Tour, Final Stage: Confirming Green

 As the Tour completed its final sprint, it was Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick Step) confirming that he was the rightful wearer of the Maillot Vert.  Bennett and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) have been in a race long battle for the Sprinter's Jersey, and the stage relegation of Sagan only added to the controversary of the competition, but regardless of all with Bennett's first on the Champs Elysees, it was his jersey without a doubt.  On the wheels of the Irishman, is the reigning World Champion (for another two weeks), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) followed by the seven time winner of the Green Jersey, Peter Sagan.  The podium was rounded out by the winner of the very first stage of this Tour, Alexander Kristoff (UAE-Team Emirates) and Elia Viviani (Cofidis).  It is worthy of note that UAE-Team Emirates held the very first Maillot Jaune for one day, and then held the very last (and the over-all) Maillot Jaune for one day.

So this is it.  A great Tour under some very trying circumstances with an umpredicted winner for the first time in decades.  I hope to paint the abbreviated Worlds and Paris Roubaix to wrap up this odd season.  I may paint some other races, but those two are certain.  Thank you for reading about the race along with me.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3705874-144-282744/Painting/confirming-green-tdf20-136.html

Tour, Final Stage: On the Bell Lap

 This Tour has been so very different than any I've watched or painted in the past.  Each Tour is its own special three weeks, but when it look so much like this one wouldn't happen, the fact that it started at all meant so much in these Covid Days of Uncertainty.  While for the first time, the Tour was raced in September, it somehow had the weather playing less of a factor rather than more of one.  With the testing protocols, it was never a sure thing that this day on the Champs Elysees would arrive.  So seeing the bell lap was all that more special this year.  And then finally, for my wife and I this year's Tour had an extra layer of difficulty for us.  As the Tour came out of its final rest day, she and I checked into the hospital for a long awaited kidney transplant for her.  I would be undergoing kidney donation surgery on the same day, but the kidney would be going off to Maine since we were not a good match (internally, anyway) and she would be recieving one from Georgia.  It made finishing my painting to the Tour a bit of a challenge, and I am guessing some of these post are riddled with mistakes, but with the exception of not painting Stage 19, here we are on the bell lap!  She is doing great, and I am recovering well.  So this is a painting, and a post, to remind us all of the beauty around us everyday, and to be sure to never miss a moment of it.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3705859-143-282744/Painting/on-the-bell-lap-tdf20-135.html

Tour, Final Stage: Nothing Ventured...

 We all know the expression, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."  For this quartet, it is demonstratively true.  They know that the likelihood of winning the stage from a break away on the Champs Elysees are slim indeed, however the chances that Greg Van Avermaet (CCC), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Cofidis), Conor Swift (Arkea-Samsic) and Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) would win from a bunch sprint are infinitely smaller still. And so it is that off they go into a four man break in hopes of staying away to the finale.  They did not, but the tried, and in so doing earned some rather useless sprint points towards the Sprint Competition in the doing.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3705848-142-282744/Painting/nothing-ventured...-tdf20-134.html

Tour, Final Stage: Time to Start Racing

 With the formalities of the final stage our of the way, it was time to get to racing.  Although, I didn't see the honorary champagne toast between the winner, his teammates and his director sportif.  In the past the champagne was once replaced with a good English Cider, but I don't think I have ever not seen the toast.  Nevertheless, now it was time to race for the victory of the final stage of the Tour.  I was unable to identify who the Ag2r La Mondiale rider who was just rolling of the front of the peloton, but it is Nielson Powless (EF Pro Cycling) taking over with the pace making and Christoph Laporte (Cofidis) waiting to do his part to get a break away established.  While there are many iconic images of Paris, this is the one that is Paris and the Tour de France.  Every year the Champs Elysees plays host to the final stage, and everyone in the peloton is thrilled to have made it to the end of the Tour.  Many hope to achieve the rare feet of making a break stick for the stage, but it rarely succeeds.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3705808-141-282744/Painting/time-to-start-racing-tdf20-133.html

Tour, Final Stage, The Art of Cycling

 Rigoberto Uran (EFPro Cycling) wanted to make sure his teammates, TeJay van Garderen and Hugh Carthy were taking in the beauty of the moment they were experience as they road across the plaza at the Louvre.  The art that resides past the entrance within the glass pyramids designed by Pei, is some of the most important artworks in the world.  As the peloton rounds the corner ahead, they will allow UAE-Team Emirates and Tadej Pogacar to have a promenade onto the Champs Elysees before the race for the final sprint begins.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3705777-140-282744/Painting/the-art-of-cycling-tddf20-132.html

Tour. Final Stage: Faux Sprint

 The final day of the Tour is a chance for a little levity, relaxation, and a time to chat with everyone you have been racing against for the last 20 days.  As of the modern era, it is traditional that the only leader's jersey that is still competitive is the Sprinter's Jersey.  The rest of the jersey are decided the day before.  Coincidentally, it was Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates) who claimed all three of the other jerseys in the penultimate stage of the Tour.  Today, the course featured one catagory four climb, awarding one point in the competition for the Maillot a Pois.  As Clement Russo (Arkea-Samsic) just rode over the line, his teammate Warren Barguil fake a sprint to steal the points at the top of the Cote de Beulle.  Naturally, none of this would have effected the desitination of the Maillot a Pois regardless, but it was to see a little fun and games after such a hard fought Tour unders such trying circumstances.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3705721-139-282744/Painting/faux-sprint-tdf20-131.html

Tour, Final Stage: These Two!

 After the required team group photo ahead of the start of the race, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) went forward to salute his countryman and final winner of the Miallot Jaune, Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates).  It is to Roglic's credit that he did not seemingly hold any animosity to Pogacar for out riding him on the final competitive stage of the Tour.  In fact, he hugged Pogacar shortly after finishing the Time Trial that lost him the Maillot Jaune.  Not only did Pogocar win the Miallot Juane, but he also won the Maillot Blanc of best young rider (he doesn't turn 22 until tomorrow) but his time trial ride also earned him the Maillot a Pois.  I leave it to others smarter than I do figure out the last time this has happened, I don't believe even the great Eddy Merckx did even pull off winning these three jerseys.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3705496-138-282744/Painting/these-two.html

Tour, Stage 20: Surmounting His Final Challenge!

 Since I have been painting the Tour, and the decades I've been watching and reading abou the Grand Bouclee, I don't remember the Maillot Jaune changing hands on the penultimate stage of the Tour.  Nor do I remember anyone holding the Maillot Jaune, the Maillot a Blanc and the Maillot a Pois as the race comes into Paris.  I believe that only Eddy Merckx has won three jerseys in a single Tour, those were the Yellow, Polka Dot and Green.  As far as I know he never won a best young rider's jersey. Yet, that is eactly what has happen in this moment of the painting, as Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) creasted the final climb, he was set to claim the stage, the Maillot Jaune, keep his Maillot Blanc, and his final climb also let him claim the Maillot a Pois!

Many of you may know that I have been finishing up painting the Tour from a hospital room.  On the 16th of September I donate a kidney in a paired exchange, which provided a kidney transplant for my wife.  While I was watch the time trial the nurses came and took my vitals and my heart rate was way high, 110bpm.  They left the room concerned, as was I, until I realized I was just really excited about Pogacar's time trial.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3704479-137-282744/Painting/surmounting-his-final-challenge-tdf20-129.html

Tour, Stage 20: Riding on to the Podium

 Richie Porte's (Trek-Segafredo) wife had a baby right at the start of the Tour de France, according to the press she wanted him to go and ride the Tour.  Porte has felt that this was his last chance to ride the Tour has a team leader, in fact he has official said he will not do so again.  According to the press again, all he wants is to photograph on the Champs Elysees standing on the podium.  His third place in today's time trial ensure that his desire was going to be his reality.  He stormed around the course going so far as to pass his two minute man, Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) and to gain enough time to over take Miquel Angel Lopez (Astana) who had started the day third on the general classification.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3704450-136-282744/Painting/riding-on-to-the-podium-tdf20-128.html

Tour, Stage 20: Flying into Town

 Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) road a storming ride around the only time trial course for this Tour de France.  As he crossed the line in La Planche des Belles Filles he posted the fastest time thus far.  He was later only topped by the winner of the stage and the guy who will win the Tour de France in Paris.  It is tradition to not attack the Maillot Juane, but to honor the jersey on the final day of the stage.  All of the other jerseys and the final sprint are all full on racing once the peloton puts its wheels onto the cobbles of the Champs Elysees.  It was wonderful to se Dumoulin showing his true form on the last day of flat out racing in this Tour.  At the end of the day the Team of Jumbo-Visma held the three of the top five placings on a truly hard individual time trial.  Thus laying to rest any doubt who was the strongest team in the race.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at www.greigleach.com, or you can simply follow th edirect link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above.  Since ti is an original work of art, it is a first come first seved reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburth watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour-de-France-2020/3704449-135-282744/Painting/flying-into-town-tdf20-127.html