Tour de France 2008 - Stage 16 - Col de la Lombarde

On Tuesday 22nd July 2008 the Tour de France passed through Isola 2000 via the Col de la Lombarde on its way from Cuneo in Italy to Jausiers in France. We were lucky enough to watch this incredible event from the Col de la Lombarde. After about a one hour walk from the chalet we reached the summit which was already very busy with spectators and race organisers. We walked a little way down the Italian side of the Col so that we would have a good view of the cyclists as they wound their way up the mountainside. Photo below shows the view from our picnic site:

The first sign of the caravan arriving was a red and white polka dot Champion van coming up the road, they were handing out polka dot t-shirts which were extremely popular and attracted a large group of people who were almost mobbing the people handing out the t-shirts. After a little while the main bulk of the caravan passed by throwing out all sorts of goodies such as Haribo sweets, Champion hats, PMU big green foam hands, Cochonou sausages - the list goes on ...

The time between the caravan ending and the cyclists arriving gave us ample opportunity to don our new hats, t-shirts and wristbands ready to cheer on the riders. The first to come through was Stefan Schumacher of Gerolsteiner, he went past really fast considering he was going uphill!
Photo below shows Stefan Schumacher:

Not too far behind Schumacher was a Credit Agricole rider (I think) then a couple of small groups of riders before the peloton arrived. We saw the yellow jersey of Frank Schleck pass by and then the British rider David Millar in a group off the back of the peloton.

As the riders passed over the Col on their way down through Isola 2000 the spectators packed up all their freebies and made their way back down both the Italian and French sides of the Col. It really was an unforgettable day and if you do ever get the chance to watch a stage of the Tour de France do take it - you won’t regret it!

Here are some more photos of the riders passing under the banner marking the top of the climb, we've tried to identify them but if you know any different do let us know:

Above: unknown

Below: Pieter Weening

Above: Fabian Wegmann

Below from left to right: Inaki Isasi, unknown, Trent Lowe

We also have some video footage of the stage which we will try to upload soon.