July 12, 2004
Welcome
Welcome to my 2004 Tour de France blog. The Tour started July 3rd. I will be in France on the 15th and should be sitting in the Pyrenees by the 16th. I will be following the race through the Pyrenees, the Alps and back to Paris for the finish on July 25th. Hopefully, I will be able to find internet access periodically so that I can post my updates.
Rough approximation of my route.
Posted by pcmg at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2004
Nightmare Trip
Well after sitting on the runway in San Francisco for an hour, flying 5 hours to Philadelphia, sitting on the runway for 3 hours before taking off for a 7 hour flight to Paris, and then because of the delays missing my train to Toulouse by 20 minutes, forcing me to take the 5 hour train ride 3 hours later and then driving up into the Pyrenees for a few hours until midnight, I finally made it to the Pyrenees. But after finding thousands of RVs littering the road to La Mongie, I've decided that later this morning I will move down into Lannemezan to watch this stage.
Posted by pcmg at 05:49 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2004
Stage 12: Castelsarrasin - La Mongie
Left the Col d'Aspin early this morning opting for a chance to regroup and get up to Plateau de Beille early and have a decent spot. I did get a few shots of the breakaway group and the main group with Lance Armstrong as they passed through Lannemezan. So that worked out and the thunder and lighting storms hit hard the second they went by. The people up on La Mongie and Col d'Aspin must have gotten soaked. And I can't even image what the traffic was like getting back those spots.
Results:
Stage 12:
1 Ivan Basso (Team CSC)
2 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
3 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile)
General Classification:
1 Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangère)
2 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
3 Sandy Casar (Fdjeux.com)
Posted by pcmg at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
Heavy Rains on Way to Plateau de Beille
Heavy rain, thunder and lightning were the main sights on the way to the next stage. I did stop for a bit in Foix to grab something to eat and to grab a shot of Chateau de Foix. It was still raining pretty hard. By the time I got to Plateau de Beille the hillside was already covered with RV's and I'm camped out in the village near the base.
Posted by pcmg at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2004
Stage 13: Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille
Got up early and hiked up Plateau de Beille to just below the 10 km to go mark. It was hot, the hill is steep and with the weight of the camera equipment, my legs thought that was a good place to stay. As I said I parked and camped on the part of the course just before Plateau de Beille. There was nowhere to park on the hill that I saw, but cars were going up the hill all night. In the morning there was still a line of cars going up the hill. The spot I found near the 10k point was not very crowed but the closer the riders came to that point the more people showed up. The race had already exploded by that point. Armstrong came by with Azevedo and Basso, the rest came in little groups of two or three. I've included shots of the Armstrong group (Armstrong is the eventual winner) and the damage done. Also at the end a shot of a village as I was hiking down the mountain and the rain was starting again. From Plateau de Beille, I drove back to Foix, had dinner and then got my first hotel room of the trip in a town called Mirepoix. Tomorrow off to Carcassonne and Nîmes for stage 14.
Results:
Stage 13:
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Ivan Basso (Team CSC)
3 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner)
notable: 6 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team) 2:42 back
General Classification:
1 Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangère)
2 Lance Armstrong (US Postal) -0:22
3 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -1:39
notable: 8 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team -7:01
Posted by pcmg at 02:17 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2004
Stage 14: Carcassonne - Nîmes
As I left Mirepoix, I stopped off down the street to take some pictures of the T-Mobile setup. They also stayed in Mirepoix last night. Made the short trip into Carrassone and watched a lot of the sign-in ceremony. Took a few pictures of the Peloton as they left and then I made my way to Nîmes. However, traffic was heavy out of Carcassonne and into Nîmes and I got there way too late to find a place to shoot anything useful so I watched the finish from a bar.
Results:
Stage 14
1 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Fassa Bortolo)
2 Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak Hearing Systems) -0:25
3 Christophe Mengin (Fdjeux.com)
4 Pierrick Fedrigo (Crédit Agricole) -0:29
5 Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner) -0:31
6 Marc Lotz (Rabobank)
7 Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Liberty Seguros)
8 Santiago Botero (T-Mobile Team) - 0:37
9 Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel - Euskadi) -0:41
10 Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel - Euskadi)
General Classification
1 Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangère)
2 Lance Armstrong (US Postal p/b Berry Floor) -0:22
3 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -1:39
4 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile Team) -3:18
5 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Illes Balears - Banesto) -3:28
6 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) -6:08
7 Jose Azevedo (US Postal p/b Berry Floor) -6:43
8 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team) -7:01
9 Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio-Bianchi) -7:59
10 Sandy Casar (Fdjeux.com) -8:29
T-Mobile setup in Mirepoix. Eric Zabel. Thomas Voeckler. Lance Armstrong. Richard Virenque. Jan Ullrich. Peloton at start of stage (Armstrong is center)
Posted by pcmg at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2004
Nîmes to Avignon
From Mirepoix to Carcassonne to Nîmes on the 18th. After stage 14, I wandered around Nîmes for a while before realizing that I had no hotel and no chance of getting one in Nîmes. I found a wi-fi access point for the first time since I've been in France and booked a hotel for the night in Avignon. When I arrive around 10pm, there was a fair going on inside this walled city. The place was packed. I should have pictures from inside and outside of the city tomorrow (later today).
From the Romans: Maison Carree and Amphitheater in Nîmes.
Posted by pcmg at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)
