Written by: Chris Wallis
Saturday, July 14, 2007

The first time i haven't seen the finish

After what I thought was a good start, i.e. I parked in the right place the day only got worse from there.

I got a few good shots at the start and then headed out onto the course, the plan being find an early stop, maybe on the 3^rd cat climb and then get off and dash straight to the main climb of the day, missing the finish but hopefully getting the action on the climb. The first stop was a lot further down than I had planned, there was no-where to stop on the climb despite some good possible shots. I ended up stopping in a little town and finding a sweeping corner and going for a low and wide angled pan, and then catching any splits as I walked back to the car.

That was alright but after I waited for the voiture balai, (last car) which signals the end of the race for 20mins I just headed onto the road and caught up with the race. It was another 30 or so Km’s before I could get off the course. That was pretty much the last time I saw the race, my plan to get on the climb failed with the junctions being closed and a painful 10km’s to turn around, paying the toll on both side of the road.

I then headed straight for the finish, always fighting a losing battle, I managed to get to the entry point in the course and jumped onto the course with camera in hand.

I managed to see some of the stragglers as they came in, sitting myself in direct line of the apex of the corner gong for tight head shots. Once the Yellow jersey had gone through my day was done with very little to show for it.

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