Tour de Luxembourg

Tour de Luxembourg 2010. What a great weekend and an incredible opportunity to see the riders up close and personal before the Tour of France in July. An added bonus was hearing that Lance Armstrong was looking for more "racing time" after crashing a few weeks prior in the Tour of California and joined the race.

The 4-stage race began on Wednesday and carried the riders throughout Luxembourg. The advantage of Luxembourg being a smaller-sized country is the ease for which you can see most of the country......in one day. On Saturday we headed out to the town of Diekrich, Luxembourg to watch the finish of Stage 3. Since the Tour de Luxembourg is a smaller race (when compared to the Tour of France), roaming around the village before the riders arrived was done with relative ease.

Finding the finish line is fairly easy at these events: there are large buses parked everywhere. I like the marketing slogan for Team Radioshack: The Shack. Yeah, that bus is anything but a shack......

The obvious choice for watching the riders is on a hill climb and with the ending for Stage 3 including 3 laps around the town of Diekrich, our goal was to locate that ideal patch of real estate that offered optimal viewing. A benefit for this 3-lap finish is the opportunity to see the riders multiple times as they battle it out before the finish line.....however I'm sure the riders would disagree given the steep hills and the weather was about 27 Celsius (or 80 degrees) that day.

The final hill climb was actually a 2-part climb and began on this narrow road....our car would barely fit on this stretch:

Looking down the first hill climb....this view is about halfway up. I'm guessing the pitch is about 9%.

Near the top of the first hill climb.

At the top of the first hill climb we found the ideal real estate we were looking for. In the background, right before the red tent, is the top of the first hill climb. The riders will be coming up the hill, turning right, and then head straight past us for the second hill climb. The sign Andrea is standing behind, for those that don't know, is instructing drivers not to exceed 50kmh, the village they are entering is Gilsdorf, and they are on road 356. Quite informative....and efficient. That is how they roll in Europe.

Before the riders arrived, I ran up to the top of the second climb. The second climb was about 3/4 mile long at about a 6% pitch. This the view from the top and let me tell you, that was one heck of a party the spectators were enjoying!

We didn't have to wait too long before the riders arrived. Before all the police escorts and other vehicles, this car comes screaming by with a person on the loudspeaker announcing the order of the riders. At least that is what I'm assuming the announcer was yelling.....it was all in French and I only know how to say "thank you" and "kiss" in French. Don't ask.

The leader passing us by on lap 1 of 3.

The main peloton close behind here on lap 1.

You can see that we are right next to the riders. Talk about being aware. The riders don't take care to avoid running into you....that is your job to stay out of their way. It is about this time that I look behind me to make sure nobody is going to "accidentally" push me into the riders. Talk about making ESPN's Top 10 plays the wrong way......

Team manager for Radioshack, Johan Bruyneel

After the riders went by for the 3rd and final time, we hustled back down to the finish line (about a mile away). We managed to arrive in time to see the winners of the stage and overall receive their awards....recognition......flowers.....stuffed animal....and of course, a kiss from the local girls.

On Sunday, we drove to Mersch, Luxembourg to watch the beginning of the 4th and final stage. We discovered some great hiking trails during our 1 hour drive to the village.....a side benefit that we look forward to enjoying soon. Arriving in Mersch early, we walked around and found no buses, only the starting line. Huh. About an hour before the race, all the buses showed up and the circus quickly began. The teams removed the bicycles from the team cars and some riders came out of the team buses to sign autographs or simply rode around. Since this was a small venue, the opportunity to see each rider up close was great.

Lance Armstrong draws a big crowd. The line outside his team bus forms immediately upon arrival. I doubt we will get this close in the Tour de France.

Lance heading to the start.

The start of the 4th stage.

The finish for the race was downtown Luxembourg city, about an hours drive from the start. Of course, the riders took the long route there....which gave us the opportunity to explore the finish line and talk to some of the vendors. We met a nice gentleman from Team Shimano SKIL that helped us pass the time while we waited for the riders. He was there to hand off drinks and nutrition to his riders (the final included 5 laps around the city). We learned a great deal about what goes on when the riders are not on their bikes racing. First, it is common for the riders to expend around 4,000 to 6,000 calories each race, so food and nutrient intake when they are not racing is crucial. They typically begin their day with a large breakfast about 3 hours prior to the race. This gives the food enough time to process. During the race, the riders will try to eat and drink as much as possible during their 2 to 4 hour ride (depending on the course that day). Upon finishing, each rider will immediately begin to hydrate and eat. After the race, they head back to the hotels, shower, receive a rub down, and then onto the final meal of the day. You would think that getting to bed early would be important, but we learned that most riders stay up until 10pm or even as late as 12am each night. 8am comes and the schedule is repeated.

Andrea and Micki at the finish line in Luxembourg city before the riders arrived.

The first of the riders arrived for the 5 lap finish.

The main peloton is not far behind....perhaps 50 seconds.

Soon after the first lap, the anticipated rain showed up. At first, it was the typically Seattle rain: a little here and there, but nothing to fret over. Then, the mid-west style rain showed up.....which I'm quite certain is similar to my morning shower. The heavy rain kept coming for several minutes which turned the course into a slick track (it had not rained for at least a week, so the oil on the streets made for a very slick course). After the 3rd lap and a crash, the race was called due to weather.

Shortly after the race ended the rain stopped and the sun returned and we headed over to the stage to watch the awards. We found a great spot that positioned us in front of the riders waiting area (before they are called on stage).

Lance Armstrong giving an interview

The bicycle Lance Armstrong rode. I was shocked at the cost for the individual parts for the bike: $2,000 for a gear derail er??!! I'm guessing the total cost for this bike is around $20,000 and weighs less than 4.5 kilograms (about 10lbs).

Before the official award ceremony, Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, and Frank Schleck sharing some laughs.

Shortly after the presentation of the final award the riders quickly found their respective buses and headed out of town. What an incredible opportunity and a great weekend, even if it did rain buckets at the finish. This weekend has officially made us excited for our plans to venture to France next month to watch the Tour! Perhaps I should take to learning a few more French phrases besides "kiss" before then........