Favourite Tour de France memories
Comments
-
greasedscotsman wrote:2009 ~ Stage 20 ~ Montélimar to Mont Ventoux:
After struggling to match Contador for 3 weeks, Cadel Evans went for a sucide, do or die attack on the first climb on the day, the Côte de Citelle. He was joined by none other than Lance Armstrong. Saxo Bank didn't seem to interested in chasing and just ambled along in the bunch poping wheelies, doing skids and such like.
Evans lead got up to a maximum for 27 minutes before Astana (or Livestrong: delete as appropriate...) and Saxo Bank started to chase. Armstrong was then instructed to wait for a rapidly thining bunch as they got to Bedion with a time gap of just over 8 minutes. Then all race radio was lost due a freak thunderstorm and lighting stricking the radio telecommunications mast on top of Ventoux! Evans was caught at Chalet Reynard after stopping to have an ice cream, quite an odd move considering the snow storm. Contador, Frank & Andy Schleck then traded attacks all the way to the finish, but were narrowly outsprinted by Mark Cavendish!
Quite some stage as I remember it...
And all that on the back of of a Tour with no positive tests, and exciting, close racing for three weeks.
Ahhhh, we can but dream......0 -
Of the recent stuff, I was totally mesmerised by Landis' ride on the Joux Plane having blown the day before.
Totally captivated at the time, although subsequent events soured it.0 -
RichN95 wrote:Most of the obvious ones have been mentioned already, so here's a mostly forgotten stage that has always stuck in my mind, although I had to google a couple of the details.
1989 Stage 6 to Futuroscope: A run of the mill flat stage.
Joel Pelier was a journeyman pro with barely a win to his name. He also had a severely handicapped brother who needed constant care, so he parents had never seen him race as pro - but they had made it to this finish this time.
Knowing this Joel felt he had to show himself, so he attacked with 165km to go. In the rain. Into a headwind. No-one else was crazy enough to go with him so he was on his own.
He built up a huge lead (leader on the road) before the bunch started to reel him in. But despite the wind and rain, he held them off to win by a minute and a half. He spent most of the last km in tears and it looked like it might all get the better of him.
I was all quite emotional and heart-warming.
Rich i was gonna say the same stage!!! i remember the commentary in my head clear as day!! Brilliant!! He rode of the BH team...
Also Millar's Superbagneres finish...
The year that Bjarne Rijs just took a long hard look at everyone and then rode away from everyone... (before we knew!)
Abdou and Nelissen's dramatic crashes...
Chiapucci's day long mountain jaunt...0 -
Robert Millar's failed solo in the '93 tour. For some reason more memorable for me than the '89 finish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3xcUoRl ... re=related
In general though my vivid memories are of the early 90s, a house of us riding every night in July, setting the vid and watching Big Mig over a TV dinner...not knowing the result in those innocent largely pre-internet days!0 -
My three faves...
2007 Prologue, London. It was my first visit to Le Tour. After endless weeks/months of rain, the sun shone. It was a perfect day. The atmosphere was amazing. The roar following all the riders, but especially the Brits, as they came up Constitution Hill to where we were standing.
2008, Alpe d'Huez. I sat at home all afternoon watching ITV4's live coverage. A stunning day to watch, even regardless of the racing, then at the bottom of the Alpe - bam, off goes Sastre to a brilliant win.
Lastly, can't remember what year it was, but it was the year Armstrong nearly didn't win, on the Alpe d'Huez stage when he was given a battering, attack after attack after attack. I was an Armstrong fan back then but that year especially I realised how much more exciting it could be when he didn't have a strangehold on the race.0
