Rocher Baron, Tour de France, Casset

Chloe and I were supposed to climb the Aiguillette du Lauzet today, but when we arrived at Pont de l'alpe, it was snowing a little bit! Not wanting to freeze to death, we opted instead for sunny single pitch climbing at a crag called Rocher Baron (just south of Briancon). When we arrived, I noticed that some barriers were being set up, and there were cycling fans everywhere. It turned out that a small French cycling race called the Tour de France was about to come through! I had no idea that the stage came so close to Briancon, but we managed to inadvertently stumble upon the hill preceding the Montgenevre climb! This is the third time I have managed such a feat (the first two were for the paris stages of the 1991 and 2003 TdFs). We did some nice climbs (Titeuf, Eau Secours, Pas de bile, J'en reve encore, Je n'ai qu'une seule vie, Derniere danse) on excellent rock before heading back down the road to watch the tour. A small escape had formed, and we got to see Voeckler in yellow, with Europcar doing work at the front of the peloton.





THOR!

We got down just in time for the riders, so we missed the usual "pre-game show" of cars shaped like pigs etc. I did notice that instead of the just the usual gendarmes, there were also italian police (in BMWs, not Fiats!) because the stage ended in Italy. The road was supposed to be closed until 4 PM, but they opened it at 2:30, so we went back to the chalet for a walk to le Casset with the crew