Rayden's Photo Events - A day at the races

[Rayden]

I don't know if there is in here any cycling fan, but I am, and today was my day off, so, I took the chance to go and see the final stage of the Tour of the Algarve (192 riders) almost as much as in the Grand Tours like Giro, Tour or Vuelta.

Alessandro Petacchi has won a stage again here in the Algarve, the third consecutive and won the tour. I went to the Monchique area at the end of a 3rd category climb where I could take some photos and then rushed down to the finish line to see the arrival. Here is some of those photos.

A group of 5 fugitives that in here had about 5 minutes advantage to the peloton (halfway to the finish line).


















This one is not mine and it was taken at 400 meters to the finish line.


Here is a movie of the finish, that was the best I could do, as too much people prevented me to take a picture instead.
[size=14]Movie[/size] 8MB (right-click and save as - mpg file)

Here is some photos of the podium

Petacchi - Stage winner




Tiago Machado - Youth jersey




Philipe Gilbert - Combined jersey


Roy Sentjens - Intermediary sprints jersey


Petacchi - Points jersey




Wim Van Huffel - Mountain jersey


Tomas Vaitkus - 3rd Position


René Haselbacher - 2nd Position


Petacchi - 1st Position - Yeallow Jersey


The winners




The winning bike


That's all from the land of the sun --8)

[Couchpotato]

Great pictures.  Thanks.   My husband and I are avid bike fans.   Greg LeMond grew up about 10 miles from our house
and we watched him in his early career.   We love watching the Tour de France and Barby (who lives in Brittany), is
kind enough to send me items from the race.  While we can see great coverage of the Tour de France, our coverage of
others races is slim.      Too bad, I would love to see the Tour of Italy. 

We have some races over here around Lake Tahoe.   It's around 60-80 miles and up and down the mountain into Lake Tahoe.
My husband raced it when he was 60 and finished in the middle of the pack.   

And a HUGE thanks for the bike picture.  I think all bike fans are equipment fans.  LOLOL

[BarbyW]

Great pics, Rayden.  Thanks a lot. My husband was delighted to see them too. As Couchpotato said we are avid TdF watchers and have been for years. Always try to see a stage if possible now we live in France. This year's won't be good as they do the clockwise tour and miss Brittany altogether but 2008 has the first four days in Brittany including two days very close to us. So next year I hope to have plenty of pics from here.
Thanks again.

[Rayden]

You're welcome girls, me too, I am a good fan of it. Every time I have a chance, I go and watch the races live, when  not possible, Eurosport it's my choice, at least for the ProTour races. Btw, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico are nearly there, and one of them, most likely Paris-Nice, will be shown live everyday at Eurosport. For the ones with Satelite TV, Rai Due will certainly show Tirreno-Adriatico, and there's also a German channel that usually shows a lot of cycling races, specially one day races, that also are almost starting. Can't remember exactly each one is, maybe RTL or ARD. I'll keep you girls informed when I find out

[BarbyW]

Thanks, Rayden. We have Eurosport and try to watch whatever is on. This weekend it has mainly been the indoor cycling from Manchester. Good cycling but track is not the same.

[Couchpotato]

Double thanks Rayden.   After seeing your photos, we looked up the Tour of California, which ended today, and were able to
see the final half hour of the race.   It was interesting to see the shakeup with new/old teams.   

Clockwise tour Barby?   Does that mean the mountains are at the start?       Hope not.  Looking forward to 2008 now. 

Looking forward to any pics you post Rayden     Especially those elusive shots of bikes.   

[Vandy]

Hi, Rayden.

Welcome to Memories Frozen In Time.  I very glad to read that you've opened a thread here in The Artist's Place.  I look forward to your continued posting and sharing of your great pictures.

I am very impressed with your pictures of the bike race.  I've always enjoyed action / sports photographs and yours certainly should be counted among the great ones.

Thanks for sharing these excellent pictures.

Regards,

Gary

[Rayden]

Thanks Vandy, I'll be posting some more I have from last year's races, and I have a friend that also goes regularly to those races and usually sends me some photos.

[meldolion]

ehmmmmm

http://rayden.zftp.com/images/valgarve07/DSC00546.jpg


not to be malitious...... but what the brunette is looking at?? 

[Rayden]

ehmmmmm

http://rayden.zftp.com/images/valgarve07/DSC00546.jpg


not to be malitious...... but what the brunette is looking at?? 

Perhaps looking at his stamp, figure...

[FromTheAshes]

I've asked me the same question when I saw it