France
2015 Tour de France stage 19
I planned to hike the 17km up La Toussuire but only 30 minutes in to my hike, Fien drove by and gave me a lift! So while I avoided a 34km round trip hike, I am looking forward to bed. Enjoy this photo gallery! Vincenzo Nibali won the stage, gaining 1'20″ and moving up … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France stage 18
The last time a stage started in Gap was in 2013 when Christophe Riblon rode away from Tejay Van Garderen on a stage featuring a double ascent of Alp d'Huez. Van Garderen will not be a threat today after succumbing to illness yesterday and abandoning midway through the stage and Alp d'Huez isn't a concern … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France stage 17
In real estate, location is everything and today we had it in spades! The rest of the crowd was more interested in the publicity caravan, which suited us just fine. There have been plenty of Colombian fans along the course since Utrecht but the bulk of them have had eyes only for Quintana. With … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France rest day
Odds and ends on a few different topics. **** My two cents on Froome In absence of any real scandal–no positive tests, no serious rivals to the yellow jersey, no fights within the peloton, even Tinkoff himself seems to finally be in Sagan’s corner–the cycling world has fallen back on the routine question of whether … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France stage 16
An early break of 12 riders eventually turned into a massive break of 23 after a motivated chase group, aided by a hefty tailwind, joined the leaders. Their advantage grew steadily, reaching 12'20″ as they hit Col de Cabre, a cat 2 climb of 9km, averaging about 5%, with 70km to go. Twenty kilometers … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France stage 15
The break had zero chance of succeeding today, the sprint teams would make sure of that. And yet, when the TV coverage finally started an hour already into the stage, I used my zoom to take a photo to see if I could work out who was the in the break and what the gap … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France stage 14
Yet another hot day in a string of hot days. When it hits 33C/91F by 9am, you've got to feel for the guy in the lion costume. I've hardly ever spoken with Cyril Gautier other than the basic exchanges my French will allow, but he is one of the friendliest riders in the bunch. … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France stage 13
They may have left the Pyrenes, but today was never going to be an easy day for the peloton. The day's numbers: 1 sprint, 3 categorized climbs, 198.5km, and a brutal climb of over 9% in the last 500 meters. The cooperative six man break dropped most of their colleague in the closing kilometers, … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France stage 12
I don't envy the peloton tackling one of the hardest stages in the 2015 Tour on such a sweltering day. When sign on opened, most of the riders and photographers understandably hid in the shade as long as they could. Everyone got to work before long. Andrew Talanaky, his shot at GC is … Continue reading
2015 Tour de France stage 11
The only thing better than watching race on a climb is catching a lift up the climb when you had expected to walk the 11km! I checked out the finish, but this series of switchbacks, by far the steepest section of Côte de Cauterets. The category 3 climb was the sixth and final climb, less … Continue reading