Saying that of course, the race was run in the shadow of the horrific events in Nice last night. Discussions were held with the Police and it was decided that the race should go ahead, though there were no celebrations at the stage presentations. Its very difficult to know what to say about it...I've started and deleted this bit many times because nothing I can say adds anything. I'm living in a bubble, I travel to the race, watch the race and move on to the next hotel, I know what's going on but I'm probably too scared to face the reality of it all, so hiding in the bubble is preferable. I look at the Tour and the mountain yesterday as a snapshot, there were flags of many many nations, it didn't matter who you were or where you were from, we were unified, yes by something as futile as a bike race but events like this prove not all is lost.
Breakfast was the same as yesterday and all was going well, the owner brought out a tray of everything and set it out on the table, she even stood back and admired her work, at which point I moved my chair, banged the table with my knee and spilt everything on the table that could be spilt. She looked at me, looked sad and walked away.
The journey to the time trial was initially ok but I knew that I would run into the route baree at some point but was hoping that I would make it to my target before that. I didn't and it took roughly an hour to make the long way round. This did mean that I got to drive through Pont St Esprit, crossing the Rhone on one of those very old school bridges that France does so well, the town had the obligatory old wall and church and generally carried off an impressive old look without evening trying. After many miles of tiny lanes through the Ardech Forest, I finally got within 100 metres of the route.
Those on peage check with be pleased to know that there were two today, one I did a full on head butt on the mirror and the other I managed to cut my finger on something as I threw myself back into my seat.
The time trial is a funny beast and for a spectator you need to be pretty committed. Every rider completes the course individually, starting with the rider currently last and then every two minutes until the leader. So for us standing at the 3km point, every two minutes, we would get a Police motorbike with a flashing light (Police motorbike with no flashing light means normal Police duty, flashing light means I've got a cyclist behind me). You then have a cyclist going past at a cracking pace, followed by a team car, with his name on the front and an official car, checking that there isn't any cheating. That happened 188 (approx) times, though I'm not a complete idiot and me and my new friends watched the last 75. Finally the current leader, Chris Froome came through, surrounded by tv camera motorbikes and way more cars than anyone else and that was it.
I think for most cyclist fans the time trial is the opportunity to take photos. Normally they fly past in a bunch so quickly, photos are difficult but for two days (there is a mountain climb time trial next week) we get to pretend we can take photos and with the two minute gap we can review them, show them off or delete in a mood.
After hours in the sun and strong winds it was time to transfer to my last one night hotel. A 40 mile drive to Vals les Bain. I finally left the glare of Ventoux which was visible for most of the mornings journey. Heading north the landscape changed again, this time it appeared to be a massive rockery
which had grown over with trees. The road wound along valley floors and hillsides and through stunning towns such as Villiers, a town so impressive I think i may have whistled.
One plea that did come out of this journey. I understand that motor homes have a right to go about
their business and steal all the space on the roadside and never move aside to left the traffic past, that really is all fine. However, can manufacturers of motor homes please, please not call them RAPIDO!
My hotel is in Vals les Bain, the sort of town that looks like it was the absolute place to be at the turn of the century. There is nothing wrong with it now, it just looks like it's desperate to get back to those times. Sorry to say dinner was a pizza and on the walk back I found a very posh arts and crafts shop, very serious, some very worthy singer songwriter on the stereo But it still couldn't help itself having a tat section, so with great design I went up to the counter with my standard tat purchases and left.
I did have a weird exchange this afternoon, which ended really nicely. As we were packing up after the end of the time trial, I was still holding the flag on the pole, when I suddenly felt the flag pulled quite sharply. I turned panicking that it had hit someone when I found a pretty drunk Frenchman pulling on it and shouting at me. Eventually he let go and walked off as he did another Frenchman, a man with his wife and kids came up to and said sorry, there are horrible people...he then called the flag puller a f****** w****** and put his hand on my shoulder. I thanked him and it was a nice moment...then he told me to put more suntan lotion on!
Stat room
Miles driven 2209
Counties visited - 3, May change soon :)
Times I've wanted to stop and take photos of places I've driven through but can't because I need to get a move on - too many to count
Number of times I failed to take the photo because I missed the button of riders in the top ten - 3
Cheese of the day - back to Tomme de Savoie
Team Dimension Data
Tom Dumoulin on his way to victory
Could be Porte, could be Tejay, answers on a postcard
Adam Yates
Vals les brains
Vals again
More Vals
Froome goes past and the afternoons racing is over
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