Le Dauphine Libere (Ventoux)

After getting off the ferry at 7am and dropping Amy at Marseille airport (not actually in Marseille if you ever go) I raced across to Mont Ventoux again to watch the Dauphine Libere race, a major pre-tour test for yellow jersey contenders.

After stocking with picnic supplies, I drove up to Chalet Reynard and found Craig and friends lounging on the grass wondering whether to have another glass of Rose, or whether to go for the foi gras next. This is the life.


There is always loads of time before the riders come by to drink beer and engage in the other traditional activity - painting the road with slogans supporting your favourite riders. At any other time you would probably get arrested for graffiti, but in major cycle races it is perfectly acceptable.


Craig unveiled his Tom Simpson stencil which he made himself (requiring siginificant effort!) and we stuck a couple on the road so that the British cycling great who died in the Tour de France in 1967 will be remembered.

A few local cyclists came by and appreciated the effort, Tom is much admired in this area for his exploits and thousands flock to his memorial further up the mountain every day.


Our next painting effort was not so artistic and I felt a little like a naughty schoolboy as we placed St George's flags and an 'Allez Bradley !' sign on the road. You have to watch for cars and cyclists as they go past, put our efforts worked and we hoped that Bradley Wiggins and David Millar would notice as they went past.


A couple of hours and a few beers later, the race came by with French rider Christophe Moreau leading the field up the hors categorie climb. Various famous riders followed including Hincapie, Boonen, Zabriskie and Vinokourov of whom I managed to get a half decent photograph.

Valverde (normally considered a Yellow Jersey contender) looked in a world of pain and was being pushed up by a domestique. Tim a photographer staying with Craig and photographing further up the mountain said that they were keen not to be captured in such difficulty...not sure what was wrong.

The evening was spent eating Pizza from the local 'ad-hoc' pizza place and drinking some ridiculously strong Belgian beers that Craig had acquired....Leffe was beaten in the strength stakes by Kwak, or Quack or something like that. Nice though.

I had pitched the tent in Craig and Vicky's back garden and that night there was an almightly thunderstorm which threatened to either deafen me or electrocute me with lightening. The rain didn't stop all morning and I dropped Tim off in Nyons for the next stage start to see lots of wet and bedraggled Gendarmes closing the roads. What a change from the motorcycling gendarmes the day before on Ventoux in their short sleeves shirts and shades (note that policemen in the UK aren't allowed to not wear leathers for health and safety reasons. The French motorcyclist police do look much cooler as a result.)

By the afternoon the sun had come out and it was lovely, Provence is looking really green at the moment. I decided to ride up the Ventoux (for the seventh time now....) and see how fast I could do it. 1 hr 22 minutes was my time from Malaucene, which I think is pretty respectable. The weather was again kind though, sunny but not too hot as I went at 3.30pm. The morning rain had cleared the air and the views at the top were breathtaking.

But time to leave the lovely village of Faucon, picture on the left is from the top of the tower at Craig and Vicky's.