Day 5: Our Tour Watching Begins

Today was our first day watching the tour. We left our B&B by 8:15, stopped at a nearby boulangerie for coffee, croissants, and some bread for lunch, and heading for our viewing spot for Stage 10. We selected to watch the climb up the Col du Grand Colombier. Despite our early start we were only allowed to drive 1 km up the climb, just outside the town of Culoz. It was a very steep section so we decided to watch right from where we parked our car, rather than hike up at further.

So we were at our spot just after 9 am, and the riders were not due until 3:30 pm. The time went fast. People watching galore as fan after fan either hikes or bikes up toward the top of the col. We talked to many of the people who were around us, all of whom happend to be Aussies: nice family with two girls with dresses made of the Austrialian flags, and a group of young men wearing yellow speedos with the phrase "budgey smuggler" written across the butt. I think the joke is there's only room for a parakeet in their speedos.

It was astonishing to see how warmly greeted all the Australians were by people from every other nation. They are clearly the most popular nation among TdF spectators. Every 30 seconds, some passer by would cry out, "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" to be immediately reponded to with "oy, oy, oy" Everyone loves Australians!

It was hot and sunny throughout the day, so I continually re-slathered myself with Marcel Marceau sunblock. Joni stuck to the long sleeves, long pants, and hat.

While we waited we were continually engaged by people commenting on and/or photographing our "Thank you George (Hincapie) for 17 great Tours!" We were even photographed by VeloNews who said they will be putting the picture on their website and possibly in their magazine!
During the early part of our wait, the French police asked me to move our car since two wheels were still on the road. We were parked along a wall and there was a great spot to pee between our car and the lavender covered stone wall. So I moved it much closer to the wall, and as Joni said, " a snake couldn't pee there now!"

The riders came right on schedule, actually 3 minute early at 3:27 pm. A breakaway group containing four riders was about seven minutes ahead of the peloton. Thomas Voelker, the Frenchman who rides for Europe car was not in the group, but he eventually won the race. George Hincapie was actually at the head of the peloton as they passed as, and just at that moment, Bradley Wiggins, who was wearing the yellow jersey, patted George on the back, I have to assume they saw our sign!

Within 9 minutes the last rider passed us, yes 9 minutes! So we quickly packed up our site, and made a mad scramble back to our B&B, only 24 km away, so that we could watch the end of the race on TV. A truly exciting day, it can't get much better when you're following the Tour!

After returning to our B&B, we relaxed and cleaned up before heading to the city of Annecy for dinner. Annecy is a city 34 km northeast of Aix, located at the northern end of large lake by the same name. We drove through it on our honeymoon and always wanted to return. Annecy is a resort city, hosts an annual film festival, and has thermal spas that attract vacationers from throughout Europe. We had a great meal at L'Etage, which feature more regional meals. Joni had a cheese and mushroom fondue and a had a filet of beef with delicious spicy brown sauce that tasted somewhat like Bernaise. As usual we overate, and each had dessert; profiteroles for Joni, and a Mont Blanc sundae for me with chestnut sauce.