Monday, July 28, 2008

Tour de France arrival


Like every year around the end of July, the Tour de France ended in Paris - on the Champs Elysées more precisely. The Spanish Carlos Sastre, 33, won. This year, like I already mentioned, I've been fortunate enough to follow one of the stages in Brittany and I've really been amazed to see how fast they go. When you're by the side of the road, here is what you see, and this lasts half a second maybe. But still, the atmosphere is really good and it's a real popular event throughout the country.

44 comments:

  1. Oooohhh Le Tour!! I'm so bummed I missed the end of it today. Thanks for the fabulous photo!!!

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  2. Eric, two great photos. It's all about the bike, or so I read.

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  3. Hey Katie! GF -- way to go!
    Hope you had a good time in SoCal.
    I had a lovely day.

    I love this picture - I didn't get to see any of the race either. So, notre president has brought it home for us. Its a nice angle, very colorful and I love the intensity on the faces of the riders and also seeing all the people in the crowd. 33 seems like its quite old - as athletes go - to be winning such a grueling event. Congratulations to him!

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  4. Hope this year's winner won it the right way...without drugs. Time will tell. The Tour has taken a few black eyes because of the athletes who have turned to doping to get the edge. This photo is fabulous as Katie points out, Eric. Hope you've gotten a chance to rest.

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  5. I did Coltrane, thank you. I'm just back (disclosure: I did not take this photo today ;)

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  6. Eric I hope you had a relaxing time in Trouville! It really is nice to step away from the daily metro boulot dodo (or in your case, scooto boulot pdpo dodo). I had such fun meeting some of your biggest fans in SoCal. Thank you so much for creating such a wonderful community. Now get cracking on that dodo portion of the day!

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  7. Nice shot, regardless. Bet that was fun seeing it so up close and personal.

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  8. Congrats Katie on GF! You may have missed Le Tour but you are GF on the last day of Le Tour. That's something special in itself. BTW...the crown has a slight smudge near the ruby above your right eye. I've tried to buff it out, but no luck. I think it was left there by Guille who tapped that spot so much from all the studying she did this summer. Oh well, it does give the crown some character, don't you think?

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  9. Wow, first the football championship, then the French Open & Wimbledon, and now the Tour de France! Go Spain! Watch out Olympics! Eric, glad you're "westing and wewaxing," as Elmer Fudd used to say. Thanks for bringing us the roadside excitement from Brittany. I think I'd like to be perched somewhere in the MP mountains with a bird's eye view someday. It's such a marvelous event. (Except when the news commentators were mentioning "stitches" as a matter of course. Ew!)
    -Kim
    Seattle Daily Photo

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  10. Katie, I just noticed you are GF! Congrats. Glad you got to go see Petrea and the LA area PDPers. Hope one of you will have photos to share.
    -Kim
    Seattle Daily Photo

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  11. Hey Coltrane! I was rather excited to get GF on the final day of Le Tour. And I think I'll be ok with the smudges on the crown that Guille left. In honor of Le Tour, I think I'll add some yellow diamonds before I pass it on.

    Carrie I did have a wonderful time in SoCal, especially meeting everyone! I even survived the blazing heat, which now of course I miss as I watch the fog gathering in the Berkeley hills. I think I'll be back in LA soon!

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  12. Kim I do have some good photos from my LA trip, and once I confirm with everyone that I can post them, I surely will!

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  13. I was fotunate enough to photograph the event in Montpellier last year. Wonderul action shots. It is such a shame the even this has been associated with drugs. All my partner's artwork commissions for the the event had to feature refs. to drug taking. Mark Cavendish, the winner of some of the races, is from here the Isle Of Man. Small world. He's a really, really nice guy, and no he does not take substances.

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  14. I am already in "Post Tour Depression" it always takes me about a week to figure out what to do with myself every morning. But my "Tour de French Cuisine" is over tonight as well. 21 stages and 21 meals from around the wonderful country of France.

    http://realnobodyslikeus.typepad.com/

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  15. I was reading this in Google Reader and the second I clicked the link to come to this post, the Tour de France came on the telly! I kid you not! Spooky. Hey, I think I saw you in the crowd, LOL!

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  16. The extent of my interest in watching professional sports, other than bullriding, is the cute matching outfits. Dodger blue and white, for example, totally work for me. Here, I see some fabulous hot pink helmets. Go team!

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  17. This is such a great photo - I hope to be in Paris during the Tour de France one day...

    Katie, I'm glad you made it home safely - it was so good to meet you in person! Thanks for bearing the heat to meet up with the So. Cal. PDP fans.

    As always, it was wonderful to see you again: Petrea, Tall Gary & Carrie!!!

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  18. Another incredible photo from our fearless leader and president-elect!
    uselaine -- I'm mostly into sports that are played by men in shorts. What does this mean? Am glad to see that these guys are secure enough to flaunt the hot pink helmets.
    claudine -- do you really cook a meal from 21 different regions of France during the Tour? Wow.
    BTW -- when do we get to see pix from the PDP SoCal get-together?

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  19. Tour de France

    Great photo, how do they ride up that slanted hill like that. Lol!
    Makes me want to dig out my old bicycle and ride up a hill.

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  20. Watch out for 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres in Beijing!

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  21. Looking at this photo, makes me feel wimpy only riding 1 mile to work & back everyday. Of course i have done a couple of 100 milers in my life too.

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  22. I love all the color, and the guy in front who looks so determined.

    Okay, I know very little about sports. Are there every any women riding in the Tour de France? Could that happen?

    I'll check with everyone and post my photos if it's okay with them. I haven't even looked at all my pictures yet. Katie and I took about a million each just at the Huntington.

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  23. Oh, and Eric: I was wondering whether you hold yourself to a standard of posting a photo taken the day you post it. I hoped you didn't, because that was so much to expect of yourself. Then you said this: "(disclosure: I did not take this photo today ;)"

    No wonder you needed a break! If you posted photos you took months ago, we'd never know. Even if we did, we'd still love them (and you)!

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  24. Eric, I wouldn't have noticed this was not a "fresh" photo. But because you mentioned it, I checked the details and here are the results of my "inquiry" :
    1/ It is on the Champs-Elysées ("Mairie de Paris" flags, and Toyota showroom in the back!)
    2/ It is not this year, as the Saunier-Duval team (2 guys in yellow, top right of the picture) was "fired" after Ricco's doping.
    3/ That was the Tour 2006, as the movie "Selon Charlie" was released in August 2006.
    Am I right?

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  25. I have several months following PDP and has been a pleasure to see each and every one of the photos you've done. I think the brilliant idea of PDP, and in the end I was encouraged to create MurciaDailyPhoto. A city at Spain. Thanks a lot Eric.
    I will continue to follow PDP.
    My blog is: murciadailyphoto.blogspot.com
    Greetings for de CDP community.

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  26. Thib le detective! It's fun investigating the PDP photos. The finish of a Tour de France is like photos of a Grand Prix race. Every photo represents every race. The emotion explodes.

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  27. Hi Jeff, my friend! Hope you're fine ;-)
    You're right, it's always fun to go into all the details of Eric's photos. And this one particularly is full of details and colours...

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  28. Great to know this because next year the Tour is coming thru Monaco. So I won't get too excited about taking a nice slow shot! Yours are great, Eric. I guess a distance shot, therefore, is easier?

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  29. Monaco will be a wonderful start to the Tour, this time I will start planning my menus in October when the full list is revealed.I did make a meal for all 21 stages, it was based on the town or the area the stage stopped or started in. I made some wonderful things, how can you go wrong with a French recipe?
    Viva la Tour!

    http://realnobodyslikeus.typepad.com/

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  30. Just found some other great photos of the Tour de France. See there: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/07/2008_tour_de_france_conclusion.html

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  31. claudine -- just went to your website, and I have to say: Martha's got nothin' on you! (Humor is the secret ingredient, Martha.)

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  32. Alexa, "I'm mostly into sports that are played by men in shorts." Me too.

    Petrea, I know very little about sports -- One thing is certain though -- I love men in shorts!

    Thib, Wow, I'm impressed -- good detective work.

    Claudine, I'm so impressed. Next time you must give us your menu of the day so that we can enjoy it with you, and maybe even copy it :-) I love to cook.

    Katie, it is soooo like you to put diamonds on the crown, and gold ones at that. You look stunning in it. I have only worn it once.

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  33. Love the photo - very well captured. Thanks for posting for those of us who didnt get a chance to watch this year. :-(

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  34. Bonjour Thib. Without knowing it was the last day of the Tour, I went for my Sunday bike ride, along the Mississippi River this time, to Minnehaha Falls. (By the shores of Gitche Gumee and all that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Hiawatha)

    Not as exciting as the Champs Elysees, of course, and I'm not nearly as stylish as the racers, but I did get good exercise and it was a lovely day. Lamb and Syrah for dinner. A good Sunday, n'est-ce pas?

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  35. Wow. On TV the Champs Elysées doesn't look this steep.

    Anyway, after watching pretty much every minute of the TdF, I'm feeling exhausted too. But who's complaining...it was incredible as usual. That doping thing is fading away (in spite of the 4 incidents this year). The race has done a great job of enforcing the rules and the sponsors too are taking a stand. Soon all of the cheaters will realize this or be gone from the sport. Vive le tour.

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  36. Are you rested after your hols Eric? Great shot. How DO they keep their balance like that? :)

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  37. Katie, I glad you had some good time in LA with the SoCal PDP gang! We want the photos of course ;)- Funny, I just watched Time Code, a movie that takes place in LA (weird people there LOL!).

    Claudine "I am already in "Post Tour Depression" it always takes me about a week to figure out what to do with myself every morning." LOL! I never heard of this one ;)

    Gecko "the Tour de France came on the telly! I kid you not! Spooky" Eh eh call me Mulder!

    Petrea "Oh, and Eric: I was wondering whether you hold yourself to a standard of posting a photo taken the day you post it. I hoped you didn't, because that was so much to expect of yourself." I don't always, but I always try to take the "photo du jour" when I can.

    Inspector Thib. You are damn right! I took it 2 years ago on the champs Elysées ;) I thought to myself "Ils n'y verront que du feu". Et ben non!!

    Welcome to the band Murcia Daily Photo ;)

    Bonjour Lynn. Yes thank you, I feel much better? The weather in Trouville was super nice, I had a nice rest (I even went to the beach!)

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  38. I have watched the race on TV, but it doesn't do justice to the splash of colors that your photos show.

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  39. Have to follow it as my sister is an absolute groupy. Came to stay with me in Paris, no not to see me, it was the rest stop to follow the tour!

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  40. Very cool photo! Thanks for sharing such cool things with us!

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  41. So wonderful! Especially what you see at the side of the road!

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  42. These two shots remind me of the opening scenes in one of my favorite movies, Grand Prix. Exciting!

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