Tour de France stage 13

Right before stage 13 would hit a hors categorie climb for an uphill finish, the peloton would cross Col de Palaquit, a 14.1 kilometer climb averaging 6.1%. My goal for today was to hike up the mountain and find a good spot.

The first 3 kilometers were steep, mostly 10%, so there were plenty of great corners to chose from. I kept on walking though, as I figured the peloton would mostly be together at the bottom of the climb and I wanted to see them a little more strung out.

There were lots of camper vans along the way, each one advertising support for a different team or rider. Hands down, the team that had the most visible support was Belgium's Lotto Belisol!

I caught a glimpse of a minor celebrity on my way up. The Devil has been putting in appearances at the Tour for years and years. He's often credited as the originator of the trend of wearing silly costumes at the Tour. Too bad he's too fast for my camera!

Lovely views of Grenoble from the mountain.

The road flattened out in a few places, creating long stretches of silence. I know the noise of the peloton's bikes can be surprising, but I wondered what it must be like when a rider is in a small group along these roads with no spectators. Is it lonely? Is it peaceful? Do the riders become reflective?

Just as I was getting really philosophical, I rounded a corner and smacked into the mountain's one stop shopping source for all thing Tour de France. So much for reflecting!

I won't bother with photos from the entire way up, but after about 9 kilometers, I realized I should probably start considering places as the further I hiked up, the further I'd have to hike back down in the 90+ degree heat.

I found a great S bend that afforded me a long view of the peloton both coming and going.

Irish Corner, it wasn't, but it was clearly Canadian!

A few superheroes passed by.

I was eventually joined by some French and foreign spectators and, after we'd been attacked by the publicity caravan hurling key chains at our heads, the hovering helicopters indicated that the race was imminent.

The last I'd heard, there was a 7 man break that had fallen apart, so I wasn't sure who would pass us first. It turned out to be Cannondale's Alessandro De Marchi. The solo Italian was followed by about about 7 or 8 vehicles.

Forty seconds later, Jan Bakelants arrived looking far more worn out than I'm sure he would have liked considering there was still an HC climb to go.

Not long after, Luis Angel Mate arrived.

The bunch, with GC favorites like Nibali and Valverde, was less than 2 minutes behind De Marchi.

Fränk Schleck.

Ben King and Steven Kruijswijk.

Two cheers for Poland: Michal Golas and Michal Kwiatkowski.

Sylvain Chavanel at the back of the bunch.

Perrig Quemeneur did not look at ease as he eyed the road to come.

Koen De Kort and Jens Voigt seemed to be in no particular hurry.

Daniel Oss, who had been in the early break, received a little help from his team car.

I'd cheered and shouted for plenty of riders by name at this point, but I still kicked it up a notch when Ramunas Navardauskas rode by with Bernie Eisel. I yelled so much for him that he kept turning back even after he'd passed just to watch me. He was laughing for as long as I could see him, so I was satisfied!

When the groupetto sauntered up the hill, I picked out Svein Tuft way in advance–although he had probably spotted me first from my flags!–and told him they were only a few minutes behind the leader and that he and Luke Durbridge should just time trial the rest of the way. He didn't take my advice but he did have a massive grin on his face (Marcel Sieberg, pictured below far right, wasn't quite sure what to make of my strategy).

Bearing bandages from his shoulder injury, Marcus Burghardt climbed on.

Sebastian Langeveld.

The last 2 Garmin riders I saw were Alex Howes and Jack Bauer.

The broom wagon wasn't too far off, but everyone finished comfortably within the time cut today. I was surprised to see how fast the peloton was moving as they arrived at Col de Palaquit well ahead of schedule.

Even though I knew the race had another 40 or kilometers until the end, it was great just to see the race on a significant climb without tons of fans blocking the road or dangerously running alongside the riders. To make the day even better, the Brits I'd watched the stage with kindly offered me a lift back to town, saving me a 2 hour hike. Success!