Race Report: Skoda Tour de Luxembourg Prologue Stage

If you're living outside of Luxembourg or you only follow the "big" races, you may not know about the Tour of Luxembourg.  Well, just like Luxembourg is a country and (for the millionth time) not a part of Germany, there's also a Tour of Luxembourg.  It's a five day stage race through the country, from town to town, just about a month before the mother of all tours.  It's a 2.HC race, so you're not going to see many big names or a very large peloton.  The teams range from UCI ProTour, Pro Continental, and Continental.  Regional teams from the National Federation of Luxembourg also compete.  This year 16 teams registered providing 126 riders from 24 different countries.  With Radioshack Nissan Trek being based here, they have the most recognizable roster with Frank Schleck, Voigt, Monfort, Rast, Fuglsang, Kloden, Gerdemann, and Didier.

Yesterdays Time Trial stage took place in the center of Luxembourg City beginning just around the corner from one of the main squares, Place Guillaume, and concluded at the square after about a 2.7km loop over, down and back up through the city.  We took the train in the morning to have plenty of time to orient ourselves and hang out before the festivities began at 6:30pm.  By the way, is there a better view from a train?

We puttered around the city and then settled down at a cafe to watch the set up.

Every race needs a hot air balloon.

FYI, they take parking violations very seriously here.  If you stay parked in a spot after they close the area, don't expect them to work around you:

They'll just pick it up and take it outta there.

Well, at seven, the first rider took off from the start.  We lined up after the finish line and planned to stick around until Jens Voigt crossed the line before we had to head to a previous engagement.  I managed to get some shots of the cyclists as they crossed the line.  It was very cool to see the emotion, pain, an relief on many of their faces.  Next time, I'd like to watch from the start to capture those feelings.  But, you can't be in two places at once.

Some of them looked like they just rode around the block, unfazed. 

Some were completely spent.

Some couldn't wait to check that clock.

We did see Voigt cross the line.  What a face, right?

Of course, the man to beat was Jimmy Engoulvent, with a time of 3:43.

He shouted a resounding "Yes!" as he passed by.  He was only the 29th rider to start, and little did we know that we were witnessing the winner cross the line.

The race ends on Sunday back in Luxembourg City.  All hopes are riding on a Luxembourger taking the GC or at least a member of RSNT, eh hem, digging the team out of the hole a bit with some stage wins and perhaps the overall first.  Rast currently sits in 2nd after the time trial.

We won't be spectating again until the weekend.  Sunday we will be participating in the VIP festivities just for the heck of it.  Saturday we plan to watch from some point along the Eschweiler-Differdange course.  Check back for more on the Tour de Luxembourg.  At this point I will say that attending one of these smaller races is really enjoyable.  The chances of rubbing shoulders with some pro riders and getting close to mechanics, etc increases.  I nearly tripped over a Europcar rider making some derailleur adjustments in the crowd after his run and I waited in line for the WC with Martine Schleck (of course, I didn't know this until someone pointed it out later).  The atmosphere is electric but not on the level that may intimidate first time spectators.  Of course, it is a national event here and I'm grateful to take part over the next three years.  Also, like it is for the cyclists themselves, attending this type of race is a good warm up for the Tour de France.

For live video check out this link from 16:20-17:50 CET on May 31.  For more pictures you can visit my Flickr stream later today or visit RTL.lux.