La Grande Motte --> Montpellier
The fourth stage of the Tour de France was a team time trail event around the city of Montpellier. Our search for sub 50 euro accommodation found us staying quite a bit out of town, so we had to walk a fair distance to get into the action. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and scored big time with all the promotional freebies. If anyone in the Data Services Team is reading this, don't be expecting any fancy memory key gifts like Teddy brought back from China. You'll each be getting your pick from my Tour de France freebies :)
We found what we thought was a good vantage point and settled in for the fun. It wasn't long before we started chatting with two of our neighbours, Jim and Steph from America. We learnt that it had been many years since a team time trials event had been included in the Tour, so true cycling enthusiasts were quite excited. Jim had worked in a cycling shop for years and Steph was in love with Mark Cavendish (a British rider on Team Columbia), so between the two of them Yvonne and I almost had our very own pair of commentators. Which was perfect.
The day was sort of divided into thirds. The first part being spent near the start line, where once again Aussie flags and Bonds singlets were a very common sight. When Cadel Evans passed by we were even treated to an Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... Oi, Oi, Oi :) The second part of the day we perched ourselves literally 2 metres from the finish line. We had the most amazing view of the action and were only a stones throw away from the podium for the end of day presentation.
The third part of the day was spent eating and getting quite drunk with Jim and Steph. We had a great Tapas meal, loads of beer and plenty of wine. Unlike Yvonne and myself, our drinking partners had to be up at 6am to get on a train to Paris. But that didn't stop them from boozing and keeping us company until well past midnight. Steph summed it up by saying, "We've both been to college, so we have lots of practice".It took us about an hour to walk home. We either didn't see a cab in the whole time, or were too drunk to notice. Montpellier had delivered a fantastic day. Beautiful weather, great cycling and fantastic company. Our time chasing the Tour de France was at an end. But I really think we'll have to do it again, because I'd love to see a mountain stage.
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