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Posted (edited)

What a wild stage. Great route and a chaotic start. 
 

Gutty performance by Alaphilippe today after the crash, dislocating his shoulder, popping it back in and sprinting for third. Some reports say he thought he was first as he celebrated, but I find that hard to believe as Campanaerts was just in front of them. Anyone see that median that the peloton crashed over? They are often cobbled but this one was like round baby-head river rocks embedded in cement. Why the peloton was taken through there at speed is a mystery. 
 

JV’s tactics looked suspect. Letting Jonas fend for him self to rejoin after the crash is one thing. Two guys up in the break working for 2nd and sprinting for 3rd when it seems to me they might want to save some energy for what’s to come, no?

Edited by Txzen
Posted
7 minutes ago, Txzen said:

JV’s tactics looked suspect. Letting Jonas fend for him self to rejoin after the crash is one thing. Two guys up in the break working for 2nd and sprinting for 3rd when it seems to me they might want to save some energy for what’s to come, no?

JV’s.  No more Jumbo.  It's now Visma - Lease a Bike.  

As for Visma's tactics, tomorrow is a rest day.  Let the guys who have been working for Jonas have a little fun.  UAE did the same with Wellens.  

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Posted

I’m in Montpellier to watch the Tour start out on Tuesday. 

Staying with friends, but a negative first impression of the city, will refrain from spending money here and will likely leave town after the race departs on Tuesday.

Will scout out the Tour plans after I wake up.

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Posted

No experience there but plenty in Avignon,  Bedoin, Sault, Vaison-le-Romaine, Gigondas… 

in the other direction, Toulouse seemed lovely and a totally different city style for France. Hope you find your place! Had heard similar grumblings about Marseille. 

Posted
24 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

I’m in Montpellier to watch the Tour start out on Tuesday. 

Staying with friends, but a negative first impression of the city, will refrain from spending money here and will likely leave town after the race departs on Tuesday.

Will scout out the Tour plans after I wake up.

Fucking username. 

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Posted
9 hours ago, Txzen said:

Old habits die hard. But Wout was pushing from the third group 2 min behind the winning move 12k out. Lunacy. 

It was his kid's birthday.  He wanted screen time.  

Posted
12 hours ago, Txzen said:

Some reports say he thought he was first as he celebrated, but I find that hard to believe as Campanaerts was just in front of them

He definitely thought he won, he even said so.

Posted

I know of a few of your have watched the Tour in-person and ridden over there some.  Sounds like Napoleon is there now.  Has anyone ever done one of the TDF group tours?  Combination of riding and spectating?   I'm looking at doing this next summer with my 18 year old son.  

I've been to France quite a few times and driven there a few times.  I'm comfortable navigating around over there, but I've never ridden a bike over there.  I know you can accomplish the same type of trip on your own but I'm at the age where paying for the convenience of someone else doing all the planning and taking care of all the logistics is appealing to me.  I could do without all the finish-line VIP area stuff and would be just as happy watching the peloton roll through from the side of a country road.  But on the riding days, being dropped off at the bottom of Ventoux with a bike and picked up at the top and shuttled to a hotel sounds way better than he and I winging it on our own.  

I used to hate the idea of guided trips but my son and I did a mountain bike across Scotland trip with a guided group a couple years ago and it was amazing.  The group was small and I enjoyed everyone in it and we definitely went to some spots, riding, exploring, eating, etc.., that we would not have known about on our own.

Anyway, pros and cons of any live Tour experiences you've had?  

I've looked into Thomson Bike Tours and Custom Getaways.  

I'd be interested to read about your experiences watching the Tour live and riding over there whether on your own or with a group.

Posted

👆

Went to the Fan Fest shit today and talked to a couple of Canadian retirees. Probably in their late 60s

They went to 4 or 5 different starts in the Pyrenees and would watch the starts and then go back to their hotel and watch the rest of the race. 

I don’t which tour group they are with, but they said that after tomorrow they are heading to Oaris and then waiting to watch the final day in the stands on the Champs, so they are locked into something.

Here is a Time Lapse from today. I start behind the stage where they will likely introduce the riders and then I walk straight on a walkway that bisects the half circle of buildings that is a lot like the Royal something or another in Bath, England, then I walk to the Fan Fest thing. 

 

More photos later. 👆 Click link.

 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Your Mom said:

I know of a few of your have watched the Tour in-person and ridden over there some.  Sounds like Napoleon is there now.  Has anyone ever done one of the TDF group tours?  Combination of riding and spectating?   I'm looking at doing this next summer with my 18 year old son.  

I've been to France quite a few times and driven there a few times.  I'm comfortable navigating around over there, but I've never ridden a bike over there.  I know you can accomplish the same type of trip on your own but I'm at the age where paying for the convenience of someone else doing all the planning and taking care of all the logistics is appealing to me.  I could do without all the finish-line VIP area stuff and would be just as happy watching the peloton roll through from the side of a country road.  But on the riding days, being dropped off at the bottom of Ventoux with a bike and picked up at the top and shuttled to a hotel sounds way better than he and I winging it on our own.  

I used to hate the idea of guided trips but my son and I did a mountain bike across Scotland trip with a guided group a couple years ago and it was amazing.  The group was small and I enjoyed everyone in it and we definitely went to some spots, riding, exploring, eating, etc.., that we would not have known about on our own.

Anyway, pros and cons of any live Tour experiences you've had?  

I've looked into Thomson Bike Tours and Custom Getaways.  

I'd be interested to read about your experiences watching the Tour live and riding over there whether on your own or with a group.

 

I've always gone unguided, but I have a good friend that just did a guided tour in France last month, I'll ask which outfit. He spoke very highly of it.

Posted (edited)
59 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

That's pretty cool.  Is Fan Fest something they have at every stage?

Short answer: YES

Longer Answer: Frequently the Tour starts out from the same town that they ended at the day before. 

Other times it ends in one town and then starts close by the next morning. 

This year in Montpellier, the day before the start (Today, Monday July 21st) is a rest day. 

I didn’t know for sure what was going on today, but so knew for sure that there would at least be people building shit up for tomorrow’s pre-start festivities. The Tour always starts off in the 12 o’clock hour, so that leaves hours of shit to see and doing the morning, but it has to get set up in advance. 

This kind of shit:

image.thumb.jpeg.2a61686371a54027a88fea26c7d780a9.jpeg

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Was still being set up today, but was only for sponsors later this evening before being open to the public tomorrow, the morning of the start. 

REMEMBER:

1) Professional sports are really Entertainment & a Platform for Advertisers.

2) The Tour de France is basically a traveling carnival brought to you by major corporations.

It is the NASCAR of Europe. It is all about the brands and connecting with the customers.

I tried a Lay’s chips knockoff, a Nutella knockoff…

image.thumb.jpeg.699193dffca8f6c12ec9468f6597e467.jpeg

…some ready-made pasta sauce

image.thumb.jpeg.e52d442b3fb1660163d99a7eea535c99.jpeg
 

Gave my email out to som VIP events & travel company (CENTURY 21) to get a couple of plastic shopping bags for my friends’ kids, chatted with a guy who didn’t speak English about Pétanque, and what makes OBUT brand Pétanque Balls so special (an official Tour sponsor with Pétanque setups in Lille & Montpellier this year)

image.thumb.jpeg.1394aa3c5248a6d530a2c0f7d2e60a0d.jpeg
There were free yellow hats, I got a blue & white bucket cap from some company named “Krys”

IMG_5544.thumb.jpeg.29d05a682369cffafe73a8e48fea8e2b.jpeg

for waiting in line and having an eye exam. (My distance vision is till “perfect”, but my reading vision is “complicated”. (A.K.A. “It sucks.”)

Saw a few different Poloce stands, depending on whether you wanted to be an investigator or a general police officer, and then the fire department had helmets and an obstacle course for little kids..

image.thumb.jpeg.2f301aff054c83c34e0d0ce55ffaa7fb.jpeg

image.thumb.jpeg.9ed6111f8dc59dc79b7c7b4856a037cf.jpeg

…and tons more. 

My hope is that tomorrow we will be able to see team bikes on stands from a close distance. 

If you have watched the Tour on TV, you can tell that the national board of tourism has its fingers into the overall route of the race, the individual daily routes, and even the camera shots and the information provided the commentators, at least the English speaking ones for the USA.

This is the first time that the Tour has passed through Montpellier in 9 years, so it’s a special thing here. 

Also, I asked the girl giving me my eye exam and a person at another stand and they both told me that they live locally and are only working this Fan Fest, they are not traveling with the Tour. There are likely some who do, and then there are people with a company like the Pétanque ball company who likely will only show up to Lille and Montpellier this year and skip the rest of the tour and not hire anyone for other stops either. 
 

NOTE: I am tired of and may have made mistakes. I don’t feel like rereading this post either, so if I made mistakes… fuck it. 

 

Edited by Napoleon
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Posted
7 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I know of a few of your have watched the Tour in-person and ridden over there some.  Sounds like Napoleon is there now.  Has anyone ever done one of the TDF group tours?  Combination of riding and spectating?   I'm looking at doing this next summer with my 18 year old son.  

I've been to France quite a few times and driven there a few times.  I'm comfortable navigating around over there, but I've never ridden a bike over there.  I know you can accomplish the same type of trip on your own but I'm at the age where paying for the convenience of someone else doing all the planning and taking care of all the logistics is appealing to me.  I could do without all the finish-line VIP area stuff and would be just as happy watching the peloton roll through from the side of a country road.  But on the riding days, being dropped off at the bottom of Ventoux with a bike and picked up at the top and shuttled to a hotel sounds way better than he and I winging it on our own.  

I used to hate the idea of guided trips but my son and I did a mountain bike across Scotland trip with a guided group a couple years ago and it was amazing.  The group was small and I enjoyed everyone in it and we definitely went to some spots, riding, exploring, eating, etc.., that we would not have known about on our own.

Anyway, pros and cons of any live Tour experiences you've had?  

I've looked into Thomson Bike Tours and Custom Getaways.  

I'd be interested to read about your experiences watching the Tour live and riding over there whether on your own or with a group.

I did a Trek travel final week of tour. Great experience. Best pro is they book a restaurant and bring a bus with your clothes to a route up the mountain. So you ride part of the course then have a place to eat and change before the riders come through. Shoot me a message for more details. Thompson seems legit. 

Posted

I've made many trips there, all unguided and planned personally. Frankly, I'm not a strong cyclist. Sure, I want to climb the Tourmalet, but then I want a duck confit and a glass of rose at the top. I'm not some savage. I have hotel and route recommendations if you want.

I have history with Ventoux. It was the first climb I did in France, first trip, in 2011. Was very concerned my Northern California mountain training was insufficient, so we did Ventoux from Sault. 

Spoiler

Mont-Ventoux-from-Sault.jpeg

 

From the lovely town of Sault, it's an easy spin - first ascending through the beautiful lavender fields. Never a hard climb until you get to the junction with Chalet Reynard, then shit gets real. 

In 2019 we returned, and did it proper from Bedoin - the way the Tour will go tomorrow. What a great little town. Here's the shot from our morning breakfast at the very basic hotel near the town square. This is a beautiful place. IMG_06532.thumb.jpg.5b1a5d56af6d679c778415bc528f5862.jpg

 

The climb from Bedoin, however, is anything but. The average gradient doesn't tell the story. There are hairpins with flat sections at Alpe d'Huez, Luz Ardiden, Tourmalet, and even the Galibier. On Ventoux, while you start rolling through lovely vineyards as a warmup at the 'St. Esteve bend' you take a hard left and the climb starts for real. There are no hairpins. This is an infernal climb, a road which just turns left and right through short trees forever. In many climbs, there are hairpins that offer a short 50 feet of flat respite to catch your breath, or even stop. There's none of that here. You are greeted with 9k of 9-10% with not a single moment to catch your breath all the way to the Chalet. If you need to stop, like I did, you have to jump off the tarmac to a rough gravel side area. Once you catch your breath, clipping in and getting back on the tarmac is no easy feat. It's the most awful thing I've ever done. The 'average' of 7.6% is a joke - this is a 9-10% climb, and then you get to 5000k feet in elevation to deal with the elements to the top. Brutal. 

Mont-Ventoux-from-B%C3%A9doin.jpeg

In fairness, I spent the entire night prior to our ascent riding the porcelain because I made the bad mistake of eating a pizza from a place where the owner's signature is his top hat. Perhaps the egg, which arrived too raw on top of the pizza was the mistake. It's also possible the waitress, a lithe brunette clearly taking the summer off from the ballet, poisoned us. Whatever, I was in love with her. No matter what, it certainly did not make Ventoux any easier, though perhaps I was a few pounds lighter for the effort. Enough said. 

From the Chalet onward you are on the surface of the moon. No trees, often baking sun and if you are unlucky the Mistral winds try to blow you off the mountain. That final turn to the top of Ventoux is so steep, if you don't watch your balance you will pull a wheelie and almost crash. Ask me how I know. 

This is a beast of a climb. 

IMG_0645.thumb.jpg.5bdfb183046923c3f9cf80bb473bbcd1.jpg

If this sounds too much, might I recommend the lovely spin through the Gorges de la Nesque. Never more than a few percent, this is an easy almost flat 24 mile out and back from Bedoin along a picturesque steep valley, complete with many tunnels through the rock. 

IMG_0613.thumb.jpg.423910f2c1f04c8f0048845b2947ba6f.jpg

For a base of operations, the amazing Hotel Les Florets in Gigondas would do nicely. The restaurant is reason enough to visit - I recall having a foie gras three ways set menu for 50EUR in 2011. Accommodations are not luxurious, but the location makes up for it. Gorgeous courtyard in which you can have a bottle of rose and house-cured olives while entertaining the many friendly stray cats pre-dinner. You look out at the Montmiral hills, with the amazing Chateau St. Cosme at the base of the hotel. 

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Posted

TOUR UPDATE:

I was heading to the starting area for the Tour de France and people were crowded at the cross street at the end of my friend’s block. Apparently it was/is the route and the sponsor cars were getting ready to come by. 

I saw the first few from inside the Carrefour, including the lion (🦁) at the front, but got outside to film & photograph most of the other cars that flew by. They were chucking out free samples, key chains, cheap hats, bandanas and more.

I am standing near a roundabout that the peloton will likely split around and that is always cool to see, so I am not sure whether I will stay here or walk down to the start. It is a gradual incline, so the cyclists will likely be going slightly slower than normal, so instead of it taking 4 seconds to pass, they may take 5 seconds to pass. 

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