Today
was our last day of race viewing, but it was limited to the stage
start in St. Galmier, a small town a short distance north of St.
Etienne. Another guy on the trip and I decided that we would
try to walk into the Village Départ to mix it in with the riders
and try to get some autographs. It took us about an hour
but we were able to walk in with the family of one of the Spanish
riders. Luckily the gendarmes didn't notice that we had no TDF
credentials.
We hung out at the
USPS vehicles, talking to some of the riders. Eddy
Mercxz was there and I was able to obtain his autograph.
It seemed like the entire press corps was camped out next to a USPS
trailer containing Lance Armstrong. There was some bad
press regarding unsubstantiated drug use by Lance that was in
l'Equipe the previous day. Lance exited the trailer and
was besieged by this crowd of the media and autograph seekers.
I was able to get his autograph on a Cycle Sport magazine
cover.
After all the commotion,
we watched the riders start their stage to Albi in the Massiff
Central mountains. It was to be a difficult transition stage
between the Alps and Pyrenees. We boarded the bus
and set out for a long eight hours or so to Reims.
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