We’re back in the mountains. The Vosges to be exact. I don’t how how to compare the landscape. It is quite rugged, very green… maybe like the PNW? Not as rainy though. Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering.

There were two stories on the day: 1) Would Pog chase after another stage win following his collapse on the Col de la Loze, and 2) riding his last “real” stage in his Tour de France career would Thibaut Pinot win just a few km from his home? Both would play out nicely!

Today was a two stop day. After the nightmare at the top of Courchevel, there was no chance we were shooting the finish, especially because we had a TGV to catch out of Strasbourg later in the evening. That made the decision easy: shoot the climb up Balloon d’Alsace and then race over to the Petit Ballon to shoot the penultimate Cat 1 climb. Easier said than done. The road book made it pretty clear, gun it to Wasserbourg and then hope to god that the map was correct and the road actually exists. Yes, the road exists… no, we werent on it. In fact, we were on this tiny, half lane goat path in the Alsace… gunning it up a mountain on a rocky road in an Audi Q2. The distant cheers and cowbells were an indication we were in the generally correct place, but there was zero indication that the road we were on led to the world’s largest sporting event. Don’t believe me? Go read Jered Gruber’s post from Stage 20. Essentially the same thing happened to him and he’s been doing this for a decade.

All’s well that ends well though, and after moving a few gates we arrived at Petit Ballon with literal seconds to spare. You could tell because the helicopter was loud… but not too loud. I took a spot along the road, then got yelled at by a French guy that I was blocking his view. I promised I would crouch down, he said he was planning on crouching down (bullshit), so I eventually moved on to a better spot. For the record, I looked back and he didn’t crouch down.

The atmosphere on Petit Ballon was solely focused on Thibaut Pinot. Guess who appeared in the viewfinder first? You got it. Pinot. Trademark grimaces and all. I love the panache. I’ll miss this guy.

At the end of the day, Pinot didn’t hang on and the other headline would play out. Pog. His Instagram caption from this ride was everything you want to hear and more. Go read it. It’s worth the 30 seconds.

Distance driven: 218 km

Photos taken: 613

Pain au Chocolat consumed: 0. Had this raspberry thing though. It was good.

Salle Presse drinks consumed: 0. No press room stop for me.

Next Up: Le Tour Stage 21 – Paris!