I've kicked off my European racing (by which I mean spectating) season by joining a race already in progress: Paris-Nice!
After a near sleepless night due to jet lag, an early alarm, a train, and a bus, I arrived in Mougins to find it practically empty!
So I did what I always do: I planted myself in the best spot, pinned my giant Canadian flag to the barricade, and waited. Once I'm happy with my place, almost nothing will get me to move from it–almost. As I glanced around to find fans casually trickling in 30 minutes before the sign on was scheduled to start, who did I see but 5 time Tour de France champion Bernard Hinault! The Badger himself! And, what's more, he was signing autographs and posing for photos! At the Tour, you can expect to see him every day (he was literally the only VIP who did not wear an accreditation pass) but I rarely ever saw him sign anything and I don't remember seeing him taking photos. This was my chance! His was the first signature on a crisp new Canadian flag. Below: Bernard Hinault with the mayor of Mougins.
10:30 came and went. No riders. They were all taking their sweet time showing up to the sign on this morning but, then again, so were the fans.
Shortly before 11am, Tony Gallopin and a couple of other cyclists rolled in. I always try to get the autograph of the first rider to sign on, mostly because I still get kind of nervous along with my excitement and so going for an immediate autograph is a good warm up exercise for me. Below: Cofidis and Europcar riders.
Bryan Coquard.
Given the minuscule circumference of his arms, Andy Schleck has a surprisingly deep voice.
And in no time, the sign on felt like a party. Earlier in the morning, I'd given an extra safety pin to a couple of boys who were trying to pin a jersey to the railing, which immediately put us on friendly terms. From then on, if one of us got an autograph, we'd try to encourage that rider to sign for the other one. This was pretty handy, but I'm sure the boys benefitted from this unspoken agreement more than I did as I definitely sent several of my friends their way.
Even though he's left Garmin for BMC, I'm still a Pete Stetina fan. As he was signing my flag, I said I was glad his father seemed to be recovering well from a devastating bike accident last year (it was a hit and run). Pete looked up at me and offered a sincere, “Thanks,” before going on to say he remembered meeting me at the Toronto airport last year (one of my better layovers!).
Two favorites, Alex Howes and Taylor Phinney pulled up around the same time. I happened to see Taylor first and when I shouted his name, as one can't help but doing, his face went from neutral to full on smile when he realized it was me. We had a quick chat and he took the marker from my hand, waiting for me to produce something for him to sign. Everyone else I'd just asked to sign my flag but I recently received the Pro Tour Pin Up calendar as a gift from Hermano, so I opened it up to June and got Taylor to sign it, despite some mild protesting on his part.
Ales Howes was right behind him. He seemed to have remembered me from the Vuelta last year because he came right to me. I turned the calendar to July for his photo and he laughed and groaned, “Oh this is so embarrassing,” to which I responded that it was just as embarrassing for me (I've never before owned a pin up calendar in my life)! Someone who wasn't at all embarrassed was the septuagenarian lady next to me. She nudged me and gingerly took the calendar from my hands, smiling as she flipped the pages.
One if the things I did between the Tour Down Under and now was to start learning Polish. I've been listening to podcasts and have picked up a few bits and pieces, hoping to get to practice with native Polish speakers today. Rafael Majka was the first of the 3 Polish riders to sign on. He was just a couple of feet from me when I called his name and I know he heard me but he looked like he was just going to mount his bike and ride off, so I said, “Proszę (please)?” and he immediately did a 180 and signed my flag. I thanked him (dziękuje bardzo) and he said “proszę” back to me (conveniently, it also means “you're welcome”). I got to test out my Polish again with Przemyslaw Niemiec, so tomorrow I'll try to get Sylwester Szmyd, the lone Polish hold out.
It's always a goal to get autographs from the entire Garmin team. I came close at the Tour Down Under, only missing Steele Von Hoff (I actually didn't get Jack Bauer's autograph there but I have it several times already and we did talk a couple of times at the TDU, so good enough) so today I was determined to get him to sign my flag. When I jokingly mentioned that he'd successfully avoided me at the TDU, he apologized profusely. I told him not to worry, that he'd certainly see me around, and to just ask his teammates if he had any doubts.
There are 2 riders whose autographs I've not yet managed to get in all the races I've been to: Tom Boonen and Sylvain Chavanel. No luck today, but I'm not done trying!
I love getting to meet new riders but I think I'm even more excited to see familiar faces. Lucky for me, 2 of my absolute favorite riders are here: Ramunas Navardauskas and Tyler Farrar. Ramunas spotted me first (which is impressive given that he hadn't seen me since August) and joked that it was impossible for there to be any more space on my flag since he'd already signed it so often. Ah, love that Lithuanian sense of humor!
Tyler was the penultimate rider to sign on (poor Mitch Docker nearly missed it!). He lit up like a light bulb when he saw me (I sure I was doing the same). I'd jokingly asked a few of the riders if they'd missed me and if course they all laughed and said yes, but I actually believed Tyler when he said, “For sure!”
Below left to right: Matt Goss, Thierry Hupond, Nikolas Maes, Dries Devenyns, and Sylvain Chavanel.
With a couple of minutes until the start, the last of the riders made their way to join the peloton.
Taylor Phinney behind race leader Carlos Betancur.
World champion Rui Costa behind Ramunas Navardauskas.
Bling Matthews made himself comfortable by leaning on an official race car.
Tom Boonen, John Degenkolb, and Gert Steegmans killed time by checking out each other's bikes and gossiping (it looked like gossiping from where I was).
Sylvain Chavanel in the climber's polka dot jersey.
Mitch Docker and Tyler Farrar struck up a conversation.
Show time!
Here I am, waiting behind too many people for too many cars to pass.
In order to see the finish, I had to hustle to catch the bus at least a mile away. I did enjoy seeing this couple who wanted to watch the race enough to get dressed up, but not badly enough to actually leave their house.
Indeed, traffic was perturbed due to the race. I was a bit worried about catching the bus but I found a much better solution–I got a ride! As I was running up the road, I heard someone yell, “Hey Canada, are you going to Biot? Do you need-” and before he could finish his offer, I'd sprinted across the street and buckled myself in!
My hero was Colin, a photographer for steephill.tv, a cycling website I know well. It was such a relief not to have to deal with buses and perturbed traffic! Colin was great company as we drove along part of the looping course and arrived in Biot. (Good news, I managed to swipe this poster after the stage!)
Here I am, not getting run over my massive trucks on tiny roads.
Since the traffic was already perturbed, it only made sense to put the TV camera at a bus stop.
Despite the sunny afternoon, there was just a handful of people around, so I sauntered right up to the finish line and claimed it as my spot.
There was a local bike race going on as the peloton rode through the mountains.
Colin and I were on different sides of the barriers but we chatted away nonetheless. When Laurent Jalabert showed up to do TV commentary, I could only get a shot of the back of his head…
…so clever Colin, being on the other side of the barriers, borrowed my camera and walked around to take this photo for me.
Daniel Mangeas, the familiar voice of French cycling, commented away as the peloton neared for the first of 3 laps.
Steele Von Hoff and Niki Terpstra.
A Norwegian sandwich.
Ten bored photographers.
This guy's job was to ring the bell on the next lap to signal to the riders the next time they came through, it would be the finish. I love my little cowbell from the Tour Down Under but I really want that guy's job.
Alex Howes and Sylvain Chavanel.
Geraint Thomas and Rui Costa.
Ramunas Navardauskas and teammate Steele Von Hoff.
Matt Goss and Jetse Bol.
There were a few attacks but nothing that could stay away. I held my breath as the peloton neared, seeing the quality of riders on the front and knowing that each one of them had a legitimate shot at the win, so I was THRILLED that Tom-Jelte Slagter took the stage! In all of the races I've been to, I'd not yet seen a Garmin rider win a stage, until today.
Bryan Coquard.
Geraint Thomas came in over 7 minutes down, having suffered a bad crash in the final few kilometers.
The riders trickled in for another 15 minutes as the podium ceremony got under way.
Stage win: Tom-Jelte Slagter (Netherlands, Garmin)
Race leader: Carlos Betancur (Colombia, AG2R)
Best young rider: Carlos Betancur (Colombia, AG2R)
John Degenkolb had barely crossed the finish line when it was his turn on the podium. He whipped off his helmet, blew his nose (a few times), and hurried up the steps to shake Bernard Hinault's hand. He had a pretty bad case of helmet hair but I think he pulled it off.
Best sprinter: John Degenkolb (Germany, Giant Shimano)
Chavanel had lost the climber's jersey but Pim Ligthart hadn't realized he had won it and had ridden to the team bus. It took awhile, but he eventually showed up and claimed his prize.
Best climber: Pim Ligthart (Netherlands, Lotto Belisol)
Today's 20 autographs: 11 Tom-Jelte Slagter, 13 Tyler Farrar, 14 Alex Howes, 15 Sebastian Langeveld, 16 Ramunas Navardauskas, 17 Steele Von Hoff, 18 Fabian Wegmann, 33 Thor Hushovd, 35 Taylor Phinney, 36 Pete Stetina, 65 Przemyslaw Niemiec, 68 Luca Wackermann, 81 Tony Gallopin, 108 Stijn Vandenbergh, 114 Moreno Hofland, 133 Bryan Coquard, 136 Cyril Gautier, 168 Romain Zingle, 171 Rafal Majka, 182 George Bennett, 208 Florian Vachon, and Bernard Hinault.
Mr. June.
