Friday, March 29, 2024

Le Tour de France 2012 – Second Rest Day

-

HomeDiariesLe Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day

I hate to start with our Formule 1, again – but to emphasis the true glamour of being on le Tour, we’re sharing lodgings with the race’s cherry picker truck.

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
Waking up in the F1 is a bit like Groundhog Day, but it’s clean and cheap, so we don’t mind. Photo©Ed Hood

I had to get up early to do a phone interview with Cameron Wurf, this morning.

He’s from Tassie; like the Sulzbergers and Richie Porte – did I ever tell you I had a Tasmanian Devil for a fiancée?

No, some other time then?

He’s with Champion Systems, this year and just pulled off a cracking result – second in the Tour of the Qinghai Lakes.

Martin had a wee bit of a long lay – well earned after all those kilometres around la Belle France and photo editing.

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
Martin goes through the hundreds of photos we take in a day. Photo©Ed Hood
Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
Ed relaxes with l’Equipe, a kir and a coffee au lait. Photo©Martin Williamson

I’m writing this as we sip a kir in the shadow of Pau cathedral – all those hours staring at a laptop screen in an F1 room can lead to cabin fever; you get to needing a bit of light and air.

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
The cathedral spires in the distance. Photo©Ed Hood

Already a couple of teams have ambled past, out for their rest day leg loosener on a day of glorious sunshine.

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
The FDJ guys potter past in their granny gears. Interesting Hutarovich is still with them, race number on his bike. Photo©Martin Williamson
Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
The King of Vanilla slices. It’s got honey too. Photo©Martin Williamson

L’Équipe carries a huge picture of Fedrigo on the front cover; Vande Velde looks resigned to his fate.

Inside, there’s a readers’ poll – will Bradley Wiggins retain his yellow jersey in the Pyrenean Cols?

We’ll see what French opinion is, tomorrow.

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
The lead photo shows Fedrigo’s joy and Vande Velde’s resignation. Photo©Ed Hood

Our next stop is the Vacansoleil Moules Party at 14:00 – if I’m still capable of writing, after it, I’ll tell you how it goes…

* * *

…But before we talk ‘moule parties’ it’s now 22:56 and just as we thought it was going to be a Lou Reed, ‘Perfect Day’ as we munched our steaks, took in the street life of Pau and dreamed of basic but comfy F1 beds, the BlackBerry flashed red.

It was Ed Junior, back in Dunfermline, ‘have you heard about Frank?’ trying to be a trendy dad, I replied, ‘Bruno?

But young Ed had the last laugh; ‘Frank Schleck has failed a dope test!

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
Frank, in happier times – only yesterday. Photo©Martin Williamson

We flashed back to that night in Lourdes a few years ago when Michael Rasmussen was dragged off the race by his Rabobank team.

It wasn’t long before the press release came in from Radio Shack.

“Our team attaches great value to transparency.

“Because of this, we can announce the following as a response to the adverse analytical finding of Xipamide in Fränk Schleck’s urine sample of July 14 during the Tour de France.

“After being informed by the UCI about the presence of xipamide in the urine sample of Fränk Schleck on July 14, the team has decided to immediately withdraw Fränk Schleck from the Tour de France.

“Even though an abnormal A sample does not require these measures, Mr. Schleck and the team believe this is the right thing to do, to ensure the Tour de France can go on in calm and that Fränk Schleck can prepare his defence in accordance with the legal timing to do so.

“On the subject of Xipamide the team can declare the following: it is not a product that is present in any of the medicine that the team uses and the reason for the presence of xipamide in the urine sample of Mr. Schleck is unclear to the team.

“Therefore, the team is not able to explain the adverse findings at this point.

“However, the team is fully determined to collaborate with the anti-doping agencies in order to resolve the matter.”

We can tell you no more at the minute, as we hear more, we’ll let you know – but what we can add is that it’s very depressing for us.

I know that it sounds corny, but if you drive a stage, wave to the folks roadside, see the smiles, the joy, the kids, the picnics, the old folks in their chairs – it’s very uplifting, you would have to be Vik on his very worse day not to be moved by it.

The ‘positifs’ come like someone dropping a sack of potatoes on your shoulders.

Anyway…

* * *

The ‘moules fest’ was the business.

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
The Mossel Company is Johnny’s uncle’s business. Photo©Martin Williamson

Vacansoleil has a good vibe to it, relaxed, friendly and accessible.

Frank Kwanten is the press guy and he works very hard at it – he understands that well fed and watered journos tend to say nice things about your team.

The Mossel Company is Johnny's uncle's business
The mussels are cooked in huge pots. Photo©Martin Williamson

The mussels come all the way down from Johnny Hoogerland’s uncle’s mussel farm in Yerseke, Zeeland in Holland.

Apparently it’s a very complex business cultivating the molouscs – it takes between 18 months and two years for the little chaps to mature.

Then we eat them!

The oyster’s grip is cut. Photo©Martin Williamson
Here come the moules! Photo©Martin Williamson

The frites were perfect and wine just lovely – just a pity we had to work and take all those pictures.

Martin and Wessel chat about apertures and ISO settings. Photo©Ed Hood
Kris Boeckmans tells us he has calculated exactly how slow he needs to go in the TT in a few days’ time to take it easy but still make the time cut. Photo©Martin Williamson
Felice serves up the moules marinière to the Vacansoleil boys (they didn’t actually eat any). Photo©Ed Hood
We got to have a play with Marco Mercato’s Super Legera. Very nice indeed. Photo©Martin Williamson
Electronic gruppos allow for really neat cabling. Photo©Martin Williamson
The beefy bottom bracket on the celeste beauty. Photo©Martin Williamson
We could live with one of these, for sure. Photo©Martin Williamson
A classic head badge for a prestigious brand. Photo©Martin Williamson

On the subject of Johnny, we had 15 minutes with him; ‘I remember you’ he smiled as we sat down to chat.

Johnny H is looking to get into the break in the next couple of mountainous days. Photo©Martin Williamson

Johnny is a cool guy, no airs or graces, very down to earth – I’d love to have a few beers with him.

There were other famous names in the room, Leon Van Bon for one and – forelock touched as I say it, Felice Gimondi.

Leon van Bon, possessed of a long and lustrous career of over 20 seasons, if you include his time as a stagiere with Wordperfect in 1993! Photo©Martin Williamson

When I was a boy, watching the Primavera on ITV in 1974 I remember seeing World Champion Felice off the front of the peloton and headed for solo victory on the Via Roma.

He was in the rainbow jersey on his celeste Bianchi – pure class.

After he passed, the fans were throwing themselves into the road and bowing down.

What are they doing?’ I thought to myself – what they were doing was kissing the tarmac where Felice rode. I was hooked even deeper; this was the sport for me.

Felice Gimondi finally gets to meets Ed. “I thought what you wrote about the Scottish 25 Champs was brilliant”. Photo©Martin Williamson

And to close on the afternoon – Johnny Hoogerland loves Scotland.

Marco Marcato sweats away on the rollers. He was there when we arrived, and he was still on them when we left. Photo©Martin Williamson

We retired to the FI to write the piece up, edit the pictures and get them uploaded.

That task duly done, we ambled next door to the Mercure Hotel to interview Michael Mørkøv.

It’s a pleasure to talk to the Dane; he’s so professional, so honest and open.

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
We sit down with Michael for a second interview this Tour. Photo©Martin Williamson

Rather smugly, we set off for central Pau and our steak – but you know what happened next.

Pyrenees tomorrow, if it’s going to happen – it has to be tomorrow.

A demain.

Le Tour de France 2012 - Second Rest Day
A cool eco-bike car thing – the buses are free here too. Photo©Ed Hood
Ed Hood and Martin Williamson
Ed Hood and Martin Williamson
Ed and Martin, our top team! They try to do the local Time Trials, the Grand Tours and the Classics together to get the great stories written, the quality photos taken, the driving done and the wifi wrestled with.

Related Articles

Dooley’s RT at the Tour Nivernais Morvan – Day 3

The fourth stage of the Tour Nivernais Morvan was the queen mountain stage, a very tough 161kms of narrow winding roads. With three major climbs each around 10km long and many short 1-3km climbs not classified a hard day was on the cards.

Stokes Storms the Sandy Wallace Cycles 50 mile road race

Junior, Jordan Stokes of Pedal Power took an easy sprint win in Sunday's Sandy Wallace Cycles 50 mile road race around a bright but blowy Redcraigs Toll circuit. Second was 'oldie but goody' Callum Gough (Onimpex RT) with Lindsay Gordon (Musselburgh) rounding out the podium. The start village of Wellwood near Dunfermline gave us The Skids lead singer, Ricky Jobson and Barbara Dickson - and on Sunday it gave us sunshine for the fifth Super Six 'B' race of the season.

Scottish Cycling Super 6 Series – Event 4, Leven

"That was horrid", said the winner Evan Oliphant, as I asked him moments after he crossed the line at the Scottish Cycling Super 6, how he enjoyed it. "It was just like being back at the Rás, what with the rain - and those roads!". Oh! I I thought he was talking about his teammate James McCallum congratulating him with a sloppy kiss on the cheek!

Joe Sutton’s Mid-Season Race Report

The season of 2017 started with positive vibes. I was extremely dedicated and trained hard all through winter. My progression was measured by regular testing with my coach. By February I was counting down the days until I moved to Belgium where I would undertake my first season of racing on the Continent. Prior to leaving for my new home, I discussed a handful of targets to aim for during the season. This really motivated me to knuckle down and complete the last few weeks training.

At Random

James Moss’ Guide to Food and Training Camp Eating Etiquette

James Moss has always loved eating but more recently, food has become one of the most important things in his life. He's sure this is the case with most, if not all, cyclists out there but he can't get enough of the stuff...

Strange Days Indeed

I was a sceptic; one of the, “it’s only the blinkin’ flu, for goodness sake!” Brigade. It all seemed like an overreaction, these things happen in places like China with so many folks living on top of each other. Strange days indeed.

The Edinburgh Nocturne – It’s Millar’s Night

The Face Partnership, the guys behind the Revolution Series on the track, brought an evening of exciting, all-category and professional racing to Edinburgh last night, in the shape of their successful Nocturne format.

Grenoble Four Day 2012, Day Two: Folies and Crashes Galore

The trouble here at the Grenoble Four Day 2012 is that when folks see you with a camera and hear you write for a website, you've had it. I spent a chunk of the afternoon taking pictures of Gunther, one of Iljo Keisse's soigneurs. He's back on the bike as a 'master' and has the track bike down here with him, he trains on the boards in the afternoon and actually looks good on the bike.