Tour de France stage 20

I'm sure Périgueux would have been a lovely town to spend a day just strolling around and admiring the stone architecture.

 

But we had other plans! Belkin and Lampre had set up their vans down by the river.

 

We really hit the jackpot today as a friend who works at the finish had arranged for the 3 of us to follow the time trial in a car in the course! Actually, the only way for all 3 of us to go involved the original third passenger generously giving up his seat. Wow, I was overwhelmed by his selfless gesture! (Don't worry, he was able to get in another car after all!)

 

After running into roadblocks all over Périgueux (I thought it was just fans who ran into Tour traffic but I learned today that is not the case!), we drove in an official car to the start in Bergerac.

 

If you're not at all interested in cycling and enjoy nice food, the VIP village is the place for you! To be fair, if coming here keeps corporate sponsors happy and is what convinces them to carry on supporting pro cycling, then I'm all for it! But my jaw was on the floor when John Degenkolb rode past wearing sweats and not one single head turned to see if it might be someone interesting on the bike. In equally surprising news, Liesa and Fien tried maple syrup for the first time today.

 

A list of which riders have visited the VIP village. Riders mostly show up to take advantage of the food. Looks like the Garmin boys have been satisfied with their own cook to not seek outside food.

 

The reason we were in the village was to check in ahead of our TT car ride. It felt a bit like the airport but without the body scanning.

 

Podium girls?

 

We had some time to spare so after we indulged in the food (fruit salad, waffles, and macaroons), I headed back out onto the street to watch the mechanics and riders go back and forth between their buses and the start area.

Ramunas Navardauskas sporting the Lithuanian TT champion's skinsuit for the first time this season. He was grinning from ear to ear when I congratulated him and the team on yesterday's stage victory.

 

 

The 3 of us had assumed we would follow 1 rider for the entire course and were pretty excited about it, but it turned out to be even better! Our driver explained that we would follow a rider and as the course permitted, we could pull over to wait if there was a later rider we wanted to see. Wow! As luck would have it, Jack Bauer was the rider who had just started so the first time trialist we got to see was one of my favorites!

 

We pulled over after spending about 10 kilometers behind Jack. Two riders past by before the rider we (I!) wanted to see approached.

 

Current and 9 time Canadian time trial champion, Svein Tuft!

 

Two team cars? That could only mean one thing: a catch!

 

Each rider was separated from the next by a 2 minute interval and after maybe about 15 kilometers, Svein was on the verge of catching Armindo Fonseca.

 

The chase.

 

The catch.

 

The pass.

 

With each stoke, Svein put more distance into the Bretagne Seche rider.

 

See the red helmet? She's a race commissaire and was watching to make sure neither rider had attempted to cheat by drafting behind the leader. She held her hand out to prevent the Orica team car from passing Fonseca until there was a large enough gap between Svein and Fonseca.

 

Before long, she waved the Orica car forward.

 

That was the last we saw of Fonseca all day. We followed Svein for what felt like just a few minutes but was the bulk of his ride over the 54 km course.

 

The crowds were impressive and each village had really worked hard to celebrate the Tour.

 

As much as I loved watching a time trial specialist, I was on the edge of my seat when it came to the descents. It was mesmerizing and sickening to feel how fast he was flying down the hills.

 

We hit 80kph at one point, but this was the best picture I could get of the speedometer.

 

Svein was really committing to this stage by tucking at every possible opportunity to make himself more aerodynamic.

 

We could have kept with Svein, but at his speed, our TT experience would finish way too fast! Pulling over again we watched a few riders pass. Below: Luca Paolini.

 

Maxim Iglinsky. Each team only has so many cars which is problematic if a team has multiple riders on the course simultaneously. Astana was borrowing my favorite caravan sponsor, the madeline truck, as Iglinsky's support vehicle.

 

Our eyes fixed on the corner, we expected to see Alex Howes appear any moment. So you can imagine our surprise when Bernie Eisel rode by, having already caught Howes.

 

We still wanted to follow Howes…

 

…but he was being closely tailed by 2 time stage winner Alexander Kristoff…

 

…and Jose Mendes…

 

…meaning we had to wait for all 3 team cars to pass before we could get in the road again. Below: the aftermath of a double catch, Mendes ahead of Howes and Kristoff.

 

Mendes was gone but Kristoff was gaining on Howes. We witnessed another chase, catch, pass sequence.

 

It's exciting to see your rider pass someone but it was a bit demoralizing to see your rider get passed and today we felt both ends of the pass. The good news was that Howes had nothing at stake.

 

With about 7 km to go, we found a place to pull over and wait for Luke Durbridge. It wasn't a long wait as Howes was far behind schedule and Durbridge, the former Australian TT champion, was going hell for leather.

 

We weren't the only car who wanted to see Durbridge so we weren't able to get too close (but I'm not complaining!).

 

The rolling climbs were done by this late section of the course, though were still a couple of good descents. We even hit 90kph at one point! Ridiculous! The next time you're cruising down the high way, imagine taking away your protective gear (seatbelt, airbag, tons of metal, etc), jumping in a bike, and making tight turns at the same speed while wearing nothing more than a thin skinsuit and a hopefully sturdy helmet. Incredible.

 

I swear that it took no more than 40 seconds to go from the 3km to 2km banners!

 

Hitting the flame rouge.

 

Durbridge carried on straight and finished in the top 20 while we were directed to turn off the course 170 meters before the finish.

 

My friend let us watch the rest of the stage from a VIP area. As you can see, most of the other VIPs were less involved with the race than we were.

 

We did take advantage of the goodies, however, and I enjoyed a grapefruit icee and a madeline with chocolate chips. Ah, the VIP life is the good life.

 

Most importantly, we had a spectacular view of the run in to the finish!

 

Christian Meier.

 

Maciej Bodnar.

 

Jurgen Roelandts.

 

Latvian TT national champion, Gatis Smukulis.

 

Paris was over 500 kilometers away, so we weren't able to watch the entire stage if we wanted to arrive in the capital at a semi decent hour. After Smukulis, we moseyed up to the buses. Actually, we moseyed up to the team cars and vans. The team buses were not to be found, most likely already making the long drive from Bergerac to Paris, while the peloton would be traveling by chartered flight.

 

Roelandts on his way back to the team car.

 

Roy Curvers cooled down while having a lively talk with a staff member.

 

Bryan Coquard was noticabely less pleased than Curvers.

 

A little further down the road, Lars Boom and Sep Vanmarcke signed autographs for some very enthusiastic Dutch fans.

 

Koen De Kort was all sunshine and lollipops as he gave a surprisingly lengthy interview immediately after he finished his TT.

 

There were still plenty of riders out on the course but our TT was over.

 

Again, a huge thank you to Julien (and Thibault!) for making today possible for us.

 

Next stop Paris…!