Today we saw our first stage of the Tour. After our usual awesome breakfast we were on the road by 9 AM, driving 180 km to our viewing spot for stage 10, which was right under the 5 km to go banner at Col de Labays.
The scenery in the part of the Pyrenees was spectacular. It was a blue bird day, not a cloud in the sky, and the jagged peaks just soared upward no matter where you looked. Just breathtaking.
We had to walk the final 2 km to our spot and it was very hot, so we were pleased to find a great viewing spot that was in the shade for at least a few hours. Compared to other Tours, this was one of our best viewing days. The crowd was very well behaved and no tried to push into our space or stand in front of us. The riders were well spaced and going very slowly since this was the steepest climb of the day.
At 5 pm, the first rider to pass by us was yellow jerseyy wearer Christopher Froome, from Team Sky. 13 seconds behind him was Columbian Nairo Quintana from the Movistar Team. In 4th was American Teejay Van Gardern, who is in second in the overall Tour.
After about 30 minutes the last riders passed us and we headed back to the car then drove back to Arreau. All in all the post race traffic was minimal,especially considering we were so close to the end of the stage.
We got back to our hotel at 8:45 pm, giving us just enough time to wash and use the bathroom before eating another wonderful dinner. We were both stuffed so we decided to skip coffee tonight, and I think Joni said it best when she said, "if I have to choose between finishing our bottle of wine or having coffee, the coffee comes in a distant second."
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