The racing season got under way here with the stage race L'Etoile de Besseges. Went to watch the first stage on wednesday so I thought some of you might like to see some pics.
It was great wandering around the buses and cars before the start and looking at the equipment and trying to identify riders and DSes. It was a flat, very fast circuit of 19ks and they reopened the roads after every passage, so we were able to ride round the course and stop at different places to watch them go past. The last corner about 600 meters before the finish was amazing - THE SPEED!! And a lasting image was riding past the team buses and cars on our way back to Aigues Mortes and noticing one low budget team sitting on the grass verge removing socks and shoes changing into ordinary trainers, and then passing the enormous Astana bus with smoked glass windows and not a rider in sight and steaming hot water gushing from a shower drain under the bus! Nice touch on Nicolas Roche's bike where the AG2R colours were replaced with the Irish national colours.
It was great wandering around the buses and cars before the start and looking at the equipment and trying to identify riders and DSes. It was a flat, very fast circuit of 19ks and they reopened the roads after every passage, so we were able to ride round the course and stop at different places to watch them go past. The last corner about 600 meters before the finish was amazing - THE SPEED!! And a lasting image was riding past the team buses and cars on our way back to Aigues Mortes and noticing one low budget team sitting on the grass verge removing socks and shoes changing into ordinary trainers, and then passing the enormous Astana bus with smoked glass windows and not a rider in sight and steaming hot water gushing from a shower drain under the bus! Nice touch on Nicolas Roche's bike where the AG2R colours were replaced with the Irish national colours.
