An Extremely Long Race Report: Tour de Lux Stages 3 & 4

As promised, here is how things went this weekend during the last half of the Tour de Lux.  There were good times, there were bad times, there was cheering, and there was gnashing of teeth.  Now that it's all over, I'm not quite sure how I feel about the Skoda Tour de Lux, but I can't say we didn't have fun.

We didn't attend nor watch Stage 1 or 2, due to schedule conflicts and a total failure of live streaming on the PC.  However, from what I was able to piece together from Twitter, the first half had its moments of excitement, mostly stemming from mad attacks by dear old Jens Voigt and successive sprint victories by Andre Greipel.  By Saturday, the GC yellow jersey was still in the possession of time trial winner Jimmy Engoulvent with Gregory Rast of RSNT lurking in second.  Greipel had a firm grip on the blue "Loterie Nationale" points jersey.

Saturday's stage promised to the deciding stage of the mini tour, with the course starting way up in Eschweiler (Wiltz) and ending way down in Differdange, a route of about 205.5km (127.6mi).  They would be tackling 5 climbs; one they would do twice, the Col d'Europe.  One of the Cat 1 climbs is Bourscheid, near one of Luxembourg's most beautiful castles of the same name.

Bourscheid is about a 10 or so minute drive from our house, so we decided to watch the guys go by from this point.  We hadn't seen a climb before and were looking forward to hanging out with some locals and seeing the race from that perspective.  The race was due to run through about 2:45pm so we took our places at about 2pm on the wall near the crest of the climb.

Before long, townspeople, cycle clubs, amateurs decked out in their souvenir team kits, 9 year olds on bikes more expensive than my old Jeep, and a bunch of other folks joined us.

Some were more excited than others.

Lycra everywhere!

 This fellow thought that the momentous occasion warranted a ride on his very special time trial/tri bike:

Heh.

Before too long the Skoda volunteers laid down the tape for the GPM.

When the hill was nice and congested, the course car soon appeared at the bottom of our view hailing that the break away group was just behind.

Albert Timmer leads the way.

Shortly thereafter came the peloton being lead steadily by RSNT, determined to win the team classification on their home turf and regain a little honor.

Just in case you missed it, let me point out that excellent tongue action being pulled off by, I believe, Linus Gerdemann, last years winner.

After RSNT charged by,

The rest of the group came through, slightly fractured on the climb.

This was Sky's Alex Dowsett's first race after recovering from an elbow injury.

Jimmy Engoulvent, in the yellow, lagged behind the main group as he reached the top.

 

Last, of course, came the old Broom Wagon, signaling the end of the course.

So, that was that for Stage 3.  By the end of this lengthy day, Jakob Fuglsang (RSNT) had taken the yellow and home favorite, Frank Schleck sat in third.  Though our moment watching the race was brief, it turned out to be the most fun we'd have at the Tour de Luxembourg.  Nothing really beats sitting on hillside with a beautiful view and all the other spectators.  I can see why the infamous climbs in the Tour de France garner such devotion from fans.  Nothing really beats a climb for a front row seat.

Ok, now for Sunday and the last day of the tour.

Sigh.  Where to begin...

Somewhere up in the lofty (I imagine them to be lofty, at least) transportation bureau offices someone decided that Sunday would be the perfect day to close down the north and southbound rail lines on the north side of the city.  Luxembourg's public transit system already has, uh, issues with late trains and buses and poor communication.  Add to that some massive reroutes and you have more confusion than usual.  Plus, yesterday's race meant people would actually be using the trains on Sunday afternoon, as opposed to usual.  So, those of us coming from the northern half of the country all had to disembark the train in Dommeldange and take the buses into the city.  No big deal, you say?  Well, as I said Luxembourg has issues with this sort of thing.  So, that meant overcrowded buses, later than usual buses, and, just to make it extra fun, no indication anywhere of what you were supposed to do if you had to leave the city and return north.  If I didn't know better, I would think this is the first time they'd ever worked on the rail lines before.

Anyway, enough for now on the transportation headaches.  We did arrive unscathed at Place de la Constitution for the finish in plenty of time before they would arrive.  They were going to do seven laps around the city before the finish so yesterday promised to be extra interesting.  Also, and I was quite pleased about this, we had managed to purchase some VIP tickets (which by the way, is about as easy as getting into the city when the trains aren't running) that promised, according to the website, to provide us with extra enjoyment like chairs, a buffet, beverages, an entertainment program, and a nice place to "follow the race."  They also had tents in the VIP area which was an excellent thing since a monsoon had settled over the city.

Ok, it doesn't look like a monsoon at the moment, but it was a monsoon.

Now, was that picture taken from the shelter of our lovely VIP tent?  No.  At that time, we were huddled under the Asport display tent with a RSNT mannequin.  Why?  Because they hadn't opened the VIP area and wouldn't be opening it until 1:15pm (the race ends at 3pm), so everyone else gripping their far from cheap VIP tickets were crammed like sardines under the itty bitty entry tent (much like the UNICEF one in the picture).  Not only were all these poor suckers forced to huddle together, but they were constantly subjected to tramplings from Skoda volunteers, news reps, podium girls and whoever else was allowed access to the precious tented area ahead of time.  I thought, "For sure, the people at the entrance will see the plight of all these waterlogged people and they'll let them in out of the weather."  I mean, these tickets were expensive and should allow us the benefit of a tent, even if they hadn't pulled the wine out of the coolers yet.  I didn't even want the wine.  It was chilled white wine, not exactly something that would help us warm up.  So, did they open it?  Of course not.  In fact, they opened the area 15mins late!  By that point we had joined everyone else under that tent to watch with horror people from inside the tents (Skoda volunteers, news reps, podium girls, etc.) passing extra VIP tickets out to their friends through the barriers.  As far as I could see, these friends weren't passing money back through.

Hurmph!  By now, my internal "Intense-Rage-Doth-Boil-Over" sensor was flashing and steam was coming out of my ears.  Finally, FINALLY, they started letting us in, and I'm afraid I gave the woman passing out the wrist bands a very black look.  Sorry lady, but you were laughing under your nice little tent with a beverage watching all of us suckers getting soaked right through our rain gear as we waited with the promise that this would all be worth it.  As we entered the tent, the first cyclist, Jurgen Roelandts making a heart filled solo break, was due to pass by at any second.  We hoped that we'd at least get a good spot from inside so watch the action.  It was then we realized that having a VIP ticket meant absolutely nothing.  All the seats near the line had already been claimed by those people who had been allowed in and out while we were waiting (Skoda volunteers, news reps, podium girls, sponsor reps).  There was no where left for the rest of us to sit, let alone stand, with any hope of actually watching the race!  The left over chairs were at the buffet area, and as my husband and I stood assessing the situation, some Wort Newspaper guy came through, stacked them all up and took them away, presumably for the little party he and his cronies were having at the line THAT THEY DIDN'T PAY FOR!

How was the buffet, you ask?  Well, if there was hot food in there, I didn't see it.  Only fruit and veggie trays to accompany your cold wine, beer, and (randomly) orange juice.  Any cool VIP ticket worthy swag?  Nope, just some cow bells that anyone could get on the street and day old newspapers.  Through the bars of our VIP cage, I spotted a sandwich truck selling beer and hot sausage sandwiches to the smart people outside...

So, by now I was livid.  There were no chairs, the food they provided didn't warrant anything near the price we paid, and we were further from the line than everyone else who hadn't paid a stinking thing!  Clearly, we had been mislead.

Excuse me while I compose myself for a second.  Deep breaths, deep breaths.

So, my switch was flipped (as my Twitter followers probably noticed.  Sorry, guys).  There was no way I was going to stand in there, a sucker to The Man, and miss that race that we had gone through so much trouble to get to.  In not my most mature moment, I stormed out, took that wrist band off, slid behind the barriers and the team vans, hopped power cords, with my husband following behind clutching our sad and singular Enovos cowbell.

Catching a peek in the RSNT truck while we were at it.

We found a lovely spot just next to the VIP barrier, right at the front with a clear view of the action.

The arrow shows where we had paid to stand

This is where we ended up.

The spot was successfully claimed and before long we had two 3€ sandwiches and two 1.50€ cups of beer, much cheaper than those lousy bananas in the VIP tent.  With that behind us, though we were both still miffed we had been played by the Skoda organizers and basically fell for a scam, it was time to enjoy the race.

Jurgen Roelandts soloed ahead by the time they had started the seven laps through the city.  He would stay there for the rest of the race.

Is it me, or does Laurent Didier always look extremely uncomfortable?

Andre Greipel in the blue points jersey and Jakob Fuglsang in yellow.

Around and around they went.  The peloton dropped to 52 riders as many decided to abandon after the organizers capped the GC standing at the first lap because of the extreme conditions.  So, the jerseys had been decided.  Fuglsang would keep the yellow for the home team, Greipel (Lotto) would keep the points jersey, Albert Timmer (Argos) would get the climbers jersey,  and Wout Poels (Vacansoleil) would get the white juniors jersey.  All that remained was to see who would win the stage, but after Roelandts blew away from his break group early on, there wouldn't be much of a competition at the line.  In fact, they went around so many times it started to get a little confusing.  Unlike the time trial, no one was announcing in English.  The official tweets were sporadic so even though we were standing right there, I still had to look at Twitter to hear the latest from those watching the feed online.  Apparently that wasn't much better either, with some of it coming from a fixed camera often obscured by a flag.  My husband kept good count of the laps, though.  It was only when the course car lapped the broom wagon that we were thoroughly perplexed.  Just as we left to get closer to the stage and see the final lap, a Sky rider tossed his energy bar wrapper, which blew and stuck to my boot, becoming an unintentional souvenir.

Didn't realize I captured the "toss" until I went through the pictures today.

We did change locations, just as Roelandts crossed the line to be received by Lotto staff.

Then the rest showed up, including the overall winner, Jakob Fuglsang.

All that was left of the 2012 Tour de Luxembourg was the podium ceremony.  Much to pain of the bystanders, the ceremony began with this guy and his saxophone, played to soundtracks on his iPod.  It also included a giant RSNT fan's flag with a Tango balloon he added to make his presence even more obnoxious.  At one point, Flag Boy dropped his enormous Nikon camera and there was much snickering from those around me, who were quite frustrated by the obstruction he smugly brandished before us.

I think maybe five people clapped after the "entertainment" ended.  Poor fella.

Anyway, first off is Roelandt's, who they kept dragging back on the stage to receive prizes, instead of just awarding them all at the same time.

Now it was time to award the team classification to RSNT, who was in desperate need of something like this all season.

Thanks to Flag Boy, I had to get two shots of the team.  First half:  Frank Schleck and Jens Voigt

And the rest: Maxime Monfort, Jakob Fuglsang, Gregory Rast, and Laurent Didier. I have no idea where Kloden and Gerdemann wandered off to.

At this point, I moved again to find some vantage point that didn't feature The Flag.

 Unfortunately, now I was dodging a Skoda flag and there was the ever present Pista Cyclable sign to deal with.  Oh well, such was the day.

Wouter Poels with the Juniors Jersey

Albert Timmer with the climber's jersey.

Andre "No Smiles" Greipel and his points jersey.

The GC Podium: 1-Fuglsang, 2-Poels, and 3- Schleck

Obligatory champagne spraying.

There you have it.  That was the last half of Tour de Luxembourg 2012.  We were cold and wet, but mostly happy.  I was pleased we did see most of the race from a good location in the end, but still pretty ticked we had thrown money away on those ridiculous VIP tickets.

No matter!  Nothing a hot shower and a hot drink couldn't fix.  And, you don't know until you try.

But, our fun wasn't over yet!  Now we had to figure out how to get home.  They hadn't updated the online train/bus schedule so getting back to the station at the same time there would be a bus to take us to Dommeldange station was a crap shoot.

We arrived at the train station to learn that the bus running to Dommeldange wouldn't come for another half hour.  It was raining again, and after standing in the rain all afternoon, we decided to find something else.  There was a bus to Diekirch (next town north of us) that passed through Dommeldange, so we opted for that and hopped on.  As we approached Dommeldange, my husband hit the button to request the stop.  But....the driver didn't feel like stopping until we were two stops beyond the town center.  We ended up in front of a hotel where some of the teams were staying and in the process of hosing off bikes and stuff.

Thanks to the driver, we had a half hour walk back to the town to get the train.  Lovely.  We made it, colder and wetter than before.  A train sat at the north bound tracks, not labelled as usual, so we asked the conductor if it went to Ettlebruck.  Yes it did.  So, we boarded.  Fifteen minutes later we were still sitting there and the conductor came in to tell us that this train wasn't leaving for another 45 minutes.  Well, sir, you could have told us that fifteen minutes ago.  Thankfully, another train showed up just as we disembarked and we ran to catch it.  Yeah... it didn't leave for another 10 minutes.  Finally, we made it home, about 1.5 hours after we began the journey.  Just so you know, that is the amount of time it takes to drive from one end of Luxembourg to the other.  Perhaps it was one of those times that taking the car would have made more sense.

What an adventure!  But, despite the hassle and headaches, I still love going to the races.

This was the first stage race we've attended and we learned a lot.  First of all, Time Trials are more fun in person than on TV, if you're a fan of cycling.  For everyone else they can get boring, I suppose.  Number two, watching a climb does live up to the hype and is the best place to watch a stage.  Thirdly, don't be afraid of a little weather, and dress accordingly.  Fourthly, if you want to get autographs the best time to do so is before an early stage when the weather is good, not a time trial (they're too into "the zone" to bother with you) or after a stage (they're too tired to bother with you).  Lastly, don't bother with VIP tickets unless you can afford the really fancy ride along ones.  That was a total waste of money.

As to the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg itself, I have some mixed feelings.  I know one of the biggest complaints in the Pro Tour is poor organization of races.  You would think that these being some of the oldest sporting events in the world, they would have them figured out by now.  This being a small tour, it seemed to be hampered by even more confusion.  The website, the one spot fans have for information, was poorly organized and slow to be updated.  The set up of the race itself left much to be desired.  Why, for example, did they have the finish in the middle of FDR (Yes, as in Franklin D. Roosevelt), a major road, with barely any space for tents and spectators when a perfectly nice square was a block away?  That would have been far more conducive for the podium instead of the sidewalk.  Why isn't there better coverage?  There were camera crews everywhere, but you could only watch the race on the website, a website that didn't work very well to begin with.  Why was there so much confusion on what was going on during the last stage.  And, don't get me started on those "VIP" tickets again.  Of course, the advantage of a small race like this is that you can get closer than you necessarily would at the big ones.  You're much more likely to rub some elbows and get good pictures without a press pass.  When it comes to next year, we'll know how to do it right, that's for sure.  I may even have a better camera by then.  Of course, we will be back, because it was great fun to attend and the chance to go to multiple stages of a Tour from your front door isn't an opportunity one passes up.

The next race on our calendar is, of course, the Tour de France.  I now have a much better understanding of what to expect and feel that we will use what we learned to really enjoy the mother of all bike races!

Until next time, pedal safe.