Le Tour

On the eve of our trip across the pond to meet up with the Tour de France I thought it a good time to talk a bit about this year’s race and our plans to catch a few stages.

The Tour, a truly remarkable and grueling sporting event, will cover 3,642km (2263miles) over the course of 23 days and 21 stages. Starting in the Netherlands this year the Tour travels south into the Ardennes region of Belgium, across northern France and into the Alps. After four days in the Alps the Tour heads across south eastern France and the Massif Central and into the high peaks of the Pyrenees. Four epic stages traversing the long steep climbs bordering Spain will certainly determine the winner of this year’s tour with the decisive battle to likely unfold on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet. If the outcome is still in doubt a final individual time trial in Bordeaux prior to the finishing stage into Paris will surely seal the victory.


Already five days in, the start to this year’s race has been memorable to say the least. The first three stages were crash-filled affairs consisting of rain slick roads, round-abouts, chaotic bunch sprints and 8 miles of Belgium and French cobblestones normally reserved for the great one-day spring classics of Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Oh and we can't forget the dog. Two of the overall favorites are already out of the tour and several others have lost considerable time, including unfortunately Nicole’s man Lance Armstrong (resulting from a flat tire on the cobbles at the worst possible time). My favorite rider, Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream), crashed on stage 2, broke 2 ribs, received 5 stitches over his eye and was forced to abandon. Terrible luck for a rider that finish 8th in the 2009 Tour and was a favorite for the podium this year.

Despite the bad turn of events early on we are still headed to France on Friday excited to meet up with one of the greatest sporting events in the world. It is the Tour de France after all – and with more than two weeks left, anything is possible.

Our plan is to do the touristy thing in Paris for three days before heading east to the Southern Alps to meet the tour when it finishes in Gap (Stage 10) on Bastille Day. This stage finish has a significant history as those familiar will remember the career ending crash by Joseba Beloki and Lance’s amazing shortcut through the field on the decent into Gap in 2003. video of crash They will travel that same road 7 years later.

The following day we will watch the start of stage 11 in Sisteron (Stage 11) before heading south to Antibes on the coast for a few days of lounging by turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

We again meet the tour in the Pyrenees during the finish of stage 15 into Bagnerès-de-Luchon. (Stage 15) This stage features the monster climb of the Port du Balès, coming only 21km from the finish. Nicole and I plan on being at the top of the Port du Balès as the riders begin their mad descent into Luchon.

The following day the epic stage 16 begins in Luchon and we will watch the riders roll out for a staggering 6 hrs in the saddle covering 200km, 4 mountains and 15,000ft of climbing. (Stage 16) The following day is a rest day for the Tour and we plan to do some exploration of the high Pyrenees by bike and by foot. A jaunt across the border in Spain just may be in order.

Stage 17 is considered the queen stage of the 2010 tour as it finishes on top of the highest pass in the Pyrenees, the 2115m (6,900ft) Col du Tourmalet. The final standings could very well be decided on top of this grand col. We will ride up the 12k west side of Tourmalet and the tour will be coming up the east side. Here are some pictures from the ‘09 tour as it climbed the same side we will be climbing. Tourmalet I’ll have more on our Tourmalet plans as we get closer.

Finally we will head back to Paris to spend a few days with our good friend Anne and meet the tour one last time as they finish on the Champs-Èlysèes.

I’ll post updates on our planned viewing spots along the route so that just maybe you can tune into Versus coverage that day and keep an eye out for us. I’ll also have more posting and pictures of bike rides we take during the trip. All assuming we have working Internet!

David