Day 15, July 20

Last night we had dinner in Chambery, choosing the traditional cuisine of the area referred to as Savoyard, which includes cheese casseroles like the tartiflette, and fondues of all kinds.  We opted for a tartare of tomato for our entree, then cheese fondue for two with assorted charcuterie (pork variations) for our main dish.  It was delicious.  We went for the fully Monty too, so we had an aperitif for the first time, and closed with dessert, and coffee.  Nothing was photo worthy, but we really liked it nonetheless.  We were back at Les Suites du Lac by 10 PM and asleep by 10:05 PM.  At least I was.

This morning we were up at 5:30 and out the door by 6:05.  Stopped at the local boulangerie for the usual supplies and headed for our Tour viewing spot, Mont Revard, the next to last climb on today's stage.  Mont Revard is only 27 km from our B&B, so we were at our spot by 6:55 AM.  Although we were not anticipating that we would find a spot with a view equal to the Col de Madeleine, we were very pleased with our site.  We are only 1/2 km from the summit of the Mont Revard climb and we overlook Aix les Bains, Lac Bourget and all the surrounding mountains.   When we arrived we looked own on the cloud covered Lac Bourget.  As the sun came up over our backs, the clouds over the lake slowly burned off revealing a fabulous view.

There's a ski area at the top of Mont Revard, so I walked back up there in search of more coffee and perhaps even a croissant.  My walk was not in vain, by the time I got back to the car the once too hot to hold coffee was now cold.  Along the walk I passed the work crew who were setting up the traditional summit banner for the riders. They paint a line across the road and install photo-finish cameras there as well in order to determine how the points are awarded for the King of the Mountains competition.  They have lots of time to complete their task.  The riders aren't due until after 3 PM.

By the time I returned to our car, the surrounding area had filled in.  A pair of Belgium brothers who now live in Cincinnati ending up parking next to us.  Coming from Belgium, where cycling is the national sport, hands down, they are big fans.   We talked about Lance...they said they were more disappointed in how he initially responded to doping allegations rather than to the actual fact that he doped.  Their favorite American rider is Tyler Phinney, who is not racing.  They agreed that the future of American cycling lies with Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky, and they felt it's time for Cadel to retire.  Like us they were at Alpe d'Huez on Thursday, and the Col de Madeleine yesterday.  They're driving home today. 

While the crowd waits for the riders, many people paint the name of their favorite rider on the road.  I regret to note that we wrote "Lance"  five years ago along the route up the Col d'Aspin.  Two French teenagers spray painted right in front of us in orange "FROOME DOPER" across the route, and many people commented when they saw it.  It seems the French press is quick to accuse any successful rider of doping these days.  Hopefully it's not true, but that's the legacy that Lance's generation created.

Anyway about an hour later one of the French road maintenance trucks stopped right in front of us, the men got out with paint rollers and white out the word "DOPER".  The crowd applauded and many thanked them.  I approved of this type of censorship!

The racers finally arrived just before 2 pm.  The Mont Revard climb is the second to last climb on this stage, but it is about 50 km from the finish line, so obviously a lot can happen before the finish.  But if there was going to be an attack on Froome by one of the five  contenders who were within six minutes of him, it would be happening by this point in the stage.  That didn't happen but what was almost as exciting was that Jens Voigt, the 41 year old German rider for RadioSchack was in the lead. Jens is the oldest rider on the Tour and one of the most popular.  It was great to see he still has it.

Jens' lead wasn't very big, and in fact even the peleton was close by; they were setting a fast past and the crowd had really grown so much that the riders could barely squeeze through us.  So this makes for hard viewing but exciting viewing.  I blindly took photos with my 18-105 mm lens zoomed in the most.  Got some great shots and a lot of bad ones too, but that's the Tour.  

The two women standing on the wall in the upper left corner of the picture look a lot like Kim Delutis and Kate Paradice.  You never know who you'll see when y ou're on vacation.

Perhaps because this was really the last significant day of race, the peleton stayed together, everyone guarding their spots and all the up and comers hoping to show off.  Didn't see the end, but it sounded exciting; from what I could understand from the French radio in our car Froome and Quintana battled to the last km.  

So the only suspense for the tomorrow's last stage, which will be a night for the first time, is can Mark Cavendish continue his streak of winning sprints on the Champs Elysees?

Our 26 km return drive to our B&B took longer than did our morning ride, a few traffic jams, or bouchons, as the French call them.  So we arrived at our home in the Alps at 6:15 PM.  After four turn downs we finally got a reservation for dinner.  Apparently the next two weeks are the most popular with the French for their summer vacations.  Reminds me of Cape Cod in late July too.

For dinner tonight we returned to "L'Auberge de Saint Simon" where we ate the first night we were in AIx Les Bains.  Obviously we liked it, and in fact Joni had exactly the same enree and main dish as she did six nights ago.

Tomorrow, we're up early, leaving Aix, and heading to Nice with a stop in Avignon for some final shopping.