Tour de France: stage 6

I had already been waiting for several hours at my prime spot 5 meters beyond the finish line for today’s 176 kilometer stage when the police decided to tell me and the other 30+ people in my area that we weren’t allowed to be there! So frustrating! But the upside was that I relocated to a new position close to the podium and I could still see the finish line.

First spot.

Second spot.

One of the many ways to pass the remaining hours of waiting for the peloton to arrive was to be interviewed! A journalist and cameraman from Eurosport came over to me (this is what happens when no one else around has out up a flag!) and explained that Richard Virenque was going to answer questions from fans in the studio. They helped me come up with a question (how do cyclists prepare for the heat?) and I practiced and practiced what I was going to say before they filmed the interview–in French!

Sam, the nice English guy next to me who took the pictures of my interview, caught the interview on TV that evening, so it really did air. My European TV debut!

When the peloton came, the sprinters were out front as expected.

Andre Greipel, the German champion, won! Sagan, left, finished second. Kittel, far right, came in third and Cavendish in his British champion stripes was fourth.

The peloton was right behind the sprinters.

When it was time for Greipel to step on the podium, everyone cheered.

Daryl Imepy of South Africa assumed the green jersey from his Orica Green Edge teammate, Simon Gerrans.

Peter Sagan’s large lead in the points classification meant he kept the green jersey.

Pierre Rolland maintained the king of the mountains jersey.

Michal Kiatkowski held onto the white jersey.

Greipel also received the combative rider award.

Fien and I made our way to the buses along with half of the crowd. The cyclists all seemed to have ducked into their busses immediately so no one was around. When we passed the Orica Green Edge bus, a couple of staff members were outside the bus so I stopped to congratulate them and say that I was a fan of Svein Tuft. They thanked me for my support and I started to walk away but turned around and jokingly asked, “Is Svein around?” They got really excited and asked me to wait a second and said they’d send Svein right out. I tried to say I didn’t want to bother him but before I knew it, Svein emerged from the bus. He was super kind and seemed happy to talk with a fan. He eagerly posed for a photo, which turned out to be a series of photos in fact because the RadioShack bus was close to running us over. Svein asked if I had a team hat and asked me to wait a second so he could give me one! I was thrilled that after riding 6 stages in the Tour, he would take the time to look after me even though he was probably ready to hit the showers and eat a big dinner.

A couple of journalists from Bicycling magazine approached me and said they were doing a story for the website about Canadian cyclists and fans, so I gave my second interview of the day! The international press are obviously very keen to get my perspective on all matter cycling.