Yesterday evening, Monaco welcomed the Tour de France. Each team (there are 20) lined up on the podium in front of the port and each cyclist was individually introduced to the public. Then the leader in each team was interviewed - here you see the Cervélo team from Switzerland and the Spaniard, Carlos Sastre, who won the Tour de France in 2008.Prince Albert of Monaco opened the proceedings - you see him in the smaller photograph - centre. On the left is Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France.
In the photo below: the crowds. We were apparently 9000 last night. When I got to this area of seating there was hardly a place to be had, so I walked down to the front, sat on the steps and there I stayed...it was all the best fun with a great atmosphere.
Over the next days, we'll meet the cyclists, we'll see how the engineers care for the bikes, we'll see the mad publicity caravan and we might even meet a devil!
Note: you can see last night's event on Eurosport television today.
15 comments:
Cool stuff. I recently shot the Amgen Tour in Paso Robles. It was a really fun event.
As avid Tour fans, we are beyond excited!
Jilly, is this crowd different from the GP crowd (besides not having to wear headphones...) ?
Maria, it's hard to say. I was sitting next to local people who had come out to welcome the Tour, but then it's the first time it started in Monaco, so is a big deal. I get the feeling tho these are mostly Tour de France afficionados - as I said, only 8000 last night but up to 200,000 expected for Saturday and Sunday, so they'll be Tour fans.
Bonjour Jilly! Great Tour de France photos! Fun to see Prince Albert in your photo. Maybe you could sell your photo to "Paris Match," non?
How exciting! It must be a fabulous atmosphere. I'll be watching when I can (as well as The Ashes ;-)
Say hi to Cadel Evans for me!
Well, 6 more days to go and they will all be here. I will hopefully be on my terrace and shoot photo after photo while they pass just below. That is if I can get 30 minutes off work!
I think a good idea would be to follow the tour and make some kind of photo chain...Bloggers along the road, unite for the TOUR!
One day I should like to view this event.
Rob, that would be fun but I'm not sure we are located in the right places! You sound well placed if you only have to lean over your terrace.
I'm amazed at the crowds! And, great photos of the team!
Really nice group portrait with color that pops. Still, it's hard for me to understand the excitement of bicycle racing - not part of our culture.
Trouble is these days is that they all have special bikes, which is cheating in a way. To be completely fair, all the cyclists should use ordinary bikes and of the same make. In that way, it will be down to skill and luck, rather than having an unfair advantage.
Wonderful shots of an exciting event. Super photo opportunities, too.
i like this first shot. superb
That top shot against the red drop is fantastic. I still envy how the event is promoted here to how our two wheeled event is.
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