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BOBKE: BOB ROLL'S TOUR REPORT: ON THE ROAD TO PARIS
Bobke
July 25, 2010
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It was a tough day getting to Paris, I blew through one of the auto pay tolls and then got busted for speeding by a camera. I think I broke every possible electronic traffic law I could, but kept throbbing on the gas pedal. It’s a seven hour drive to Paris, but I’m trying to do it in five. Right now I’m 13 minutes off from beating the estimated time of arrival by one and a half hours. In the drive from Tourmalet to Bordeaux I took an hour of the estimated time and at that point I was satisfied.
Unfortunately, France’s version of Johnny Law caught up with me and I got a ticket. The guy seemed so disappointed in me. He was obviously upset that I would go beyond the conventions of staying at the legal speed limit. I offered him a pastry and he took it – can you imagine a cop back in the States accepting a donut from you if you got pulled over?! The problem is that I’m still warping and I don’t think there are enough French pastries in France to take care of all the Gendarmes that I might run into! For our first night in Paris it looks like it’s gonna be sandwiches on the freeway – ah, the romance of the Tour.
As for the TT, I think Andy Schleck was once again the rider of the day. He’s never come that close to Alberto in a time trial before. I mean he practically paralyzed himself to get that time and after wards he looked like Eddy Merckx did after he the hour record. But, unfortunately for the rest of the riders, that’s how deep Fabian Cancellara goes for every TT! I thunk if Andy had started the TT in yellow he would've taken it to Paris, but it was just not meant to be and young Andy's dream of the top spot in Paris will have to wait another year.
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