Tour de Suisse

View from our room.

After an aweful night of sleep, I was ready for a day of bicycle racing.

Unfortunately, our room did not have AC and it was very humid in Lugano. We opened the windows and that helped a bit. There was a heavy downpour in the wee hours of the morning and Katrina had to close the windows to keep them from banging on the frames.

After a modest breakfast at the hotel, we headed out. Katrina was going to take a boat ride on the lake while Brandon and I checked out the race course.

Brandon and I headed towards the park and the start line. We followed the course through the lakefront park and found ourselves on the main street that the course would follow up into the hills. At the first intersection we found an empty lot that, over the next few hours, end up being the staging area for all the pro teams - buses, equipment trucks, and support cars. We decided to hang out here for awhile and see what riders we could meet and get autographs from.


Festina, official time of the pro cycling tour


Lampre was the first team to arrive


Team Liquigas heads out for some warm up laps.


Brandon gets his first autograph, from a Lampre rider


Columbia/Highroad bikes ready for action. Yes, Columbia is Columbia Sportwear based in Portland Oregon.


Brandon and I thought the headsets on the Columbia/Highroad bikes were cool


The Team Radioshack bus arrives

We spent most of the morning walking back and forth between the staging area and the start line. Brandon was able to get a few autographs on his bike jersey and on some collectors cards. The Radioshack guys never arrived at their bus. We saw them do some warmup laps on the course, then they disappeared (probably to the hotel to eat some lunch) for a few hours. The actual race would not start until 3:30pm.


My favorite team, Team Radioshack...


...Otherwise known as The Shack


Always adjustments to make


Brandon gets an autograph from a Columbia team cyclist


With Jason McCartney and Levi Leipheimer in the lead, Team Radioshack take some warmup laps.


George Hincapie takes time to keep in touch...


Brandon shows off the autographs on his yellow jersey


Lance Armstrong's road bike

After grabbing some lunch, Brandon started to feel sick. He was having some stomach issues. We hung around in the shade for awhile, but eventually ended up back in the hotel room. Brandon decided to take a shower to see if that would help. Katrina met us there a little while later. She would stay with Brandon while I went back out to watch the time trial.


These signs go on the hood of the team cars during each riders time trial


Popo warms up.


The kid wrapped in the American flag camped out in that spot as soon as the Radioshack bus arrived. He never moved. The signs are his.


Jason McCartney warms up

I headed down towards the staging area to see if the Radioshack guys had shown up. They were there and the first couples of riders, Popo and J. McCartney were warming up. They would be riding the course early. I also hopped over to the course to watch several riders go by.


Popo starts his time trial


Lance shows up at the bus. This is the only picture I was able to get.


Lance's time trial bike

Katrina and Brandon met up with me early in the evening. Brandon was feeling a bit better after 'losing his lunch'. Its amazing how such an uncomfortable event can make you feel so much better afterwards.

We decided to head down the course to the beginning of the climb, a place Katrina had scouted out early in the day. At the climb its a little easier to get photos because the riders actually slow down a bit.


A BMC rider powers through the course


What race are we watching?


KatEye photographer at work


The day was mostly overcast and humid, with some light rain and even a little bit of sun midday.


Many of the top riders had a caravan following them: motorcycle with camera operator or photographer, team car and sponsor car carrying VIP's.

We ended up staying in this area until the end of the race. Last years Tour de Suisse champion, Fabian Cancellara of Team Saxa Bank, ended up winning the time trial. The top Radioshack rider, Levi Leipheimer took 17th place. Lance took 44th, I think. A lot of riders held back because of the wet roads.






Allesandro Petacchi. Brandon got his autograph earlier today.

After the final rider went by, I made my way to the finish line to see the results. Fabian Cancellara takes the win.


Big screen viewing at the finish line


The winning time of 10:21


The winner, Fabian Cancellara (in yellow) talks to the press.

I met up with Katrina and Brandon in the park. Katrina was taking some evening pictures in the park when I noticed two cyclists I was pretty sure I had seen on a Youtube video last year. They were speaking English, so Katrina said hi. It turns out, it was them....Bill and Liam Flanagan, along with their family. Brandon and Liam seemed to hit it off, going off on their own to talk about cycling and Club Penguin. I think Liam even inpired Brandon to give road riding another try.

I remember seeing them on a Lance Armstrong training video last year. They were riding up a mountain pass when Lance came up on them and said hi. How cool is that!



We chatted with them for awhile. They are from California and just moved to Europe for about a year. Check out their blog: fathersontour

We talked about a ride near Como. I hope to persuade them to come visit so we can do the ride together, maybe later this summer or fall.

We were all hungry, so we said our goodbyes and headed to dinner. Katrina and Brandon spotted a Thai restaurant near our hotel. Wow, it was very good. I had pad thai. Katrina had some curry and Brandon had some primevara involtinis, then finished off my pad thai.

It was a great day of cycling in Switzerland. I wanted to see everything that was going on, but you can only be in one place at a time. The race begins in Lugano again next year. I plan to bring my bike, and maybe even ride in the amateur time trial in the morning. We shall see...