Stage 5 and 6: Emotional Sprinters

After handily winning the sprint, Cavendish stood atop the podium in happy tears. One of the things I love about this sport is that it so fires the passions of the riders that from time to time a winner will stand in triumph weeping like a beauty pageant contestant. Cav has that fierce little boy face. Such a sparkplug of a character.

Yesterday's stage started in Epernay, and the team cars rode out over the Boulevard de Champagne, which is over a massive cave housing more than 20k bottles of the stuff. Today they finish in Gueugnon, in Burgundy, a place which is famous for its beef. This is the longest stage of them all this year.

With that nice Charolais beef, made into a Boeuf Bourguignon, I would love to try a bottle of Domaine Armand Rousseau Clos St. Jacques--a nice big Burgundy red. Burgundy, is the part of France the race traverses today. Burgundy was an area that could very easily be its own nation today. It retained its independence from the French crown until the time of Louis XIV. The famous snail dish made with garlic, butter and parsley comes from Burgundy, and here you can find the richest selection of cheeses in France. Lots of overhead shots of rolling pastures and medieval villages. Wine country is always great bike-riding country.

Looks like Team HTC are angling to get Cav another victory as they climb through the rolling hills and forests about 20 miles from the finish line. Go Cav!!!

Vive le Tour! Vive la France!

A demain!

Stage 3 and 4: Bienvenue en France!

Pop the bubbly today, because the boys finish in Reims, the capital of the Champagne region. And here's the place to tell you, if you don't already know, that champagne is not a style of wine, it is a place, so there is no such thing as American, Italian, or German champagne. Champagne is only champagne if it comes from this part of France. Prosecco, which I prefer to champagne, is also only Prosecco if it's from a certain region of Northern Italy. If it's from America and it's fizzy wine, call it sparkling, or spumante. But don't call it champagne or Prosecco. And if you must have champagne, have Veuve Clicquot.

The thing about French wine in general is that it's labeled by the place it's from, not for what is in it. Chateu Neuf de Pape, for example, is from the Pope's new Chateau, in that part of Avignon where the French popes lived in the 1300s. That is when it was "new"—before the Black Plague showed up in Europe. And the French Popes, no dummies, took over a lot of Avignon's booming wine business then. Funny times, the middle ages. You could get rich from salt, from wool, from wine. Anyway, you already have to know what's in certain types of French wine to know what you are getting. Chateau Neuf de Pape is a Rhone-style wine, which means it will have the grape varietals Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah, and possibly other local grapes.

Champagne will typically have Chardonnay grapes, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier grapes. The process of making Champagne is expensive and time-consuming. The French government regulates their wine industry by establishing formulas and procedures. If a wine maker doesn't use these formulas and procedures, they could be sanctioned. Champagne is usually made from grapes of various years, unlike most other French wine. In this region they have wonderful sausage, called "andouillettes," (see above) Ardennes ham and trout. Yummy.

Well, back to cycling. Yesterday I was not happy to see Lance slip backward due to a flat, but I jumped up and down and cheered when he pulled his way back over the cobbles through the dust to finish only 50 seconds behind Contador. This isn't good for him, but the war isn't lost. Contador showed himself to be ready for the cobblestones, over which he had never raced before. Very sorry to see Frank Schleck crash out with a broken collarbone.

Today's stage is much more typical of week one on the tour—lovely rolling hills, fields, grapes, flats. Reading about this region makes me really want to do a bike tour here. Hopefully it will end in a good old sprint and we can finally see what Tyler Farrar, our American sprinter, can do against Mark Cavendish these days. Enough with changes due to bad luck. Let's see skill emerge.

Reims is where French kings have been crowned since the 11th century. Joan of Arc saw her Dauphin crowned here. The Cathedral (above) is called Notre Dame, and it is a particular fine example of the Gothic. The champagne region is also known for its Romanesque timber churches. (See above.) Lovely place.

Still a few miles to go. Stay strong, boys. The Alps are only a few days away!

Vive le Tour!

A demain!

Tiny Bubbles

Another flat-ish stage with a gradual rise might go again to the Manx Missile Mark Cavendish. I just like typing 'Manx Missile'. Or it might go to a breakaway. Tomorrow, the Alpes, so while we're here... What's that popping sound? We're in Champagne! So let's go for some great stuff--Billecart-Salmon NV Brut Rose, Wine Spectator 90-pointer. It's a Rose but it's nice and dry brut-style. You may not know that unless a sparkling wine comes from this specific region of France, it's not actually Champagne--just sparkline wine. Champagnes are blends, and they include some Pinot Noir, which is the chief wine of Burgundy, due south of here.

Let's try this Billecart-Salmon with some strawberries, some rasberries and blueberries, and some fabulous fresh bread, and local cheese, Cendre du Champagne, which is cured in cinders. And now I'm thinking of Cinderella, French castles, and Tyler Farar's Cinderella story. This is the first Tour de France for the Garmin sprinter from Washington, and he's making quite an impression, having been the only sprinter that I've seen this year to beat Cav. Here's to the beauty of this classic gentleman's sport of cycling, and to the richness and variety of local food and wine traditions brought forward into our age.