The last day

VeloClub- live TV show held after each stage. Pantani speaks no French. An Italian girl came out of the audience to translate for him

Place de la Concorde- souvenir central!

Friday, 7/31
Do You Work Here?

After a morning of touring the historic old section of Beaune, today's ride finishes on the last 70K of the Tour stage into Autun.  The roads pass through an oenophile’s dream cue sheet- Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet.  We ride with two local French  racers for a while and then five of us are off the front at the Cat. 4
Cote de Changey.  We've decided to ride together to the 1K banner and then have a go at the big sprint finish.  The roads are just too busy with Tour preparations and we all get put off the route by the gendarme at the 150 meter line.

 It's a quick change on the bus and off to the café for beer and wood-fired pizza before the stage finish.  Spotting a marquee along Lac Vallon, we slip in the back and help ourselves to a buffet spread and plenty of vin rouge at a press reception put on by Crédit Agricole and
the local beef producers.  Attempting to infiltrate the VIP finish area, I'm stopped by a gendarme.  While we're talking, Alex has taken the opportunity to walk past into the finish area.  Not to be outdone, I
follow the fence line until I find a place to squeeze through in a hedgerow.  Now it's time to disappear for awhile.  We chat with the ESPN guys, then sit in with a Spanish radio crew and finally find a spot with a TV at the France Info radio truck.  We're minding our own business until Alex speaks to me in English.  Mistake.  The guy sitting across from me asks in French- "Do you work here?" and then motions us away.

We leave before he gets too excited and find a TV van right on the finish line.  We watch the race on TV until the final kilometer and then literally turn around to see Magnus Backstedt win the stage right in front of us.  We put our hard-won knowledge to work and head straight to
the doping control area.  Fighting for room on the fence with my Fuji throwaway, I jostle with Graham Watson and the other pro photographers and reporters, get to touch the maillot jaune of Marco Pantani and then we sit in as part of the audience for Velo Club, the live post-race TV
show.  Once again the bus is nowhere to be found.  We learn about French telecartes and page our tour leader from a hotel to pick us up for the ride back to Beaune.  It works out for the best.  We take some small roads and get to see a bit more of the scenery in the van.  The Burgundy
countryside is beautiful.  Canals and rolling vineyards cover the landscape.  That night, in Beaune, we find a small restaurant in a
cobbled alley for a superb meal of escargots, beef bourginogne and
pitchers of Gamay.

Sunday, 8/2
More Taittinger, Monsieur?

    No better way to see the sights of Paris than from a bike.  Our
guide Philippe Lauraire is a native Parisian and a former domestique for
Stephen Roche at Fagor.  He finished the Tour three times.  He leads us
from Le Castiglione, our hotel in the 1er arrondissement to the
Longchamps circuit in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris’ answer to Central
Park.  The 5K circuit is closed to cars.  The ride heats up to race
pace. Brad gives me a great lead out at 300 meters in our vain attempt
to dust off Philippe.  He rises to the challenge, but he knows we’ve
gone too early.  He laughs and counts off the meters in French as I come
around Brad.  I completely blow up with about 50 meters to go, but
Philippe’s a true professional and eases off to let me cross the line.
He’s obviously thinking about those tips later in the week!

    The ride up the Champs Elysees is memorable for the views and for
the surprise of discovering it’s cobbled!  We ride under the Eiffel
Tower, around Notre Dame on the Ile de Cité, past the Louvre and then
through the famous tunnel on to the Rue de Rivoli past the giant Ferris
wheel.  We meet Phil Liggett and get our pictures taken on the finish
line.  The champagne is flowing freely at the Hotel Crillon on our
balcony suite right on the Place de la Concorde.  There's a big screen
TV in the suite so we can follow the early parts of the last stage.  The
peloton arrives in Paris at 3:30 for ten laps of fast-paced action.
These are the world’s best riders in a criterium unlike any other.  I
wiggle my way down onto the 300 meter line to see the last five laps.
Mapei gets their 5th stage win as Tafi and Zanini place Steels perfectly
for the win.  Frankie Andreu comes up to our suite for a little
post-stage chat.  Afterwards, we head down to the team area for the
ultimate souvenirs- Mercatone Uno bib shorts and I get Bart Leysen’s
Mapei wind vest- Tour worn!  Next it’s time for a quick cameo on
Eurosport and ABC Sports when I get up close with Greg Lemond
congratulating Bobby Julich on his third-place finish.  The riders mill
around for awhile, signing autographs, and then the Tour is over.
Podium presentations and victory laps follow for the lucky few.  An
American on the podium and a great win by Pantani, despite all the
scandals.  Ullrich will surely be back.  Later that night, we wrap up
the day with a private showing of James Startt’s Tour photography at a
private showing in a gallery in the Marais.  Just across the bridge at
Le Lumiere, a brasserie on the Ile St. Louis, we toast the winners and
share a last dinner with our tour group. Vive le Tour!