Pulling an Alberto Contador

Our plan for Friday was to collect our rental car in Lyon in order to make our way north into the Bourgogne (Burgundy) wine region. Our departure from Lyon was a little reminiscent of our Spanish road trip days: within 10 minutes of driving, Jeremy and I were pretty close to killing one another. A quick check on our vows (Excitement! Calming!) and we were furtively at ease again, on the road in France!

While driving, we started to notice quite a few cars with bikes, which got us excited for Le Tour. Hence, we collectively called an Alberto Contador, abandoning our team plan to head into Beaune, where we would be staying for the next two days. Instead, we initiated a breakaway down a country road to the Stainless Steel Capital of the world: Bueugnon. (This fact is of course per Le Tour Website. Fact checkers, let us know if we're wrong!)

Finish Town for Stage 6, this was the first time Buengnon hosted Le Tour. The cute small French town was decorated with yellow, green, white, and polka dot jersey-flags which streamed across the streets from building to building. You can tell the towns are proud to e selected to host a start or finish in Le Tour, and nearly everyone came out to watch what was destined to be a sprint finish stage.

We arrived several hours before the peloton was expected to finish in order to stake a front-row spot. We settled for a location 350 meters from the finish line, where we would surely be able to see the riders sprinting at the end of what was the longest stage in this year's Tour, some 220+ KM.

As it turns out, not only was this stage the longest, but it was also the most boring stage in the tour. For 220 KM, the General Contenders sat in the peloton, conserving energy in anticipation for the next day's climbing into the Alps. So for about two and a half hours, we stood waiting for the cyclists to arrive in Gueugnon, listening to an announcer give play-by-plays in French of practically nothing. Since we could only understand 10% of the announcer's commentary, we also tracked the race progress on my iPhone. Even a boring stage hade furiously tapping the refresh button: what a nail biter!

Finally, Le Caravan arrived, and a French version of the Philadelphia Mummer's Parade ensued. The race sponsors made floats and handed out treats while dancing and driving down the final few miles of the stage route. After the floats, a few motorcycles flew by and then, in nearly a blink of an eye, the cyclists turned the corner into the home stretch!

We were so excited to see our favorite riders up front and our other favorite riders in safe positions. Tyler Farar, an American on Team Garmin, was so close to taking the stage. We were rooting for him, while the Brits standing behind us were pulling Cav, aka Marc Cavendish, a man with very short arms but ferocious legs. In the end, Cav pedaled to victory for the second day in a row. But Tyler did great - we know he will win a stage soon! We also saw Lance - ever so briefly - and we even caught a photo of Levi Leiphimer, a local SF/Santa Rosa rider.

Despite all the waiting in the very hot temperatures, it was a great time. We spoke to a few old French women and collected a lot of cheesy but free cycling paraphernalia. And we are so excited for the upcoming Mountain Stages in the Alps...

Vive le Tour!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Bourgogne, France