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)

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.

Some pictures from inside (where I stayed) and outside of the wall.

For stage 15, I went to the 12 km climb at Col de l'Echarasson. I parked in the little village in the Alps called Saint-Jean-en-Royans. From there I walk up the hill for about 8 Km, stopping occasionally to talk to some of the many Americans wandering around. Carrying the 30+ lbs of equipment along with the heat made it a tough hike. However this climb is not as steep as the Plateau de Beille. At the time the race reached my position Rasmussen and Virenque were at the front on the Col de l'Echarason, followed by O'Grady and Gonzalez. Ullrich was not far behind and had about a 30 second lead on Armstrong's group. Eventually they were all brought back by Armstrong and the lead group of 10 included Voigt, Sastre, Basso, Azevedo, Armstrong, Klöden, Ullrich, and Leipheimer. Armstrong won the sprint.

Stage 15
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Ivan Basso (Team CSC)
3 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -0:03
4 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) -0:06
5 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) -0:13
6 Richard Virenque (Quick Step-Davitamon) -0:48
7 Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) -0:49
8 Jose Azevedo (US Postal) -0:53
9 Jens Voigt (Team CSC) -1:04
10 Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) -1:24

General Classification
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) (Team CSC) -1:25
3 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) -3:22
4 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Illes Balears - Banesto) -5:39
5 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -6:54
6 Jose Azevedo (US Postal)- 7:34
7 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) -8:19
8 Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangère) -9:28
9 Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio-Bianchi) -10:10
10 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) -10:58

My new friends who gave me a cup of very nice rosé.

Left Avignon yesterday and spent the night in Valence. Not much there except a lot of construction which caused traffic to move very slowly. I stayed away from the city center and in the hotel. Then I went into the Alps to Saint-Jean-en-Royans to watch the race. After the race I went to Grenoble. So did everyone else. The traffic getting into the city was crawling. Once in the city there were no hotels. The town seems very nice, but thunder storms kept me from looking around too much. With no chance of getting a hotel I decided to sleep in the car near the Alp d'Huez course in the town of Le Bourg-d'Oisan. The drive was about 30 miles and it was 30 miles of bumper to bumper traffic. I finally reached the town and found a place to park at 12:30 AM. Here are some pictures of Saint-Jean-en-Royans and the area around Le Bourg-d'Oisan where I camped.

Got up early and walked the 1 1/2 miles into Le Bourg-d'Oisan. Decided that I would not walk up Alp d'Huez with all of my equipment and computer. After walking back to my car and leaving behind my computer and other non essential items, I walked the mile back to the base of Alp d'Huez and then hiked about 5 Km up the hill. I was able to get pictures of almost all of the riders. I missed a couple when a couple of guys decided to run along side and blocked my view. For a lot of the pictures I was sitting on the side of the road leaning back. This became interesting when the riders decided they wanted to ride as close to the side as possible. I thought I had missed Sevilla completely because through the view finder it looked like he was about to ride over me and I leaned away. Some of the top riders like Ullrich, Basso, and Klöden looked pretty good as they passed my position. When Armstrong came by there were a lot more people in my way and I was not able to pick him up until fairly late. When he finally came into view I was shocked at how fast he was moving. It was pretty obvious even at that point that he would win the stage. He ended up catching Ivan Basso, who had started 2 minutes in front of Armstrong, and ended up gaining 2:23 on Basso.

Results:
Stage
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -1:01
3 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) -1:41
4 Jose Azevedo (US Postal) -1:45
5 Santos Gonzalez (Phonak Hearing Systems) -2:11
6 Giuseppe Guerini (T-Mobile)
7 Vladimir Karpets (Illes Balears - Banesto) -2:15
8 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -2:23
9 David Moncoutié (Cofidis)
10 Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) -2:27

General Classification
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -3:48
3 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) -5:03
4 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -7:55
5 Jose Azevedo (US Postal) -9:19
6 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Illes Balears - Banesto) -9:20
7 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) -11:34
8 Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) -13:52
9 Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio-Bianchi) -14:08
10 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) -15:04

My little blue car on the right.

Left Le Bourg-d'Oisan around 7pm. Decided that the best way to the next stage was to go east toward Italy. Driving through the Alps is incredible. I stopped several times while there was still light enough to take pictures. I was hoping to find a hotel on the way but there were only small towns and the hotels were packed with Tour personnel and people on bike tours. When I hit the road to go north, I had no idea what to expect. The mapping program I have been using along with a gps device, does not really differentiate medium sized roads and small roads that well. The road north had a sign on it that read Route de Grand Alps. This road was about a lane and a half wide with no guard rails and it took you over the Alps and had some of the most incredible views. Unfortunately, it was a little to dark for pictures and it was pretty scary driving the road, so looking around was limited to the occasional quick glance. After getting off that road I continued heading north hoping to find a hotel and before I knew it I was at the Col de la Madeleine. So I found a spot in a vacant lot with a bunch of other people, parked and slept in the car again in a town called Saint-Martin-sur-la-Chambre. Below are some of the pictures I took along the way.

Woke up this morning, walked into Saint-Martin-sur-la-Chambre to get food and water for the day's hike up Col de la Madeleine. Watched some woman from OLN doing a piece on the dozens of bike tours following the race. The temperature was about 95 degrees. I walked up about 3Km and waited in the sun. This location gave me a view of the town and a number of switch backs below. At the time they reached my location there was a 5 man break away which included Simoni. Virenque and Moreau where chasing a few minutes behind. Then the Armstrong group. In the end it was another victory for Armstrong. Below are some pictures from Saint-Martin-sur-la-Chambre and the race on Col de la Madeleine.

Results
Stage 17
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile)
3 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -0:01
4 Ivan Basso (Team CSC)
5 Floyd Landis (US Postal) -0:13
6 Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo) -1:01
7 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank)
8 Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) -1:02
9 Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank)
10 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner)

General Classification
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -0:04:09
3 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) -0:05:11
4 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -0:08:08
5 Jose Azevedo (US Postal) -0:10:41
6 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Illes Balears - Banesto) -0:11:45
7 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) -0:12:56
8 Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) -0:15:14
9 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) -0:16:25
10 Pietro Caucchioli (Alessio-Bianchi) -0:16:33

After the race passed Col de la Madeleine, I left Saint-Martin-sur-la-Chambre and headed to Annemasse, just outside of Geneva and the starting town of stage 18. Of course there were no rooms anywhere near the area. So I headed in the general direction of the finishing town of Lons-le-Saunier. About 50 Km from Lons-le-Saunier is the town of Bourg-en-Bresse. The first hotel I stopped at was booked but they called ahead to the Hotel Ariane and they did have a room. This place had a restaurant and I eat there that night. The restaurant was run by the same people who checked me in. I sat out on the patio and had a multi-course meal with a half bottle of Rosé. The meal was great and I made it until the cheese plate before I had to slow down. I did have the desert of Chocolate crepes with ice cream but again I couldn't finish it.

Had a quick coffee in the morning and headed off for Lons-le-Saunier, where stage 18 finishes.
Not much happening in this stage. Juan Miguel Mercado was in a long break away and ended winning. There was something going on between Armstrong and Simeoni (who is suing Armstrong) as they both joined the break and then both dropped back. I was at about the 700 meters to go point. Pictures below are from the race and from the the town of Lons-le-Saunier.

Results
Stage 18
1 Juan Miguel Mercado (Quick Step-Davitamo)
2 José V. Garcia Acosta (Illes Balears - Banesto)
3 Dmitri Fofonov (Cofidis) -0:11
4 Sébastien Joly (Crédit Agricole)
5 Marc Lotz (Rabobank)
6 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Fassa Bortolo)
7 Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) -11:29
8 Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo)
9 Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner)
10 Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis)

Traveling on one lane roads though little villages with intersection that branch 5 ways is over, now it's just traveling on the major highways. After stage 18, I took one of those pay-for highways two hours north east to the town of Belfort.

Stage 19 in Besançon is a time trial. I wanted to get there early to get a spot at the start ramp. I got a late start and ended up in Besançon at about 9 AM. The first rider in the time trial was scheduled to start at about 11:30 AM. Once in the city I found the start area and it was packed. I did notice a couple of people on a 10 foot high wall on the other side of the side walk, but with my camera bag I could never climb it. So I walked around the complex, which turned out to be a hospital, and was able to find some stairs behind the wall. I ended up sitting on the wall for about 6 hours through a number of showers. Met a few Americans on the wall and a few of the people who worked at the hospital on the stairs behind the wall. We were all soaked and cold and stiff from sitting on the concrete wall for so long in the rain. One celebrity was at the start and it was not Sheryl Crow. After Lance Armstrong started a few of us tried to find another spot out on the course, but the closest spot was few kilometers away and the maps of the course had almost everyone we ran into confused. I ended up spending the time trying to figure out where I parked. Luckily the mapping program I used kept the last position where I had the gps turned on. Right where I parked. Below are a few pictures from Besançon and some of the starts in the time trial. And of course Jean-Marie Lablanc (Race director of the Tour de France) with celebrity. Although Lance had pretty much wrapped up win number 6, barring a crash, he again dominated the field in a time trial.

Results
Stage 19
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -1:01
3 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) -1:27
4 Floyd Landis (US Postal) -2:25
5 Bobby Julich (Team CSC) -2:48
6 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -2:50
7 Jens Voigt (Team CSC) -3:19
8 Vladimir Karpets (Illes Balears - Banesto) -3:33
9 Jose Luis Rubiera (US Postal) -3:40
10 Jose Azevedo (US Postal) -3:49

General Classification
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) -0:06:38
3 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -0:06:59
4 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -0:09:09
5 Jose Azevedo (US Postal) -0:14:30
6 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Illes Balears - Banesto) -0:18:20
7 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) -0:18:46
8 Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) -0:20:10
9 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) -0:20:31
10 Oscar Pereiro (Phonak) -0:23:13

Jean-Marie Lablanc and Robin Williams (doing the very French thing of wearing a Che shirt)

After find my car following stage 19, I made the 4 hour trip from Besançon to Paris, dropped off the rental car an checked in to my hotel. Fancy 4 star hotel with very limited internet access. I'd drop a star for that.

Got up this morning to another overcast day in France. Went to the top of the Arc de Triumph and took a few shots of the city, which did not come out very well because of the weather. Now I'm sitting on the Champ-Elysées having a beer, and watching the place fill.

Last race post. Not that much happening in this stage, just ceremonial for Armstrong. Tom Boonen, former US Postal rider won the stage. Took a lot of shots of the crowd on the Champ-Elysées and walked out toward the Louvre. Got a few shots of the race and of the Postal team on parade on the Champ-Elysées. Short day tomorrow so this should be the last post.

Results
Stage 20

1 Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Davitamon)
2 Jean-Patrick Nazon (AG2R)
3 Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner)
4 Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo)
5 Erik Zabel (T-Mobile Team)
6 Jimmy Casper (Cofidis)
7 Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis)
8 Baden Cooke (Fdjeux.com)
9 Massimiliano Mori (Domina Vacanze)
10 Bram de Groot (Rabobank)

General Classification - Final

1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
2 Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile Team) -0:06:19
3 Ivan Basso (Team CSC) -0:06:40
4 Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) -0:08:50
5 Jose Azevedo (US Postal) -0:14:30
6 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Illes Balears - Banesto) -0:18:01
7 Georg Totschnig (Gerolsteiner) -0:18:27
8 Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) -0:19:51
9 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) -0:20:12
10 Oscar Pereiro (Phonak) -0:22:54

Yellow Jersey - Overall
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)

Green Jersey - Points
122 Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) -2:59:18

Polka Dot Jersey - Mountian
15 Richard Virenque (Quick Step-Davitamon) -0:28:11

USA
1 Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
9 Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) -0:20:12
23 Floyd Landis (US Postal) -0:42:55
33 George Hincapie (US Postal) -1:04:09
40 Bobby Julich (Team CSC) -1:12:42
56 Christian Vandevelde (Liberty Seguros) -1:48:11