Just before the last 30 riders go on the course, James Startt offered me a ride in his car to one of his photo locations, a little village just 10 km after the start. Once the yellow jersey came flying by he yelled at me “lets go “ and our race to chase yellow was on. Contador was followed not only by his team car, an official car, helicopter, no! Ambulance, 16 Photographers on Motos, a hand full of Police on Motos, and road service cars. No problem for James! Honking at the Gendarmerie, passing cars and Motos with Millimeters between us, racing with 60 km/h through little villages, so close to people standing at the road so I could read the time at their watches, we were between the motos within minutes. I can’t remember when the last was I buckled up in the back voluntarily. Next thing James wants to find out the GC times of the top3, so he pulls a L”Equipe up and one handed driving reads the paper, still rallying through the villages surrounded by Motos. Still every face I looked into had a smile...once at the finish, we sprinted for the podium shots, James to the front, me to the back... What a great race, thank you James for this experience.
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