Jonathan’s View of the Tour de France with Chasing ATLAS
Posted on: August 6, 2014, by julie shipman
The following is a 3 day excerpt from a guest blog by Jonathan Morgan, and photos by trip photographer Julie Shipman.
His blog can be read in its entirety at: http://a2014tourdefranceadventure.blogspot.com.
Thanks Jonathan!
July 21, Day 17 / Rest Day in Carcassonne
Dann and I caught a train from Toulouse to Carcassonne to hook with Jill and Julie Shipman of Chasing Atlas and Gordon. From there we met up with the Cannondale folks, were given our kit and got fitted for our Synapse bikes. The experience was a total trip. The mechanics who worked on our machines are the same fellows who day in and day out take care of the team bikes and the riders, including Sagan. Take a look at the paint job on Peter’s bike and the eyes painted on his helmet. This guy is a total character. Yup, thats the three amigos behind Sagan’s bike: Gordon on the left, Dann on the right and me in the middle. Many thanks to Julie Shipman our photographer for these great pictures.
All the teams travel with their own chef and cooking crew and they have specially outfitted kitchen trucks for making meals for the riders, which in turn, are taken inside the hotel in which the team is staying for the evening. Here is the Cannondale kitchen truck. It’s a pretty high end food truck!
July 22, Day 18 / Stage 16 of the Tour – Carcassonne / Bagneres de Luchon
This was the longest stage of this year’s Tour and Michael “Mick” Rogers of Tinkoff won the event. It was his first Tour de France stage win!! It was a brute: 237.5 km or 148 miles with some minor climbs at the start of the race but after the half way point the climbing gets intense with Portet d’Aspet, a minor bump with Col. des Ares and then the Port de Bales, a beyond category climb and a bear!
Here is the course profile:
We started our day just before the Col de Portet-d’Aspet. This was hard but it was no where near as hard as Port de Bales. This hurt big time!!! Both of my legs cramped up in the quads and hamstrings!! The crowds lining the side of the ascents were amazing. The yells of encouragement…allez, allez, Cannondale, Sagan. It gave you goose bumps and forced you to dig deep, not give up and respond to the enthusiasm of the spectators; and we were just tourists doing the climb. The descent was amazing 50-60 miles per hour on pretty clean road…a total adrenaline trip!!
After the descent into Bagneres de Luchon we hooked up with Simone, got out of some of our gear and made our way to that night’s hotel across the France / Spain border to the town of Vielha, Spain. The hotel, nestled on the slopes of the Spanish Pyrenees was in an extraordinary location with breath taking views! It was also the stop for the evening for four of Tour de France teams: BMC, AG2R, Giant and Katousha!!
When we finally arrived dinner was on the wain, most of the pro riders and their support staff were in the final stages of eating dinner and we had to order fast!! I walked into the restaurant of this 4 star hotel still wearing my cycling gear. The stares were priceless but I needed to order and then head upstairs, get a quick shower and then return downstairs to eat. The food was vacuumed off the plate!!
Here are some pictures from the day, including:a memorable character who loves to watch the Tour in his own special way!!
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| One Last Coffee Before We Head Out |
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| Stephane Our Guide |
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| The View From Our Hotel in the Spanish Pyrenees |
We shared our hotel with four Tour teams: BMC, AG2R, Katousha and Giant Shimano
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| The Mechanics Work is Never Done! |
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July 23, Day 19 / Stage 17 of the Tour – Saint-Gaudens / Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet
The Tinkoff show goes on! Following Michael Rogers’ day of glory in the first day in the Pyrenees, Rafal Majka claimed his second stage win at Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet. The Polish rider took advantage of his triumph to increase his lead over Joaquim Rodriguez in the King of the Mountains competition while the Frenchman of the day was Jean-Christophe Péraud. The veteran from AG2R-La Mondiale positioned himself as a potential top 3 finisher as he was the only rider able to follow race leader…
Here is the stage profile for the day.
We got an early start this morning and headed back to Bagneres de Luchon while the peloton got up even earlier to drive two hours further away to start the stage in Saint Gaudens. For us Bagnere de Luchon was the start of the Col de Peyresourde. The day’s goal was to get to Pla d’Adet and climb only three or four kilometers. The reason being the stage is a mountain top finish and the climb becomes closed roughly two hours before the arrival of the peloton; more importantly it is closed to those who want to get off the mountain until the riders, the team and all the assorted Tour caravan and other vehicles are off the mountain top!!! The mere mortals leave last!
We arrived in Bagneres de Luchon with our Cannondale bikes strapped to the top of our Cannondale team car. We stopped to grab a coffee before heading out on the ride but there was not much time to be spent relaxing at the cafe.
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| We Depart |
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| We Arrive in Bagneres de Luchon |
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| Jill and Gordon Get a Coffee |
We were surrounded by spectators, fans and kids…lots of kids, cycling kids. They wanted to see the car, touch the bikes, get a water bottle. It was so cool.
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| On Their Bikes and Not Their Screens! |
Here is a future winner of the Tour de France. Is he cool or what?
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| The Next Bernard Hinault? |
