Yes indeed, here we are, meh hearties, on Tour in the lovely district of Champagne in northeast France! Epernay is one of the primary towns in the Champagne area, along with Reims and Ay. I hope to visit all three someday!
Of course, in honor of the Tour travelling through these scenic chalky lands, I’m enjoying the epic 2002 Bollinger Grand Anne! Sooooo yumm!
It smells rich and complex on the nose, with the characteristic aged wood and aged bread dough and yeast, with lovely, rich, complexed aged bread, bread dough, and yeast on tongue, with a bright band of tart green grape and apple flavors with a splash of crisp and bright yet aged citrus. This Champagne also has the trademarks of a fine Champagne with complex flavors woven throughout, small persistent bubbles that do not overwhelm, and a finish that drops off as one swallows it and seems to evaporate from one’s mouth. Simply an amazing beverage!!!!
Yes, after drinking a bit of it, the wonderful persistent acidity makes meh wonder, “How can I drink Champagne without eating my fromage?” This is a true food Champagne! Fermented in aged wood barrels, giving the resulting beverage more concentration and complexity. Oh mys, I just detected a hint of the sort of agedness that indicates that is time to drink this Champagne before the entire flavor profile turns to agedness. So drink this puppy now tram!!!
As yet another race day begins, everyone wonders if Fabian Canellara will retain the yellow jersey for the 7th day in a row, and who will win the stage today? Canellara? Sagan? Cavandish? Where are you, Cadel Evans dear? And will Mark Cavandish get into yet another accident? He has been getting into crashes every day for several days now!
The TV coverage here begins well outside of Epernay. A bit ago, I saw some beautiful fields of yellow sunflowers as they move eastward towards Metz. The buildings all have red roofs here and slightly darker brown siding.
Awwws, their countryside is their art!!! And this lil blogger loves it and appreciates it! Thank you, Francois peeps!!!! nomnomnomnom!!!!! Champagne, foodz, and fromage for all meh hearties tram!!!!
Oh my, this Champagne goes to one head, as the tour approaches the sprint area. Now the buildings have brighter white sides with the red roofings. It was a close Sagen victory for the sprint after much frantic pedaling. The peloton is now 2.5 minutes behind the leaders as they zip through the narrow traditonal streets a traditional French town!
Now they pedaling uphill in a wooded area with lots of spectators cheering them on! Yays!!!!! Now they are racing downhill and the road has dried out after earlier rains.
Oh noes, a bunch of people crashed up hill and blocked the peloton so now a bunch of riders are waiting around and drinking some water. The peloton is also bunched up in a narrow area with spectators stacked up behind the barriers. Sagen had to have his tires adjusted or something as he cruised along beside one of the team cars while a mechanic made an adjustment.
Now the peloton is getting back together as it cruises downhill and into Woinville, another red-roofed, beige-walled town that they zipped through. The peloton is almost 2 minutes behind now.
Zip zip zip through yet another lil town and an orchard!
One rider gets sprayed by the team doctor in a convertible as they both cruise down the road – LOL!
More treed area as they haul ass eastward tram! A minute behind at 28 miles to go tram!
The Cadel Evans team says that they are more relaxed because their team is stronger overall and that they will come into their own further into the race, and I certainly hope that is true! It’s not so important who is wearing the yellow jersey now as opposed to who is wearing the yellow jersey in Paris, just like last year tram! In this year’s race, perhaps the biggest issue is just staying out of the crashes – LOL!!!!!
Hallos, Peta Todd, beautiful English partner of Mark Cavandish!
Wheees!!! Black and white cows in the field galloping along with the cyclists tram!!!
The canal heads towards the Black Sea as it goes through fields and green countryside. They crossed the Mosel River as it heads to Germany.
Another crash as one rider grabs his leg and several riders need new rear wheels. This happened in the tail of the pack. This is mayhem as riders have gone into the ditches. Oh noes, Frank Schleck can’t find his bike and probably can’t win the Tour now. 25 km to go after this accident.
They speed towards the finish towards Metz with the peloton is just 15 seconds behind the leaders. The roads are narrow. One rider just abandoned as a result of that crash!!!
I just saw a high-speed train, I couldn’t tell if it was the Eurostar, a magnificent passenger train that I have crossed under the English Channel in! Beautiful cars, beautiful train that travels up to 200 mph on the one-piece tracks through France and Europe!
A few riders swung a bit wide around a roundabout during a left-hand turn. The peloton has broken up into two main groups after the big accidents a bit earlier.
The leaders are riding like heck to keep the first group of the peloton at bay. I can see some faces of pain!
They are closing in on the finish! Fast 200 degree turn in Metz! And Team Lotto and Andre Greipel rallied hard at the finish yet Peter Sagen in bright green with overtaken him right at the finish! Nicely done, Peter Sagen!!!! He is meh new favorite to win tomorrow since he’s unstoppable tram!!! Yays!!
Awwws, one of Sharp riders came in over 12 minutes behind the leader with his sleeve scraped off during the crash! It is inspirational that he will ride again another day tram!!!
Fabian Cancellara retains the yellow jersey while some of the crash victims are effectively barred from winning the Tour this year! Oh mys!!! It was Make or Break Time on the Tour today tram!!!!!
Thank you for continuing to following the Tour de Underpants through France in the Drunken Gaming Corner! Haz all the funz meh hearties tram!!!! Wheeees!!!!