Day 10-Tour Watching Continues on the Col de la Croix de Fer

Bastile Day

Our second day of Tour watching was one of our best ever.  The scenery is beyond spectacular, our viewing spot was within 100 yards of the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer, and the intense heat was bearable thanks to a steady breeze, and an occasional cloud. There is also a cafe at the very top of the summit so we were able to have fresh croissants and coffee for breakfast, and cold drinks and sausages in a small baguette for lunch. Life is good!

We again left our hotel around 4:30 am, walked to the parking lot where our rental car is stored, and were on the road by 4:50 am.  Stopping for gas, some groceries, and even a potty break, and a slight programming error we made on our Garmin GPS, we arrived at our viewing spot around 7:00 AM.  

Our viewing spot was on the descending side of the summit.  We had hoped to be on the ascending side of this route, that way the riders are moving at their slowest, but the summit was barred by barricades and the police, and we were not allowed to pass to the other side.  In fact we were lucky to be there at all because there was a barricade 2.9 kilometers from the summit that I drove around.  There were no police at this barricade, and there was just enough space to squeeze our car through.

The first rider didn't arrive until 5:02 so we had almost 10 hours to just relax and enjoy spectacular scenery and the continuous parade of people.

Notice la Croix de Fer between us.

Schluge parking at the summit

There wasn't enough room between the road and the hill for us to set up our tent, and it was just as well since it was very windy.  The "Cavendish" banner across the hood of our car is our protest the Mark Cavendish was not selected for the Quickstep team this year.  He is tied for most single stage victories with Belgian Eddie Merckx.  Cav won four stages last year, so I think that the Quickstep manager, who is Belgium, doesn't want Cavendish to break Merckx's record.  

These girls were doing cheers!

If this couple can watch the Tour in the mountains, then so can we.

If this couple can watch the Tour in the mountains, then so can we.

Helicopters=the racers are very, very close!

Chris Froome, in the blue jersey with his head down, the overall winner of 4 Tours, was the third racer over this summit, and he finished third in the stage.  A good sign that he is well on his way back after a terrible crash two years ago.

Two riders from Jumbo Visma setting the pace and protecting their team leader in yellow:  Wout Van Aert (in green), American Sepp Kuss who won a stage last year.

Jumbo Visma rider Primoz Roglic from Slovenia.  He was one of the pre-race favorites but a crash in the early stages forced him to ride support for the yellow jersey.

A TV helicopter  leading the group with the yellow jersey down the long descent of the Col de la Croix Fer.

Similar to yesterday, all the riders were past us in about 20 minutes, however, we were not allowed to begin our descent down the route to Grenoble until after 6:00 pm.  There are many spectators on bikes or just walking that crowd the roadway, so the police hold up cars until it is safer.  

When we got down the descent from the route up to the Croix de Fer, we ran into a traffic jam that was created by all the spectators leaving the route down Alpe d'Huez.  We weren't in a rush, unlike the Swiss man who was parked next to us, so when we arrived in Grenoble it was already 8:00 pm.  Rather than park our car and clean up before dinner, we went strait to our restaurant for the evening, Rahjah, where we had a delicious dinner.