Letters from Europe:

Lance Armstrong gains his seventh consecutive Tour de France victory

PARIS, France - Lance Armstrong completed his seventh consecutive Tour de France victory today, and a large contingent of Americans were in Paris to greet him.

Always, when I visit Paris, I hear more American English than anywhere else in Europe, but today as I walked along the Champs Elysee I heard more American accents than I did all others added together.

American flags were much in evidence, if not always treated with respect:

And then, there are idiots who show less understanding of what the flag represents than those who choose to burn it in protest:

The Australians, ironically enough known for a devil-may-care attitude, were much more dignified with their flag:

While the Dutch were feeling rather orange, but happy (this and all following photos have larger images you can see by clicking on the thumbnail image):

The crowds along the Champs Elysee were too thick, so I chose to walk to the garden of the Tuilleries, where I managed to find a forgotten corner across from the north-west most extent of the Louvre. When I arrived, there were only a few people there, but eventually, others realized it was one of the few spaces open on the route in Paris where they ride by eight times to finish the final stage, so it was not long before I was surrounded by people.

One of the features of the Tour de France is the caravan of sponsors that goes by before the riders. This is a major advertising venue for many of these companies, and they have some interesting vehicles in the caravan.

First, though, the official vehicles of the Tour:

Then some of the more unusual entries. The rain made a duck-mobile seem appropriate:

But the pigs were not flying:

I'm not sure exactly what the squirrel was trying to do with the flags here:

What was most interesting to me were that the cars that were giant watches (sorry, no photo) had the correct time on the four foot diameter watch face. I guess they proved their point about keeping good time.

Finally, the riders came through. I was unable to get any good photos on the first pass, but I was able to get a photo of Lance Armstrong on the second pass:

He was not in the lead, and he was quickly followed by the rest of the riders:

By the next pass, they had picked up their pace, and the sprinters were out front:

The speed is apparent in the blurring of the riders, including Lance Armstrong:

On the next pass, I took a movie to give a sense of how fast the pace had quickened, the entire movie is less than 30 seconds long and they all pass in less than that time (click on the thumbnail below, there is sound with the movie):

It is difficult to convey how fast they move, and it is amazing that after 21 stages with only a few rest days they can still push the pace. It takes an outstanding athlete to even finish a Tour de France, and the accomplishment of Lance Armstrong in winning seven consecutive Tours is almost beyond imagination.

It was not beyond the imagination of Lance Armstrong, however.

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