Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Tour de France




The day after the French Nationals ended, the Tour de France came through Laragne. They closed off the roads fairly early in the morning and we were too lazy to get up at the crack of dawn, so instead we pulled out the map and planned to drive somewhat close and then hike along a ridge to see the race. Luckily, we were able to find a dirt road that got us really close and then we just walked up the pass a few kilometers and waited for them to come up the hill.

What a cool thing to see! I had no idea there would be so much hoopla. The "caravan" comes through for about an hour before the riders and its hilarious - a bit like the Macy's Day Parade. There were "floats" and dignitaries, helicopters, the whole works. The caravan was nearly as cool as the racers and it certainly lasted a lot longer.

The shot with the bare-butted fellow is of the leaders at that point. The closer up shot is the peloton - with Floyd Landis at the far right in the green.

1 comment:

OB said...

Keep up the posts. We who are "state bound" are living vicariously through you. - Cheers.