2006 Tour de France – Stage 15 – A
painfully magical place
Hi
people. Carole here. Have just spoken to Julz who is absolutely relieved to have
made it through another mountain stage. He was fair crapping himself about
today's stage and his only goal of the day was to stay with Robbie McEwen for as
long as he could. In doing so, it would be a fairly safe bet that he would be
within the time cut. After all, there's very little chance the 'Green Jersey'
would be outside the cut-off time.
Julian Dean with his son Tanner. Photo copyright Julian Dean. Thanks for sharing.
So
that's what he did. He struggled over the first two climbs, swinging off the
back of Robbie's posse and then once hitting the bottom of Alpe d'Huez, he had
loads of time to make the time cut and so sat up and took in the magical
atmosphere of this famous climb (or grovel...depending on how you're feeling!).
He said it was just awesome. He even went as far to say that if he doesn't make
the time cut tomorrow, at least he was able to experience Alpe d'Huez in all its
glory.
He
managed to see quite a few Kiwis out there and was even handed a Monteiths Gold
Lager from a Kiwi fella. He said to say, "Thanks to the brother from a different
mother...". Obviously you'll know who you are!
Tomorrow is yet another
day of being in the 'Hurt Bag' - especially for all the non-mountain goats.
Again it'll be about nothing more than survival for Julz. He said it's meant to
be harder than today's stage so cross every available appendage for him...
