As a colleague from another life used to say; ‘you should never drink on an empty head.’ A sentiment I can endorse as we sit in our hotel in Vielha, Spain. Having left Pau, there were no digs to be had in France near the stage finish at Bagnères-de-Luchon – the Tour is a black hole which sucks up every hotel room within an hour’s drive and we had to cross the border to get to our digs.
QuickStep, Saxo, Movistar and Euskaltel all did the same thing and are here in Vielha, too.
It took a bit of a struggle to find the digs, tucked up a back alley, but they’re sound – no wi-fi in the room but it’s good enough in the bar where we had a cerveza or two as we edited the pics, wrote the words and got our article organised.
It was nice and quiet until some English and Aussie Tour fans arrived – not that I have a problem with either nationality, but jings, they were loud.
The mountain air, San Miguel and excitement of watching le Tour roadside create a heady mix. And perhaps they should remember that France is France – not Rochdale and gendarmes aren’t ‘friendly bobbies.’
We had our usual good day, driving the parcours; and all of France is happy with Tommy.
But it’s apparent that Nibali has settled for third; the attacks today were mere show-boating.
He’s distanced Evans enough not to worry in the time trial and it would be folly to risk that in ‘death or glory’ attacks.
It’s been apparent from the first hill top finish that Evans doesn’t have the form he did, last year.
Meanwhile, Wiggins and the Sky ‘clockwork soldiers’ tick ever onwards.
We were going to drive the full stage, tomorrow but have decided to change our plans; we’ll be hugely surprised if there are any ‘exploits’ and we received another one of those emails from ASO explaining complicated shenanigans for evacuating the mountain top finish.
Given that the ‘default setting’ for Tour traffic is chaos and ‘bouchons’ – a new French word we picked up, meaning ‘traffic jams’ – if the organisation warns you about how bad it’s going to be, then you best listen.
We’ve now decided on a mission for the start area; but we’ll find a bar and watch the finale.
The crowds today were maybe a wee bit less than one might expect in the Pyrenees but there are a number of factors in play – there were four major climbs to choose from, there are no Spanish riders in the race doing anything other than clinging on and the French fans, whilst happy to amble to road end or village square think twice about driving deep into the mountains and the subsequent nightmare to get home.
That will change perhaps, when and if Thibout Pinot, or one of the new generation French riders – maybe Demare, can challenge for the GC?
There are a lot more Aussies on the race these last few years – not just for Cadel, but for GreenEDGE, too.
But many less Americans – that one’s not hard to figure out.
It goes without saying that there are many more English fans, roadside.
There’s little doubt that Wiggins will win, and that’s what counts, but it’s in the manner of Anquetil, Indurain and Armstrong.
Have a strong team, dominate the first time trial then close the race down.
The addition of a second long time trial to the race makes it even more ‘Brad friendly’ – it’s unlikely it will be the same format next year if ASO want their race to become a great competition again.
If it wasn’t for Sagan and the ‘exploits’ of the French riders, this would be one very lame Tour indeed.
As I’ve already said, we get the best of it, driving around the parcours and then watching a hi-ite in the finale, live – but if you’re watching on TV it’s been hard work.
On the subject of the parcours, it was glorious today – the Pyrenees are magical, the ranges stretch off forever into the heat haze.
It’s a place where you can see that the earth has been stretched and splintered, with huge shards of rock pointing skywards.
One of these years, it would be nice to come and see these wonders without deadlines and traffic chaos.
We’ve been listening to ‘podcasts’ during this Tour – my introduction to this new form of communications.
The interviews on the ITV 4 podcast with Chris Boardman and Ned Boulting are good – they spoke to Brajkovic today and it was good to hear a man just speak honestly about his race and his prospects with no spin.
‘Seventh or eighth is my place and I’m happy with it,’ similarly, Evans was honest about the fact that his Tour is over.
Bradley explained that another day had been ‘ticked off’ but thankfully didn’t mention ‘boxes.’
But as Dave said of Tommy Voeckler, ‘Man of the Day’ – it’s very hard just to get in a break in a race like the Tour.
And to consistently get in the right one is something that only the smartest of riders can achieve.
For all of his tongue exposing, jersey flapping, rocking and rolling, Voeckler is a quality rider and the Tour would much the poorer without him.
VeloVeritas would like to say; ‘Chapeau, Monsieur Voeckler!’
