Since you already know who won the Stage from Tours to Saint Amand-Montrond, it won't hurt to tell you up-front and it was lovely because there was a couple talking next to me and this was the first time in almost a year that I had heard English from people who use it as a primary language. They were from Britain and were most pleased that Cavendish took the Stage.
There's no problem driving down the same roads the racers will take later in the day and here's what that looks like from Haximoto's point of view:
This is about one kilometer from the finish line and it's quite an exhilarating sensation to drive down the same road. Even as early as I arrived, people were already staged at vantage points they thought would be best for the race.
Everyone sits down to wait and here is a French TV cameraman with what must be the King of All Videocameras.
Oh, you think this is crowded? This isn't crowded. Le Tour is still well over one hundred kilometers from the finish so it would be hours yet before they arrived but it was still important to find your position to see it.
The first ones to arrive were the next generation racers of Le Tour and the crowd absolutely loved them. They arrived to great applause.
This was lovely but it was still hours yet before the adult racers arrived. Meanwhile the juniors took their positions on the grandstands.
There were promotional vehicles driving around with beautiful girls aboard who would throw gifts to the crowd along the road. Every time one came past, the juniors would come thundering from their seats only to sit back down after it passed to wait to do it again with the next one. This happened quite a lot as there were many, many of these vehicles and they were all part of building the excitement before the arrival of the racers.
No, this is not unusual. There were many vehicles like this! It was wonderful and the crowd loved it. I talked with my new English friends and they asked if this was my first Tour and what I thought of it. I told them I thought it was mad fun. I have seen sports spectacles in my life but the passion in this one was something from another world.
Each vehicle was more outrageous than the one that preceded it. The crowd kept growing the whole time until there was no vantage point anywhere along the fence. Everyone was in great spirits and it was like waiting for a circus and a rock band, all in one.
We could see exactly what was happening and how far out the racers were on a large-screen TV across the street. As you can see, even the police were watching it.
The weather was blistering hot and I wasn't quite sure if I had the stuff for it as there was no way to get any shade and my head was getting quite a sunburn. I got lucky when a Vittel truck around giving away cold bottles of water and I used one to cool my head!
There was more relief from the heat coming in most unusual ways.
There's your answer to the heat. Put a beautiful young girl atop some crazy vehicle with a super soaker water cannon. What she's doing looks crazy but she had some apparatus to ensure she didn't fall out of it and that permitted her to do all sorts of crazy stunts. The crowd loved it and everyone loved her water spray.
Oh, you think that's unusual? No, this is unusual.
This gentleman was doing some bizarre baby talk but it was very funny, even without understanding the language. This was a powered vehicle and he roamed about all over the place. He brought water also as he could make it shoot out to the sides from the rim of the carriage.
Now we are ready for the racers.
You will have to wait a little bit yet, just as we did, as the remainder of my coverage is in video. That part is what you have already seen. What I was trying to do today was show you the things you don't see. Lotho was absolutely right that this was not something to be missed. It's much, much more than a race as there was a spirit shared by everyone and it was so much fun plus it was absolutely charming.
There's no problem driving down the same roads the racers will take later in the day and here's what that looks like from Haximoto's point of view:
This is about one kilometer from the finish line and it's quite an exhilarating sensation to drive down the same road. Even as early as I arrived, people were already staged at vantage points they thought would be best for the race.
Everyone sits down to wait and here is a French TV cameraman with what must be the King of All Videocameras.
Oh, you think this is crowded? This isn't crowded. Le Tour is still well over one hundred kilometers from the finish so it would be hours yet before they arrived but it was still important to find your position to see it.
The first ones to arrive were the next generation racers of Le Tour and the crowd absolutely loved them. They arrived to great applause.
This was lovely but it was still hours yet before the adult racers arrived. Meanwhile the juniors took their positions on the grandstands.
There were promotional vehicles driving around with beautiful girls aboard who would throw gifts to the crowd along the road. Every time one came past, the juniors would come thundering from their seats only to sit back down after it passed to wait to do it again with the next one. This happened quite a lot as there were many, many of these vehicles and they were all part of building the excitement before the arrival of the racers.
No, this is not unusual. There were many vehicles like this! It was wonderful and the crowd loved it. I talked with my new English friends and they asked if this was my first Tour and what I thought of it. I told them I thought it was mad fun. I have seen sports spectacles in my life but the passion in this one was something from another world.
Each vehicle was more outrageous than the one that preceded it. The crowd kept growing the whole time until there was no vantage point anywhere along the fence. Everyone was in great spirits and it was like waiting for a circus and a rock band, all in one.
We could see exactly what was happening and how far out the racers were on a large-screen TV across the street. As you can see, even the police were watching it.
The weather was blistering hot and I wasn't quite sure if I had the stuff for it as there was no way to get any shade and my head was getting quite a sunburn. I got lucky when a Vittel truck around giving away cold bottles of water and I used one to cool my head!
There was more relief from the heat coming in most unusual ways.
There's your answer to the heat. Put a beautiful young girl atop some crazy vehicle with a super soaker water cannon. What she's doing looks crazy but she had some apparatus to ensure she didn't fall out of it and that permitted her to do all sorts of crazy stunts. The crowd loved it and everyone loved her water spray.
Oh, you think that's unusual? No, this is unusual.
This gentleman was doing some bizarre baby talk but it was very funny, even without understanding the language. This was a powered vehicle and he roamed about all over the place. He brought water also as he could make it shoot out to the sides from the rim of the carriage.
Now we are ready for the racers.
You will have to wait a little bit yet, just as we did, as the remainder of my coverage is in video. That part is what you have already seen. What I was trying to do today was show you the things you don't see. Lotho was absolutely right that this was not something to be missed. It's much, much more than a race as there was a spirit shared by everyone and it was so much fun plus it was absolutely charming.
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