I'll start today by acknowledging I'm technically supposed to be in Copenhagen right now. So why am I still in France? If you've taken even a passing glance at this blog, it should be overwhelmingly clear that I'm having a ball following the Tour around the country, meeting cyclists and fellow fans. So even though going to Denmark would have upped my beloved country count, there was no way I was going to pull myself away from the Tour.
I watched most of the stage on the VIP screen. There were a few nasty crashes but without audio commentary, it was hard to tell who exactly had gone down.
From my vantage point, I had a perfect view of the sprinters fighting their way every centimeter of the last 200 meters. In the end it was close, but Marcel Kittel had once again clearly out sprinted Mark Cavendish with Sagan claiming 3rd place.
Much of the peloton looked like they had had a miserable day as they crossed the line on the sprinters' heels.
Tony Martin sucked down a bottle of water and then generously tossed it to the fans.
Andre Greipel looked less than pleased.
French champion Vichot seemed to be sharing a joke with an FDJ teammate.
Matt Goss looked disappointed to not have been up with the sprinters.
In this shot, left to right: 2 Argos riders holding hands to celebrate their teammate's stage win; Pierre Rolland in polka dots; and Marcus Burghardt smiles in his yellow shoes.
Two thirds of RadioShack finished the stage together.
David Millar and Stuey O'Grady.
Tom Danielson, Ryder Hesjedal, and Lieuwe Westra.
Edvald Boassen-Hagen bore evidence of the day's crashes.
Svein Tuft crashed after leaning too far into a turn in the last few kilometers.
Arashiro looked like he was in really rough shape.
The awards podium was in a really terrible position from a spectator's point of view. There was a fence probably 8 feet tall that had wooden slats woven through it so it was nearly impossible to see what was happening on the podium. I felt like a peeping Tom trying to see through the tiny spaces between the slats, but I was more or less able to follow what was happening and was even able to get some decent photos by standing on my tip toes to reach my camera above the fence. I relayed what I saw to an Irishman named Mark who was having a hard time peering through the fence.
Marcel Kittel celebrated his 3rd stage win of this year's Tour.
Chris Froome will spend another day in yellow.
Peter Sagan maintained his solid lead for the sprinter's jersey.
Pierre Rolland kept the king of the mountains jersey.
Michal Kiatkowski held onto the young rider's jersey.
Juan Antonio Flecha's courageous breakaway earned him the most combative rider award.
Mark and I began to make our way out of the fan area when I noticed the team buses and switched our direction. A lot of the teams seemed to be in a hurry to get out as I saw Euskaltel and Garmin, among others, pull out of the parking lot just as we arrived. One of the first buses we passed was Astana and I spotted Jakob Fulgsang giving an interview. I'd only known Mark for less than 10 minutes at this point but he'd already picked up that I'm a passionate fan, so he relieved me of my camera and told me to pose with Fuglsang. After he signed a couple of autographs, I got my picture!
There was only one other bus I was interested so Mark and I hustled over to Orica GreenEdge just in time to see their bus door close. I had hoped to ask Svein Tuft to sign the team hat he had so kindly given me in Montpellier but it looked like that would have to wait. Recalling Tuft's crash, I figured that was for the best. Just then, the door opened up and who should descend the steps but my absolute favorite cyclist, Robbie McEwen! He walked towards a team car and Mark quickly took my camera again as I asked Robbie for photo. Success! I told Robbie what a fan I am and he seemed to really appreciate it.
A journalist asked him for a few quotes and as I was telling Mark how excited I was, Mark said, “Then go get in the passenger seat!” I figured why not and when Robbie turned to get in the car I asked if I could catch a ride into town, expecting him to politely turn me down. I was gobsmacked when he replied he was heading away from town but I could join him if I liked. So that's what I did! He was super laid back and really easy to talk to (thank goodness I seem to no longer get tongue tied when meeting cyclists). We chatted and laughed all the way to his hotel, at which point I made a U turn for the main road a caught the bus back to town. The bus certainly took its sweet time, but sitting shotgun with Robbie McEwen was definitely the best detour I've ever taken. (Thanks to Mark for being such a great partner in crime!)