Life around Tour de France – Stage 14
Sports Travel / Tourism
Cold & rainy – the tour moves on!!
Today, we were certified “crazy & mad” by our friends in Colmar, for we braved a consistent drizzle for over 2 hours on the streets leading to Sundhoffen – a small village on the route to Besancon, to catch the publicity caravan & the riders as we have been doing for the last 13 days. For us it was more of a thrill to see Contador, Nocentini, Armstrong, Cavendish & the other riders, who have become a part of our life – cycling by. But for majority of the crowd at this town it was the publicity caravan that was the focus, as getting gifts being thrown from the branded vans & participating in contests is equally thrilling!!
In our haste to leave from India, we had forgotten to bring the Indian Flag, something which we corrected today as the courier with the flags in different sizes had reached us in the morning. Standing on the roads waving them at the cars & bikes (the total no. of tour vehicles is over 3,000!!) was by itself a sport. Most passed by with a frown as the Indian Flag is not a common sight in these parts of France. But once in a while someone would wave out us after recognizing the flag & that did bring us a nice feeling. The best was when the Associated Press van actually stopped & came back to wave to us!!
By the time the race passed us by and we got a few real good snaps, we were drenched in rain & with the temperature reading 14 degrees C it was time to run into a café for a cup of hot Coffee. Communication at most café’s & brassiere’s is easy as with broken English, we can get what we want. But today we also saw how badly following a rule can upset the lives of the ordinary man on the street. Case was – the route of the race was passing right outside the Colmar railway station & the cops had been stationed there. For 2 hours before the race they blocked the road and did not allow anyone to cross & walk the 50m to the station, instead they just turned away the traveler – who then had to walk/travel almost 3 kms to reach the platform on the other side!! All this when the cop could have just let them cross ensuring they didn’t obstruct the race vehicles. Dozens of people missed their trains today and when we narrated this to our friends in Colmar – they just shrugged & told us that its better not to talk on the subject!! Guess, cops everywhere do try & wield their authority!!
The 14h Stage of the Tour de France started off at Colmar and finished distance of 199 kms, with the course running through the towns of Sundhoffen, Pulvershiem, Delle, Dambelin Roulans & Novillars.
Team Astana & Armstrong were involved in other blowup with the Anti-Doping authorities where their Officials said they were made to wait for over an hour when they came for the tests in the morning, while all Armstrong had to say was, “You don’t come & wake me up at 6.00am on a race day when we were to do the mountain stages!! If I had done that to you, you would have thrown the furniture in the room at me. Enough is enough”.
The race started sedately & slowly a 12 member breakaway formed with George Hincapie in the lead. Right through the stage, Hincapie rode at the front of the group with little help from majority of them. At one stage the lead on the peleton was almost 9 minutes & with Hincapie starting the race with a deficit of 5.30 minutes from the Yellow Jersey, it was a serious challenge by him for the overall lead. With 10 kms remaining Serguei Ivanov of Katusha Team raced away with a sudden sprint & then stayed there to win the race stage, a breath of fresh life for Katusha Team who otherwise are having a rough tour. And when the peleton finally came in Hincapie missed the Yellow jersey by just 5 seconds!!
For the record in Stage 14 – the winner was Serguei Ivanov of the Katusha team. The individual standings at the top changed after a long time. The Yellow Jersey remains with Rinaldo Nocentini of the AG2R team from France. George Hincapie of the British Columbia team moves into second spot – 5 seconds behind with Alberto Contador & Lance Armstrong slipping to 3rd & 4th spots, just 6 & 8 seconds respectively from the top. The Green Jersey remains with Thor Hurshod of Norway even though Mark Cavendish finished ahead of him as Cavendish was penalized for blocking Hurshod in the sprint to the finish line by the judges.
In an accident involving a Race motorbike, a 62 lady lost her life as she was crossing the road. The enquiry absolved the rider of any fault, as the lady was observed crossing the road many times as the tour vans where moving and was found at fault. This is the first such incident on the tour after 2002 when a 7 year boy died in an accident involving the Publicity caravan.
The Race tomorrow is from Pontarlier to Verbier a distance of 207 kms and with a hill top finish, the second of the race, the Alps are here!!!
Au revoir!!…
Email : mrq@planningfactory.in