To spend the night in Carcassonne itself was more than my humble budget allowed, so I stayed in a hostel a few towns away. The owner had originally agreed to drive me to town at 6:30am and by the time we left, I'd recruited 4 more guests to join me.
We were only halfway to town when we got stuck behind the caravan and encountered a road block. Wishing us luck, the owner dropped us off and we scurried through the floats and cars to find our way to the sign on podium.
Fien and Liesa had anticipated road chaos and had driven in extra early, so I was happy to find they were able to save me a spot.
I hope the peloton enjoyed the rest day because today's 237 kilometer stage is the longest in this year's Tour, which also meant that the usual morning timetable was pushed forward by an hour. For me, this translated to one less hour of waiting and pretty soon my favorite of the morning entertainment acts was ready to go. Even though I've never had a sausage from Cochonou and I plan to keep it that way, these guys are great fun. They ask the fans trivia questions about the company and play name-that-song, all the while sprinting around and interacting with the crowd.
Since the quiz is the exact same every day, we've learned more or less all of the answers and fed them to my roommates from the hostel. I'm sure they'd never heard the song before, but they shouted out the correct name and were handsomely rewarded with a bag full of hats and sausages. What more could a girl ask for?
The team buses, meanwhile, began to arrive in the designated parking lot. I know that there are always lots of VIPs and team staff in the bus area but the population seemed particularly dense this morning.
Many bus drivers are former riders or have been involved one way or another in cycling since they were teenagers. The diminutive woman carrying the orange container in the photo below is the FDJ bus driver. She's the only female driver I can recall seeing and I'm very curious to know what her story is.
While Nicolai and Marc provided nonstop running commentary…
…a race referee prepared the official sign on documents.
Arnaud Jeannesson arrived to the podium early and signed a handful of autographs.
Cyril Gautier is one of my favorite French riders. So many of the French riders in particular seem to ignore the fans once they become big names but he signs autographs and waves enthusiastically to the crowd every day at every race I've ever seen him in.
A rider will occasionally bring his child to the podium. It looks easy enough with 2 and 3 year olds, but once a kid hits about 5, it's wonderfully awkward to watch. Below: Mathieu Ladagnous struggles to balance his son on 1 leg while riding back to the bus.
The only Belarussian at the Tour, Vasil Kiryenka tends to be rather stone faced.
French champion Arnaud Démare greeted the crowd in a very transparent mesh kit today.
John Gadret respected the cycling tradition of wearing the number 13 upside down.
Omega Pharma-Quick Step has taken the lead of the best team competition from AG2R and Michal Kwiatkowski looked really excited to receive his stuffed cow.
The best team will usually arrive together to claim their prize and pose for photos but Matteo Trentin rolled up just as the last of his teammates had descended the steps. Jan Bakelants excitedly seized the opportunity of the Italian's absence to nab himself a second cow.
Gatis Smukulis may not be the most famous name in the peloton, but the big Latvian is definitely one of the friendliest. He stops by most days to say hi to us and today he came for an extended visit and posed for a photo with one of my roommates.
Greg Van Avermaet.
It was one of those days where half the peloton showed up in the final 20 minutes.
This definitely made it harder to get autographs and cheer for my favorites.
But more importantly, when the narrow road is already clogged with cyclists, the team vehicles only just manage to squeeze through without killing anyone. With well over 2,000 race kilometers in their legs from the last 2+ weeks alone, many of the riders were understandably irritated by the situation.
The honey badger donned his gloves in advance of the stage.
Riders moved to the initial corral where they waited to be called to the line.
Not yet ready to join their colleagues, Germans Andre Greipel and Marcus Burghardt hung out.
They must have heard a noise from behind…
…when out jumped Marcel Sieberg, like an assistant in a bad magic show.
With just a couple of minutes to spare, more and more riders moved towards the start.
Greipel and Burghardt on their way to work.
The social peloton.
There are always stragglers but it felt like there were more than usual today. The good news is this wasn't a problem as the first 15 or so kilometers of each stage are neutral.
Roy Curvers is one of many Dutch riders who greets us (okay, Fien!) most days.
Jens Voigt took the time to shop for gels and snacks before adjusting his helmet strap.
Nine Swiss riders took to the start back in Yorkshire over 2 weeks ago with 2 having abandoned. Three of the remaining Swiss cyclists pedaled to the start together: Gregory Rast alongside current and former Swiss champions respectively, Martin Elmiger and Michael Schär.
I'm pleased with the 5 autographs I got today as I can now add Sky, Garmin, and Cofidis to my completed list: 4 David Garcia Lopez, 96 Sebastian Langeveld, 178 Julien Simon, 179 Rein Taaramäe, and 199 Marcel Wyss.
I'm not sure how many signatures I'll actually get from the 10 or so riders who have avoided me been unable to sign so far, but I will certainly do my best!
I'm on my way to the mountains now for stages 17 and 18 (I spotted the OPQS and IAM team buses filling up at the gas station–wouldn't want to pay those gas bills) so hopefully I can find wifi without too much difficulty and share my stories as quickly as possible!