TDF 2010

July 17th, 2010

What started as a casual conversation about watching the 2010 Tour de France, turned into a trip of a lifetime following the 3rd largest sporting event in the world.
With Europe being in the grip of the soccer World Cup and French politics in turmoil with scandels and the banning of the Burqa , the Tour certainly was’nt front page news until the 2nd week.
Our group of 4 ventured to the Haute Savoie region of France with bikes packed with the hope of riding some classic Tour climbs.
We arrived in a heatwave which seemed strange as the Mount Blanc and surrounding mountains were covered in snow. Our home for the next 2.5 weeks was in a small village between Cluses and the ski resort Flaine which is about 1 hour drive from Geneva airport. Our first ride to explore our new surroundings found us climbing stright out of the driveway to the col de Pierre Carree at 1844m. A beautiful setting at the top of the climb set the scene for the next few weeks. In total we climbed 14 Cols and numerous famous TDF climbs.
With names like , Alp d’Huez , Col L’iseran, Col du Colombiere, Col de Joux Plane, Col du Galibier, Col du Telegraphe, Col de la Forclaz under our belt we then went on to watch the Tour stage’s 8 and 9 and also vistit Morzine on the rest day [all these were riding distance from our chalet].

With the temp in the 30s most day’s we had  a fantastic run with fine day rides. We did feel for the tour riders on the hot days. We struggled at our pace and can only imagine what it was like to ride at race pace in the mid day sun day after day.

How good was it to see Cadel Evans in the Yellow Jersey. I think most of the Australian general public dont realise what an achievment this is.I think Contador and Shleck are a long way in front of the pack this year, should be a good show down leading into Paris.