Day 9,
on Sunday 9th July, Le Tour de
France at Saint Jacques des Blats was our next highlight - the locals seem
to get more involved in the sponsor (give away) caravans that precede the
actual passing of the race than the race itself. There seemed to be 45 minutes of sponsor
caravans, with lots of throw-down give-aways from ornate floats, but only a
flash of colour as 200 cyclists raced past in 3 packs, called peletons, all to a roar of clapping and
cheering. The morning rain cleared to a
beautiful, cool afternoon; we had a fantastic viewing point of the descent into
St Jacques des-Blats followed by the
whirlwind of cycles, motorbikes and support cars as they all started their
ascent to the ski resort of Le Laurian. Le Tour
is one scary race – and not just because of the cyclists’ speed – it’s the cat
and mouse game between the cars, the motorbike-mounted photographers and the
cyclists themselves for every minute of the 6 hour ride, each day! That day was
a precedent in race history - later, whilst we sat in the tavern in the ski
resort later watching the telly to see the remainder of that race. An official car slammed into one of the first
five and knocked him onto the road, then the next cyclist went over the top of
him! This was a bit of a shock to the
rest of those in the pub!
