Tour de France: stage 18

Posted by Kathryn on July 18, 2013

Thank you, Marcus Burghardt! In fact, that’s probably what this post should be titled. Read on and I’m sure you’ll agree.

On my way to the start in Gap, I came across the Saxo Tinkoff team bus, so I left a supportive note for my favorite rider on the team, Nick Roche.

I continued on and met up with my Belgian friend Fien and her family for her last stage of the Tour. We gave a small gift to our friend Gerrie who sets up the sign on podium daily to thank him for his immeasurable kindness (unfortunately we missed Kevin as he had gone home to the Netherlands with an injury), made a new German friend, greeted my friend Flaurent whose job is to hand out sausage samples, and generally amused ourselves as we waited.

In a gesture of sympathy and cycling solidarity, Fien had made me a new banner to replace the autographed sign I accidentally left on the train a few days ago.

As the team buses began to arrive, Fien went to say hi to Marcus Burghardt while I stayed put with her parents to guard our real estate. After the time trial yesterday, Marcus said he would try to get her a VIP pass for today, but I was still stunned when she returned with 2 passes for us that gave us entry to the team bus area! We tried to thank Marcus but he was busy in a team meeting.

We soon found ourselves standing in front of the Omega Pharma-Quick Step bus, precisely where every single cyclist would have to pass to travel between the team buses and the sign in area. We spent a good couple of minutes simply trying to get over the shock of it all.

Peter Velits and Michal Kwiatkowski.

We are both big fans of Niki Terpstra and when we asked for a photo together, he happily obliged. Unfortunately, that photo is on Fien’s camera at the moment, so this shot of him examining his bike will have to temporarily suffice.

We spotted Lieuwe Westra immediately as he rode towards the podium and got a picture with him when he returned to his bus. I already thought he was really nice when he signed my flag the other day, but now that it was much easier to talk with him since there wasn’t a barrier separating us and it was a more relaxed environment for him, he came across as even nicer, such a good, easy going guy.

We geared ourselves up to ask Sylvain Chavanel for a picture, but we both suddenly got shy.

My friend and compatriot Svein Tuft stopped to say hi to me and take a photo with Fien, who I have declared an honorary Canadian.

I was of course on the lookout for Garmin and Andrew Talansky was the first to ride past. At sign ons, I usually start cheering for my favorite riders as soon as I spot them, but this was clearly a no-cheering zone so I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from calling out to him. I think he’s come to expect to see me in the mornings, so I was delighted he spotted me without me calling out to him. Talansky has been so incredibly friendly every time I’ve met him and today was no different. I showed him Mini Bear’s new Garmin sign and he thought it was pretty cool. It’s clear that the passion he brings to the sport, he carries with him in the rest of his life. I told him how I’ve been enormously impressed with his riding in the Tour and that seemed to mean a lot to him. He thanked me for my support and I thanked him for riding, so we seem to have a good symbiotic thing going.

Meanwhile, half the peloton was flowing by my eyes. Kittel and the Argos boys (note the matching haircuts) cruised by while the world champion avoided getting run over by the Lotto car.

Fien and I quietly pointed out everyone we saw. Maciej Bodnar and several of his Cannondale teammates went to the VIP lounge right after signing in. I guess Sagan must have finished off the Fruit Loops and they needed some breakfast for today’s monster of a stage.

Simon Gerrans was in the midst of a conversation in French with FDJ’s William Bonnet.

I made eye contact and gave a small smile when Sergey Lagutin rode by. To my total surprise, he said, “Oh, hi!” so it would seem he recognized me from when I had an Uzbek flag back at the stage 5 start and then stopped on his way back for a quick hello and to take a picture together.

I’m not sure what he was doing but Johnny Hoogerland passed us at least 4 times.

Everyone’s favorite father of 6, Jens Voigt, elicited cheers from fans on the other side of the fence when he started to ride by. I couldn’t help but call out, “Yay, Jens!” myself and when he turned to wave at me in acknowledgment, he excitedly exclaimed, “Oh, it’s you!” and came to an abrupt stop so we could talk. After a couple of minutes of catching up, a few members of the press asked Jens for an interview and he jovially said, “Can’t you see I’m talking with my friends?” He and the reporter obviously had a good relationship so he eventually acquiesced but not before we wrapped up our conversation.

Bart de Clercq and Fien chatted away in Flemish. Her name is on his jersey and he took the time to find it the other night. Unfortunately, he said he didn’t see my chalking in front of the team bus a couple of days ago. I guess I’ve been too subtle–who would have thought?

Juan Antonio Flecha recognized me and my Canadian flag from Sunday and he stopped to talk with us for awhile (this time in English), which was great fun.

As for the rest of Garmin, David Millar and Dan Martin both said hi and waved back at me while Navardauskas seemed to not at all expected to hear someone call out his first name. It’s been said before that Ryder is a really mellow person, but I think I’ve discovered an inverse relation between the volume of my greeting and the energy level of his response. Maybe next time I’ll just whisper his name. I’m sorry to say I missed Tom Danielson altogether and Jack Bauer was apparently running so late to the sign in that they almost didn’t let him start.

Cav warmed up on rollers.

Froome, one of the last riders to sign on, was understandably shepherded past everyone.

Noticing that it was nearly time for the stage to start, Fien and I bolted towards the waiting cyclists to see if we could find Marcus and thank him again for his thoughtfulness. It was a bit like finding a needle in a haystack but we managed to catch him and let him know how much we appreciated his gesture.