Tour de France: Le Tour, Stage 13, Bastille Day

The Tour was not expected to come through Aulus-les-Bains until mid-afternoon. The village was dressed up with decorations and all the stalls associated with the Tour sideshow – velo racing games, bars, merchandising and lots of local food stalls.

We made our way to the spot we had decided on the day before. It

was a terrible effort for me, puffing and panting up the hill – due, not to my fitness (lack of), but to the altitude. John doesn’t suffer from altitude related conditions. We found a great spot and had a picnic on the side of the road.

Both sides of the inclines were crowded with groups of young people, families and individuals. There was a real party atmosphere and everyone was friendly and behaved well. The party atmosphere on the Cols where there were massive crowds must have been really lively.

An hour before the cyclists were due the very impressive and lengthy sponsor cavalcade made their way past us, throwing shirts and caps

and everything else the sponsors represent, out to the crowds. John gave me a bracelet (with an insurance company logo) as a gift. I didn’t tell him that I had seen him searching the ditch beside the road for bounty earlier on.

We waited for the riders. We had wanted to see the Tasmanian Richie Porte or as the French say "Rishee Paw", but he had been injured and was out of the race the day before. As the riders came past we could see the pain on their faces – this was the 2nd of 3 mountain climbs that day – this climb a 10 km ride with a 10% average incline. We briefly saw Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and Alberto Contador.

After the race we walked back to the village. Like a dream, everything had disappeared. It looked like nothing had happened.

Next: Tour de France Trip – Aulus-les-Bains to Andorra