Tour Stage Sixteen: Diving for Seconds

With every member of the break away already across the line in Gap, it was the members of the peloton that were racing down towards the city trying to gain seconds on the men around them in the overall standings.  Contrador kept pressing his advantage having isolated Froome on the climb and having his own teammate in Kreuziger on the descent with him.  For a descent to help you gain time it requires insane risks, risks that had Contrador hit the deck and Froome have to put a foot out trying not to go down on top of the Spaniard.  The others in the break kept going all hoping against hope to gain time on the two fast men.  Fortunately for Froome, and by default, Contrador, Porte hadn't given up and soon caught the two adversaries after the minor crash and dragged them both back up to the other contenders.  All of this drama was being played out twelve minutes after Rui Costa had crossed the line for the stage victory.  In the end everyone but Ten Dam finished together and got the same time for the stage.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that can be yours by visiting my artist web site where you can buy this painting.  Just follow the direct link at the of this post to get your piece of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: Contrador Attacks

With all of the GC men together and Richie Porte trying to ride everyone off of his wheel, it was time for Alberto to dig deep and see if he could get some time on Froome and the other guys ahead of him on the General Classification.  Everyone was expecting him to do something on the final climb and the TV Motos were both in front and behind the move.  Of course the cameras always watch the group with the Malliot Jaune because that is were the moves that matter happen.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that is available for purchase at my artist website.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your art of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: Pushing on Ahead

With just seven kilometers to go after the summit of the Col du Manse everyone in the big break away was trying to use it as a springboard for a stage victory.  Rui Costra jumped with Dani Navarro quickly covering the move, Nicolas Roche is trying to bridge across to the other two attackers.  Even with the famous Alpine climbs looming in the days to come, the col was lined with campers and enthusiastic fans cheering the break on with unbridled enthusiasm.  Moviestar is hoping for a stage victory to go with their almost win on Mont Ventoux, so Rui was given the freedom to fly.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that can be yours by visiting my artist website.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your piece of the art of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: The First to Go

With a break away of 26 riders, everyone knew that they would not all be going to the line together, so it was Marino of Sojasun and Kadri of AG2R that jumped in the valley before the final climb.  The peloton contained 7 French riders all hoping to be the one (une) to bring a stage victory to the hosts of the 100th Tour de France.  These two were the first to go out in search of the honor and gratitude of a nation.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that can be yours by visiting my artist website where you can purchase this painting.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your piece of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: Only Fourteen More to Go

The Tour is charging towards the Alps ending today's stage at the gateway to the mountains in Gap.  They zoomed through the false flat valleys of wheat fields and orchards steadily climbing toward the first of the remaining fourteen mountains that they will have to cross by Saturday night.  If someone doesn't make it over all fourteen, they will not be riding into Paris with the peloton.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that is available for purchase at my artist website.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your piece of art of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: Almost Got It

The mechanic and his rider have to work in tandem to make a wheel change as fast as possible.  First, the rider should radio the team car and let them know what the problem is and which side of the road they are on, and they shouldn't stop until the car is near.  Once the mechanic is out of the car his cyclist is to be calm and hold the necessary end of the bike off of the ground keeping it as stable as possible.  It does help to have the chain at the low end of the cog as well.  There have been some disastrous wheel changes in this year's Tour, this, fortunately for Navardauskas, was not one of them.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that is available for purchase at my artist website.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get you piece of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: Musettes for All

A Musette is basically a feed bag, you know, like oats for a horse, that are passed out to the riders as they zoom past a designated area on the course.  The challenge is to find your team helper and then grab the back without snagging them, the other riders or yourself.  Then still at speed you need to pick out what you want, load it into your jersey pockets (or mouth) and then toss the bag to some souvenirseeking cycling fan along the side of the road.   Then it is back to racing full on.  Cyclist will consume upwards of 6,000 calories during the race, so staying fed is a very important challenge.   This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that is available for purchase at my artist website.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your piece of art of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: Pegged at Seven Minutes

With all of the GC men in the peloton, Team Sky was happy to let the break go and take the day off (as much as that is possible at 42 kph over 150 kilometers) and save themselves for the mountainous individual time trial tomorrow.  Phil Liggett claimed that the peloton would peg the break at seven minutes, I guess he missed that one as the lead went out to twelve minutes at the top of the final climb.  It is always up to the team that holds the yellow jersey to ride tempo at the front of the peloton, everyone else just lines up behind.  If I haven't said it before, drafting allows the second rider to exert 30% less energy that the rider with his nose in the wind.  That is why you need a strong team to protect you as you hunt down the Malliot Jaune.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that can be yours by visiting my artist website where you can purchase this painting.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your art of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: Want to Go?

There was time to chat in the break with one topic being when are we going to get rid of everyone else.  Hoogerland seems to be asking Andreas Kloden and Navardauskas if they want to go for the attack now or wait for the final climb.  Hoogerland had the opportunity to show off his Netherland's Championship jersey for a long time with his break away companions.  The decision apparently made to wait for the Col du Manse, partly because it was a dive from the top to the finishing line.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that is available for purchase at my artist website.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your piece of art of the 100th Tour de France.

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Tour Stage Sixteen: The Big Break

Today's stage was wedged between the second rest day and the last time trial before Paris, so it was deemed to be a day for the break.  All of the GC men are going to want to save as much energy as they can get away with, so once the break didn't have anybody in the top 20, they were off up the road.  This break had 26 riders at the last valley before Gap and by that time is was twelve minutes.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that was created using cake watercolor, brushes and paper from www.richesonart.com   Believe me, the quality of the supplies does effect the quality of the work.  Also, this work, and all of the works in this series, are available for purchase at my artist website.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your art of the 100th Tour de France.

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