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ALLEZ, GO GO GO!: CURTAINS FOR ACT ONE
Chris Henry
July 12, 2009
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The Tour de France is essentially an event played out in three acts. Three weeks of racing are broken up by two rest days, the first of which comes on Monday. While the Tour has historically been rather formulaic, with a week of flat followed by either the Pyrénées or the Alps, a few transitional stages, the other set of mountains, then a few stages before Paris, this year throws that plan out the window with the penultimate stage to be held on the slopes of the infamous Mont Ventoux.
Everyone on the Tour, including the riders, journalists, organizational staff, and every other subset of the rolling carnival, is pleased to get a rest day whenever possible. Of course, for many of us the rest day isn't exactly all relaxation and recuperation.
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The Tour kicked off in style from the Port Hercule in Monaco
(Photo: Chris Henry)
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While the riders get the luxury of a chartered plane for the transfer from Tarbes to Limoges, the rest of the Tour will make the three hour drive either the night before the rest day or the day of. Press conferences are held, equipment is transported, and logistics are attended to for the coming week of racing across central France. Nonetheless, a slight break from the routine is always welcome.
The first week of the 96th Tour de France has been full of exciting racing, even if the situation in the general classification may appear rather predictable with Astana in full control. To understand the magnitude of the effort put out by these riders, it really pays to see the Tour in person and follow it for at least a few days. Driving the courses, seeing riders day after day, experiencing the heat, rain, and pull of gravity, all of these things help underscore how difficult this race is no matter how easy the pro's make it look on television.
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Across southern France, into Spain, and over the Pyrénées, the Tour has already covered a great diversity in terrain
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
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In the coming week, the sprinters will once again get their days, as a series of flat stages will take the peloton from Limoges across central and eastern France towards the Jura mountains. The final week will be nothing but pain, but this second week will offer the overall favorites a bit of a respite while the fast men of the Tour will wow the crowds with thrills and spills in their high speed dashes to the line. The battle on the road will shift to the green jersey competition, where Thor Hushovd currently holds a slender lead against super sprinter Mark Cavendish.
Stay tuned for more great racing to come.
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