While I read about Europe’s worst first winters, am reminded of my brush with cold at Colmar in France. When Lance Armstrong made a statement that evening that it was perhaps the coldest day for him in Tour de France, trust me he wasn’t joking! I remember the clanking of my teeth and my fruitless effort to hold my hand still in order to take few photographs of the TdF cyclists. The make do rain coat I had bought in Barcelona, struggled to hold up against the downpour coupled with chilly wind and had I been sitting inside a café sipping a hot cappuccino it would have been a different experience. And this was the month of July! Nevertheless, am not complaining. The whole Tour de France experience was worth every single experience and needless to say my stay in Colmar was simply beautiful.
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Tour de France 2010 – Stage 7
This is a guest post by Mr.Q, a professional quizmaster and an ardent Tour de France fan who is reporting his 2nd full tour.
Chavanel’s second coming !!
The 7th Stage of the TdF was from Tournus to Station des Rousses a distance of 165.5km is the first of the mountain stage at this year’s TdF. With the race now being passing through the hills & the valleys, the beauty of the country is definitely going to be showcased for the world. Though yours truly doubts if the riders have any time at all to even look around, as the race goes through climb after climb to its finish. The major surprise for the day was the second coming of the Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel into the Yellow jersey, as he pushed his small frame to the brink after breaking away from the main group & snatched back the Yellow jersey from Cancellara in pure poetic justice.
Tour de France 2010 – Stage 5
Finally the Manx Missile fires !!
The 5th Stage of the TdF was from Épernay to Montargis a distance of 187.5km and was another undramatic & uneventful ride for the peleton. Marked out as a stage for the sprinters to showcase their sprint prowess it turn out to be the stage for the Mark “Manx Missile” Cavendish to come back to form and add to his silverware collection of TdF stages.
Tour de France 2010 – Stage 4
Ale Jet flies again!!
The 4th Stage of the TdF was from Cambrai to Reims a distance of 154km and was an extremely peaceful ride, when compared to the fare that we have seen in the last 3 days!! A stage where the Sprinters of the teams were to fight it out in a bunch finish, turned out to be exactly that.
Cambrai, from where the tour started of today has a population of around 34,000 and the last time the Tour visited the town the US Postal team with Lance Armstrong had taken over the race and the Yellow jersey.
Tour de France 2010 – Stage 3
“Day of Drama” – Cobbles claim victims!!
The 3rd Stage of the TdF was from Wanze to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut and as predicted it was chaos and lots more of spills & crashes. The stage which had 7 sections of cobbled pathways for the riders to conquer did what had been predicted at the very beginning of the TdF – claim victims & left the GC riders in total disarray. Both the starting & ending town are hosting the tour for the first time, though both have association with cycling & cyclists for a long time.
Tour de France 2010 – Stage 2
Chavanel’s escape to victory!!
The 2nd Stage of the TdF was from Brussels to Spa and once again the people of Belgium showed why they are such a keen cycling nation by turning up in huge numbers to cheer the riders onwards. So much so that at several points there was hardly any space for the cyclists to race!!
Tour de France 2010 – Stage 1
Ale Jet takes off amongst crashes….
The cycling crazy people of Rotterdam had a field day as over 450,000 people had turned up for this 2 day start of the TdF 2010. This when considering that the city boasts a population of only 600,000!! The Erasmus bridge was once again the focus spot as all the riders stopped there before starting of today’s ride.
Tour de France 2010 – Prologue
A Rocket called Fabian…
With the city of Rotterdam all decked up to receive the Tour de France riders, the 97th TdF kicked off to a great start with an 8.9km ride around the city itself. Rotterdam a city that revolves around one of the busiest ports in the entire Euro zone is also one of the most sports friendly cities in Netherlands. The name Rotterdam has evolved from the early 13th century when a dam was built on the “Rotte” river.












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