Roy Cannon's 'Tour de France' July 09.

See bottom of page for slide show.

"We were staying in the ski resort of Meribel just 20 miles from the town of Bourg Saint-Maurice the finish and start town for stages 16 and 17.

On the Monday I cycled out of Bourg up the Col du Petit St-Bernard, the final climb of the following days stage, where there was a sea of camper vans eagerly anticipating the following days stage. It's a trip of about 30km, although it is fairly steady climb with an average gradient of about 5%, reaching a height of 2188m, with a lot of hairpins in the first 20km. The first part of the decent is quick, but the road is very rough, well illustrated by Jens Voigts tumble on the fastest section.

The following day we arrived in Bourg early and got a spot near the finish line, where we waited for five hours in the baking sunshine, but were kept well entertained by the race on the big screen and the endless amounts of freebies thrown out by the passing Caravane. The atmosphere was tremendous as the riders approached, pinpointed by the ever present TV helicopters above. Squashing to the front we had a prime view of the now under investigation Mikel Astraloza coming home to win. I think I am a tour jinx, as 4 out of the last six stages we have seen over the last three years have ended in the rider subsequently being found positive of one doping offence or another.

The following day we were back in Bourg early to see the team buses arrive. The arrival and every movement of the Astana bus and a certain Texan created a buzz around the start, and drew a very large crowd. We have discovered over the last couple of years that tour watching can be a tricky art, with road closures and officious gendarmes constantly thwarting your every move, the start proved to be no less difficult. With the centre of the main street barriered off to allow the buses to park up I was fortunate, along with a couple of hundred others, to gain access to this area, (Although I didn't exactly use the main entrance!!!!) and able to get some good shots of the riders going to sign on at the start. Cav was a real gent stopping for pictures and autographs before heading off to sign on.

We had a good couple of weeks and got a few climbs in including the Col de L'Iseran(2770m), Col du Madeleine(2000m, Courchevel (2000m) and Alpe D'huez ( Well done to Steve Barnes on the Marmotte, those first three corners on Alpe Dhuez are tough, and that's on fresh legs)"