Category: Cycling

As mentioned in this latest blog post series, I headed over to the start of the 2015 Tour de France to capture the first four stages. Having juggled with the idea of renting a car, I finally decided to cycle the first weekend, covering 700km in the process. My journey began in Germany where I then cycled 200km to the start line in the Dutch city of Utrecht (stage 1). The following day was a similar day on the bike for me (stage 2), before I made the final push down to Antwerp for the start of Stage 3.Fatigued from three big days, I jumped on a train after leaving Antwerp and headed for the French border. Stage 4 would be my final stage of the Tour and arguably the most anticipated, for it would career along pavé sectors, through farmers fields along the route. Pavé, or cobbled stones, had featured in the 2014 edition with wet weather making the stage a deciding factor for many of the hopeful winners. The cyclists were praying for an uneventful stage this year, or at the very least a dry one.Having all of my belongings stored at a nearby campsite, I set of on the route myself hoping to cycle these famous lanes. Despite the initial adrenaline rush, these roads are pretty awful. Your bones rattle along for many kms, with you silently praying for no punctures or mechanical issues.  It’s always a colourful stage of the Tour and below is a few images from the day.With torrential rain descending directly after the days finish, this marked the end of my four days on the Tour. The pavé seemed a good place to bow out so I jumped on a train South the following morning. I’ve been pushing a lot for the barriers between athlete and documenter to break down with some of my running work and I feel that this weekend briefly touched on the same idea with cycling. Of course, the Tour riders are in a completely different league to myself but The 700kms that I pedalled meant that I really worked for these shots.    

The third stage of the 2015 Tour de France started in the Belgium city of Antwerp. Renowned for it’s control over the diamond market, I was actually surprised to see quite a fun looking city. The two previous stages (stage 1, stage 2) had taken their toll on not just the riders, but also myself. I’d cycled just under 400km the previous two days, so was happy to wake up to a small 45km morning ride to get myself over to Antwerp. Rather than trying to capture any of the action on this long stage, I opted for photographing just the sign in zone with the yellow jersey, before jumping on a train towards the French border for the next days much anticipated pavé.The yellow jersey was on the back of Swiss legend Fabian Cancellara, after a strong ride in the cross winds from the previous stage. It was all smiles as he departed his bus, proudly displaying the jersey to the awaiting fans and media. Little did he know what the day was to have in store for him and the rest of the peloton. A horrific, high speed crash was to unleash havoc during the stage, with him crashing badly, breaking two vertebrae in his back in the process. This crash would of course lead to his departure from the race and a trip to hospital.Thats the nature of road cycling. From elation to despair in a matter of a stage.  Check out the stage 1 and stage 2 here.   

As I mentioned in my previous post, I made the journey up to Holland for the start of the 2015 Tour de France. Instead of driving, I chose to travel those four days on a road bike. The first stage in Utrecht proved to be a long one, with almost 200kms having to be peddled in the morning just to reach the city. On this second stage I was determined to follow the tour route as closely as possible, to get myself somewhere near the finish along the North Sea coastline.Unfortunately the coastline proved to be as inhospitable as you’d expect, with the Tour de France peloton being torn to pieces later in the day. As a lone rider, things were not looking good as I battled against an out of this world crosswind. With all of my electronic navigation devices completely out of batteries and my only map drenched by rain, I decided to catch the Tour just as it entered Stellendam, which allowed me to make a quick-ish exit on may route down to Antwerp for Stage 3.All in all, it was another big day. 185km cycled, with my final destination still a good 50km away from where I wanted to be. The Dutch city of Bergen Op Zoom provided a good nights rest before my next days transfer to the diamond encrusted Antwerp. Check out the previous stage.

The 2015 Tour de France rolled around and I headed up to Holland to cover the the opening weekend. Despite having a full credentialed car pass for the race, I made the decision to travel by bike for the first four stages. Carrying everything I needed strapped to my bike in a makeshift fashion, I ventured off for a 700km pedal around the flatlands of Europe.First stop was the Grand Départ, which fell the the Dutch city of Utrecht this time around. Having to cycle 200km in the morning to get to the city itself, I found myself pretty shattered by the time I’d made it to the course. The city was packed with thousands of people lining the streets and getting around by bike proved to be quite the challenge. I was able to get into the warm up area and capture some images of the riders warm up, before checking out some of the city and grabbing some food. The aftermath of the race around the course proved just as interesting as the action itself, with the leftover rubbish showing that the Dutch know how to party.Travelling by bike meant that the evenings rest was short. I spent the night in Utrecht before following the route of stage two out through Rotterdam and onto the coastline of the North Sea with the intention to make it to Antwerp by nightfall.  Check out images from stage two.