Watching Stage 17 – 2009 Tour de France
By Will • Jul 22nd, 2009 • Category: Climbs, Cycling, Tour de France
Above: Contador and the brothers Schleck near top of last climb.
A great day watching the Epic stage 17 of the Tour de France with Eric and Katy.
The plan? Cycle the last two climbs of the stage: the very steep Col de Romme and then Col de la Colombière – and watch near the top.
To say we had fun would be an understatement.
Eric being Eric meant that he cycled up with a huge box full of beer, food, water, even an umbrella – nice one! This wasn’t all fun and games though. Both these climbs are very steep – and Katy did a great job on both climbs.
The day started off well with a Didi the Devil sighting:
We passed the first climb in the rain:
The publicity caravan was a blast:
The crowd was just plain fun. Two aussies and two french guys led cheers, songs, and – even the wave.
This shot is 45 minutes before the race arrived … everyone having a lot of fun.
Below: The leaders approach. The race and atmosphere was beyond belief (Photo by Katy):
Enough said. But a few more photos:
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
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Will is Happiest while cycling uphill. More enthusiastic than talented, his 2013 Challenge is to cycle a 150 Cols (mountain passes), slowly -- and to just enjoy.
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Awesome… One day I will experience this! Fantastic pictures Will. The one with Didi the Devil is a definite classic. Cheers!
Great web site and information. I am so envious of the variety and locations of all your climbs. What beautiful scenery!
Hi, I was on the col for this stage and although I had to endure a 8hr wait for the ridrs to go through I couldn’t but feel for the person who was air lifted to hospital. Do you know what the circumstances of this person was as a result of a fall from he roadside. Other than that and the VERY bad weather I had a great time… Thanks Pat
PS looked over the google but got no news.