Reuben was up at 6:30am for the short steep climb before the hot french sun hits, it was 8.5 kms of pain, still suffering from the flu and missing his BMC (his nice road bike) terribly. It was all worth it to ride up between the barriers and under the TDF finish line arch, even if it was 10 mins behind Matt and Lachie. As usual the descent also made all the pain worthwhile. After a nap and lunch we headed up the hill in the cable car to prepare to see the race finish. All the hats, lollies and paraphernalia we had been tackling kids for the previous few days were being handed out freely, obviously with all the cameras at the finish the sponsors wanted to make sure every spectator was decked out in their gear. We found a nice spot a bare 250m from the finish, only problem was it was on the other side and security wouldn't let us cross. After a brief sprint through the forest hiding from security we emerged on the opposite side and had a perfect view to watch the cyclists fly up the mountain Reuben had crawled up in the morning. We caught up with Matt's dad who was also following the race on an all catered for, organised cycling tour that the boys were very jealous of. After the race finish we decided to go snooping while waiting for the thousands of spectators to descend the mountain in cable cars. We were impressed to see the massive tents with screens and computers set up for the media. We had a chat with
Macca (David McKenzie)
from SBS's Cycling Central, a great bloke who took time out to chat cycling and the tour with us.
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| In the cable car to Ax 3. |
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| The crazy media and circus from above. |
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Chris Froome as he absolutely destroys this year's Tour for everyone else.
Perhaps we should just head to Spain? |
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| Matt and Reuben take a moment in front of the Finish line to celebrate their first famous french climb. |
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