05 July 2010

Tour de France


. . . started yesterday.


For those of you like me who know nothing more than that the Tour de France is a bike race, in France, and that American Lance Armstrong won it more than one time, here's what little more I now know.

* it began in 1903
* is 3,600 kilometers (2,200 miles)
* lasts 3 weeks with 2 days of rest
* Lance Armstrong won the race 7 times in a row from '99 to '05
* the last four have been won by a Spaniard
* the race begins in different cities, but always ends on the Champs-Elysees in Paris
* an advertising caravan has preceded the racers for the last 80 years

So we got caught up in the excitement when we discovered the race would start in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and go south through Antwerp and Brussels right here in Belgium. These cities are only an hour away so we took off this past Sunday morning headed to Antwerp.

The Advertising Caravan

These were the first racers to pass us.

The remaining racers were all in one pack a few seconds later.

Our souvenirs from the advertising caravan.
Well, all but the yellow sign.
A souvenir we thought we needed.

Here's a great video Ross filmed. See if you can find Lance Armstrong. He's wearing red and grey for his sponsor Radio Shack.



Yeah, it happens really fast!

So, only 20 more days to the finish. Kinda makes me want to be in Paris in 3 weeks. It is only 4 hours away from us. Hmmmmm.

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