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Photographer's anecdote: After grabbing a croissant in town, I got up on the wall overlooking the bridge and waited for the peloton, due around 8:50am of this morning stage. Renowned cycling photographer Graham Watson came over the bridge on the back of a motorcycle minutes ahead of the peloton. Watson was soon on the wall a few feet to my right. No more than about 90 seconds before the arrival of the peloton, A.S.O. (race organizer) staff photographer Bruno Bade came over the bridge, also on the back of a motorcycle. He stopped, looked up at us and yelled, with a hint of panic, "How do I get up there?!" Watson responded with a hearty laugh that jokingly said "Fend for yourself, buddy!" He then pointed to the left, yelled "Over there!" before adding, as if Bade wasn't already feeling the pressure, "Better hurry up, Bruno, they're coming!" There was no time for Bade's driver to get up there by road but Bade found a pedestrian passageway and was soon trudging up to our spot lugging all his gear. Watson yelled again, "Hurry up, here they come!" and laughed some more. The entire scene was very funny. Bade was up on the wall not more than 30 seconds before the peloton arrived. The peloton came over the bridge, there was a flurry of shutter clicks from three cameras, then Watson and Bade were on their motorcycles to chase the peloton, I was on foot on my way up to Mont Malgre Tout (a white monument can be seen in the upper right of the photo sequence) to await the second passage of the race. - Pete Geyer |