2012 Tour de France in Chartres

Every year I’ve been watching the Tour de France, the biggest cycling event in the world, on TV, admiring the willpower of riders, enjoying them pass by beautiful landscapes, and thinking – maybe one day I’ll be able to watch it in person. So when it was decided that this summer we will have a family vacation in Normandy, France, I knew that I have to fulfill this dream. Fortunately, one of the Tour stages has been held in Chartres, a beautiful city not far from there. It was an individual time trial stage, where every rider departs at his own time and tries to show the fastest time. It was also the last stage before the race arrived in Paris, and the winner of the Tour was actually decided there.

The long-awaited day has finally arrived. All the plans, thoughts and dreams have started to turn into reality. We woke up early, and at 6:30 am have already got into the car. Drive of 2 hours passed quickly and here we are in Chartres. It’s still an early hour,  and the preparations for the finish line have just started:

We still have time, so we can walk along the route and select a good place to position ourselves when all the action starts. I try to find a place which will also be good for taking photos, but it’s hard to foresee how it will look like. Meanwhile we turn into the old city to see the famous Chartres Cathedral, which has been a beautiful decoration for the Tour:

It is a holiday feeling in the city. The streets are full of people – a beautiful mixture of local population and cycling fans from all over the world. Here are british fans dressed as french sailors discussing something with australian kangaroos:

Children (and this dog) playing in water fountains in one of the squares:

We walk along the streets, enjoying the atmosphere. I meet these Podium girls who still have some time before the race ends and their work begins:

Finally it is the time for the Tour caravan to arrive. The caravan is a tradition of more than 80 years. It is a procession of colorfully decorated trucks going on the route before the riders and throwing gifts to the fans.

Just like this:

In the crowd, everyone becomes child again and is happy to grab some caps, key rings and other stuff. So did us 🙂  More and more people arrive now to the streets. The atmosphere is warming up. Excitement grows and finding a good place to watch is not easy anymore. Finally, the riders start to arrive, preceded by a motorcycle and followed by two cars, with TV motorcycle between and helicopter above. They are very close to the spectators, but are actually flying by, so it takes me some time to find optimal exposure and angle before I succeed to take photos. Here is David Millar:

And Amael Moinard:

Kevin de Weert comes fast around the corner:

It was a pleasure to see local residents. People of all ages, families with children, everyone came to see the Tour and cheer the riders, like Simone Stortoni here:

British fans have added huge entertainment to the race. Here are three of them with all-yellow suits and Bradley Wiggins’s masks:

Look at the glasses of the guy in the middle:)

Before the last ten riders – the leaders of the race – we move towards the finish line to be close to the awards ceremony afterwards. The crowds here are quite big, so we stop 450 meters before the finish. It is also a good spot with the Cathedral at the background. And here is the french hero of this Tour, Pierre Roland passes by:

Jurgen Van den Broeck secures 4th place in general classification:

Then the last 3. Nibali, Froome, and here is the moment everybody has been waiting for. The last rider on the list, Bradley Wiggins comes to the finish line. The excitement has reached its peak. What a feeling. Wiggins wins this stage with the fastest time and secures the overall win and yellow jersey in Paris:

The jersey award ceremony we can hardly see. But here is Bradley Wiggins on the podium:

That’s it. The stage is over. This was the day and the Tour of Bradley Wiggins, who would also become Olympic champion a week later.

And for me, it was an experience I will not forget.

I tried to share my impressions and the atmosphere of this great event. I hope you enjoyed it!

See you,
Sergey