Jul
29
Written by:
Chris Wallis
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Stage 20 Marcoussis to Paris – and finally I can go home
Ironically the day I was looking forward to was the poorest day for photography. The Start was not looking good when it started raining and didn’t look like stopping, and then in between showers all we got was overly bright clouds, not making for the best backgrounds.
The roll out was on some very ugly roads so it was a quick drive straight into Paris and then onto the closed roads of the Rue D’rivoli and the Place de la Concorde.
I took up position at the opposite end to the Arc D’Triumph so that I could shoot coming onto and leaving the Champs Elyesse. I am putting my lack of shots down to some real tiredness. I got the light wrong a few times, motorbikes got out of the way to late so I could focus on the riders properly. In short all the things that I have done, learnt and practiced over the last few weeks went out the window and had to concentrate to pull a few shots out for the day.
The finish was even worse, being the last stage lots of people turned up just for that so it was a real crowd, I had two choice – end up far too far away with a 70-200 or hope that the winner sprinted into my shot. Sadly the winner went down the inside, the one bit I couldn’t see and I missed the shot completely. Thankfully the Yellow jersey was nice to me and kept where I could shoot him.
I have learned a lot and will look forward to going back to the tour next year, and doing more races this year, better equipped, both in technique and also with improved equipment.
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