into St Lary Soulan), we dashed back to the roundabout right by the hotel and waited.

The race leadership got rejiggered on that descent and suddenly the breakaway was consolidated and Kiri was no where to be seen. We waited for the yellow jersey and then dashed back to the hotel lounge to watch the finish. The newly anointed polka dot jersey (King of the Mountains), Rafal Majka with Tinkoff Saxo, was in the lead. We could not tell exactly how close everyone was on the last climb because the announcing was all in French. Finally, it was clear that Majka earned his 2nd stage victory and the 3rd stage victory for Tinkoff Saxo.

After some fun kibbitzing with my fellow spectators, I walked outside to find the team buses. It took a while to walk there and I decided to gravitate to Trek and Cannondale. I arrived at the Trek bus at the same time as Jens Voigt! Someone grabbed his bike from him and took off the computer and put the bike on top of a team car. Jens signed an autograph and jumped on the bus.

I turned around and found Jacinta and Lisa at the Cannondale bus waiting for Peter Sagan’s return. All of the riders rode back down the last climb because it is faster than dealing with the crazy traffic jam. Peter has to receive his green jersey on the podium and do media interviews before he can ride down. All the other team members had already returned and showered on the bus by the time he returned. Lisa did not get a picture with him; however, she and Jacinta had a ball talking to the mechanics and other riders.

It is good to grab a slice of pizza on the way home and have an early night. Tomorrow we are up with the robins to drive to within 1.5 km from the finish on Hautacam. Tomorrow the racers go up both Tourmalet and Hautacam. I really look forward to riding my bike when I get back to Davis, and I am perfectly content being a super fan and leaving the riding to others in the Pyrenees.

July 20, 2014

Finally! Picture Postcard France

Watching Le Tour with Thomson Travel staff in hotel Mercure St Lary Soulan.

Since I arrived in Lille, France for the finish of Stage 4, I have been travelling almost non-stop. Today we drove 8 hours and arrived at our hotel in time to see the end of Stage 15 in St Lary Soulan in the Pyrenees. (spoiler alert) What a tragic end for the brave breakaway! Congratulations to the Norwegian phenomenon Alexander Kristoff with his second stage win.

Took my camera and my wallet and walked into the village. At last! The France you see on television when you watch the Tour de France. I walked from one end to the other enjoying the Sunday afternoon summer crowd. I stopped at Nos Tapas du Terroir for a simple and delicious meal of bread, cheese and cured ham thinly sliced. It is the first great quality meal I have enjoyed in over a week.

The hotel Mercure St Lary is positively luxurious after the ski lodge in Albertville. I feel like I can finally truly rest, relax and recover. Tomorrow is a rest day for the Tour cyclists. All of the Thomson cyclists will be arriving (something like 63!) and they have a “warm up” ride of either 38 or 58 km with some uphill. So glad to be a VIP spectator. Jacinta and Jordi will be rolling in by lunch time with a new group of spectators. I already miss my Australian and American friends from the Alps and I look forward to making new friends.

The best part of a rest day is there is nothing pressing to do–well, some laundry. I have put in a request for a massage in the afternoon. I will do some more exploring on foot. Mostly I will let my molecules catch up with one another.

July 19, 2014July 20, 2014

Stage 14: Depart at Grenoble

Having VIP access at a depart is just the best. Thomson Tours delivered us to the Village where we ate a few snacks waiting for the team buses to arrive. The access to riders is phenomenal. We watched as the bikes were unloaded. Soon the cyclists rode past to sign in and then they would return to the bus until the start. There were lots of opportunities to learn more about the teams and gather a few signatures.

I decided to focus on team BMC and I overheard someone from NBC Sports arrange to interview Tejay Van Garderen at about 11:20. So I cruised around taking lots of pictures and then returned to the BMC bus in plenty of time.

I chatted with Ian the professional mechanic for BMC. He started his career as a mechanic in a bike shop in Alaska. He worked his way up to the prized full-time mechanic positions on the European bike tour. Although he will head to Utah and Colorado next with the team, he is based in Belgium. He said there is not real off season. It is a peripatetic life and not for a weak constitution.

Ian suggested I stand near Tejay’s bike (No. 141) so I would have a better chance to ask for an autograph on my California flag. I repositioned and had a chance to speak with an NBC Sports cameraman. His life is a lot of hurry up and wait. He is pleasantly surprised how competitive the Tour is this year. He suggested I ask for Peter Stetina’s autograph. Peter is very obliging and complimented my Cali flag and even though his bio says he’s from Boulder, CO he said he is from Santa Rosa, CA.

Soon Tejay emerged from the team bus and gave his interview. Then he was rushed by another group of journalists and they had to share an interview with him. His handler then cut it off. Tejay graciously signed my flag and then kicked off to sign in at the main departure stage.

I moved up to the Cannondale bus because I really hoped for Peter Sagan, the green jersey’s signature. His nickname this year is the Wolverine and he has a cool wolverine on his bike (and look closely at the top of the helmet). He was the last member of the team to emerge from the bus and he fiddled with his bike for quite a few minutes and then just as he was kicking off he stopped at my unfurled flag and signed!

I went to the line to watch the riders migrate to the start line. Vincenzo Nibali, the yellow jersey, rode directly in front of me! This is one of the many reasons cycling is such a fun sport to follow.

James in our group is living with a serious illness and continues to challenge himself. He came on this tour to be able to run a HC category climb. We dropped him at the bottom of the Col yesterday and he ran to the finish line. He had a wonderful interaction with Greg and Kathy LeMond just past the finish.

James also brought his real wolverine hat and so we have been calling him Wolverine. At home in Minnesota he wears it when he encourages marathoners from the sidelines. He has danced and shouted encouragement on the Col and then today to the racers as they headed to the finish. It was fun watching their reactions. Most smiled and laughed. James is irrepressible and a delight.

It is our last full day as a Thomson Spectator VIP group. Tonight we will celebrate the Thomson cyclists who are still on the road as I write. We have a bag full of sponsor swag to share and some funny awards and songs.

At the end of the stage, Nibali is still in yellow. Teejay moved up to 5th overall.

July 19, 2014

Stage 13: Carnival on the Col

Watching the Tour de France at about 3 km from a mountaintop finish surpassed all expectations. Thanks Thomson Tours for arranging a brilliant experience: getting us right to the tents on a bus, and providing food, drinks, and television coverage of the race in English. We had time to walk up to the Arrive Village and get a sense of what it will be like for the riders to go up, up, up to the finish line. The road was lined with camper vans, tents, and people who cycled up.

Happy coincidence the tents were set up across the road from Norwegian eye candy. These delightful group of fans from Bergen and Stavanger kept us amused all afternoon. We especially enjoyed watching them being interviewed by Norwegian television. Two of them danced almost all day, much of it in carrot and banana costumes. The people viewing was so fantastic that when the caravan went through it was almost a distraction.

The Thomson cyclists rode up the Col (the first HC or beyond categorization climb of the Tour) and met us at the tents. Chamrousse ski resort rests at the top of about a 20 km climb, with an average 7% incline. Our tour guide Jacinta heartily encouraged us to express ourselves, even stopping at the grocery store for us to pick up last minute costume supplies. My fellow spectators got into the spirit of mountainside viewing and dressed up: Patrick as Willie Nelson, James as Wolverine, and Kris as, um, an Aussie swimmer (?). I had my California flag, Tony and Sandy had their Melbourne football jerseys, and there were several Australian flags.

We all gathered at the tents put up and protected by Thomson Bike Tours for 4 days. We had Sky television race coverage in English! This attracted a big crowd of other fans. This helped us not forget that it is a bike race. We knew to expect the yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali to come up the road first. What was surprising is how much time passed before the next two riders. He added to his lead and now has a 4 minute cushion. Essentially only a catastrophe like a crash will keep him from the top of the podium in Paris. Tonight he collected the stage winner’s trophy, the yellow jersey and the polka dot jersey. His nickname is the Shark and we are seeing more inflatable sharks and other shark images popping up along the roadside.

Fantastico!

July 17, 2014

Cobbles: One Deciding Factor in Tour de France 2014

Lorrie from the B&B sent me a couple of her photos from the sixth set of cobbles. She and Greg had commented that the riders looked tired and scared. The cyclists are definitely stressed out. (Due to the low quality of the Wifi in this hotel, I am sharing just the one photo for now.)

This is Stage that determined a lot of riders’ Tour fortunes, most especially the GC contender Chris Froome.

After Lorrie and Greg followed the Tour de France for 5 days, they went to Paris and were there for the Bastille Day fireworks and military parade. They are home in Cincinatti and watching the rest of the race on television.

Thanks for sharing the photos Lorrie.

P.S. Watch for our group about 3 km from the top of the mountaintop finish tomorrow. Our group may be on camera since we have “Willie Nelson” and Wolverine (or at least a guy in a real Wolverine hat).

July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

Stage 11: The Sun Shines

We set out for the “Arrive” in Oyonnax at 8:15 a.m. after a quick VIP Spectator Team photo. We said so long to the couple of dozen Thomson Tour cyclists who were heading out for a full day of climbing. God bless them.

It took several hours to drive to the plastic and comb capitol of France. Oyonnax is not picturesque. It looks like the kind of planned, sterile manufacturing towns that sprang up in the 1960s and 70s. We had a good lunch and then focused on le Tour. We walked to the VIP area near the finish line. Gone are the clouds, rain and cool temperatures of the first 10 stages. Today felt like I was home in Davis, California: hot, very hot.

Our zany tour guide Jacinta arranged for a “behind the scenes” tour with Valentina. She allowed us to walk out and take photos on the finish line. We bumped into Greg LeMond and James from Minneapolis had a good conversation with him. She also made sure we got photos from the official VIP photographer and champagne in the viewing area.

One of my goals was to find out more about the sponsor liaisons or podium girls. Today was a relatively quiet finish (far fewer spectators) so access to the sponsor liaisons was relatively easy. One of the PMU green jersey sponsor liaisons, Lisa, spoke English and answered my questions. I asked if it is competitive to become a liaison. She said no, she just applied and had an interview. Later on the bus Kris and Tony joked that they will apply and I added, you also need to be devastatingly beautiful. Tony and Kris laughed and admitted that this took them out of the competition. (Then there is the gender difference.) Did I mention that they are all very tall?

Lisa’s colleague is a model but she is not. She started with the Tour when it came to France. She only represents PMU and the green jersey. There are other PMU liaisons because in the 7 stages in France she has only cheek-kissed Peter Sagan twice. (Sagan has held the green jersey since England.) Two of her other colleagues presented the jersey today and rocked the Star Trek inspired dresses. My favorite costumes are definitely the King of the Mountain sponsor Carrefour (French grocery stores)—those infamous red polka dots.

I always wondered how the podium girls worked. Was it like the Pasadena Rose Parade court? Or were they local girls? In George Hincapie’s new book, The Loyal Lieuntenant, he describes meeting his wife on the podium. He felt an electric shock when she kissed his cheek and pursued her in spite of the sponsor’s frowning on relationships between liaisons and riders. She described her experience in his book: “I had done the Tour (and Paris-Nice too) in 2002, and the custom was you got on year as a sponsor liaison and then moved on. (The casting process was quite intense, starting with over eighty girls who were eventually whittled down to only four.) But two weeks before the 2003 Tour, the head of Credit Lyonnais called and said that a couple of the main sponsors had asked if I could come back and take part in another year. It was just fate that I was on that stage…”

I also enjoyed watching the press zone after the race. They created a kind of cattle chute for the riders to walk through and pause for interviews and photos before heading into the trailer studio for video interviews. No chance for getting signatures.

The inspirational story of the day was Andrew Talansky of Miami, Florida. He deserves a dedicated post.

July 15, 2014

Tour de France Rest Day: Behind the Scenes

Imagine two small cities quickly constructed for the departure and arrival of the Tour de France stages each day. The finish is a much bigger production because all of the media broadcasting from wherever the finish is that day. Just moments after the finish, crews begin breaking it all down to move to the next town. It reminded me of the circus, except the circus does not move everyday.

When you walk behind the scenes you have to watch your feet. There are wires snaking everywhere. There are also water tanks and septic tanks. Surprise, there are also open air urinals. There are trailers and tents for every imaginable kind of media.

I was walking by one smaller trailer and I saw a photojournalist with large lenses hanging off every each arm. “Are you one of those photographers who bravely takes pictures hanging off the back of motorcycle?” I asked. He said yes and invited me to step in the trailer and see the small tribe of photographers all hurriedly downloading their photos to send to AP or Reuters or other news services. I snapped a few photos and he introduced me to Jesus– “one of the best”. I left them to their work and continued exploring.

I found the NBC Sports trailer and the announcer Paul Sherwen hugging his kids. There was a tent where the stage winners went from one interview to the next in English, French, Italian, Spanish or German.

The packing up was getting more intense and I realized that I better stop taking pictures and pay more attention to where I was walking. Where is my lens cap? Not my pockets. Oh fudge. A few moments later I passed the photojournalist’s trailer and there was Jesus holding out my lens cap. I thanked him and wished him good luck and a safe tour.