First Day Of Racing

My favorite photo so far. That's BMC Racing Team
soigneur Marc Paeme acting like he's holding the large inflatable.
Calella, Spain – First day of the race and last day here in Calella. Being near the beach in Spain reminded me a lot of the start of last year's Vuelta a España, which also started on the Mediterranean coast.

Today was a late start – 12:30 pm. – which allowed me to get caught up on a few things. I had an extensive to-do list of outside-the-race responsibilities, as well as photos to shoot, a release to get out and emails to answer. Part of my morning was spent poolside (working) which made the time fly by.

The race started and finished about 1.5 kilometers from the hotel. So with about 45 minutes to go before the finish, Trudi Rebsamen, Marc Paeme and I began the walk to the finish line. Some teams drove. It was nice to get in some much-needed exercise. Once at the finish line, I quickly figured out there were no TVs. But there was an electronics shop on the corner. I convinced the owner to let me watch the race on the bank of TVs next to wash machines, dryers and refrigerators.

The rest of my day was fairly uneventful. Dinner, the meeting and discussion about how to handle the absence of the BMC Racing team motorcoach, which broke down Sunday. This marks the second time in two years that I've gone to a race, only to have the bus break down on one of the first days of the race. Fortunately, I was able to get my Tether working (it stopped working once I got to Europe), so I should be OK when it comes to internet service.

A couple other miscellaneous items:

- Tom Danielson got fish from the dinner buffet. I asked him later how it was. "I bailed on it," he said. I would have, too. (See photo below.)

- Dozens of young teenage girls showed up at the hotel as part of a tour group tonight. Unfortunately, that brought upon the demise of the internet (until they went to sleep).

- Snow and sleet fell on the riders at some of the higher elevations during the race. The TV coverage didn't pick this up, but it was evident on their BMCs afterwards.'

- Also afterwards, lots of young cyclists made the rounds of the team buses, looking for water bottles. They cornered assistant director Rik Verbrugghe.

Tunnel of fans for Mauro Santambrogio at sign-in.

This mom made sure her kids noticed the BMCs.

There's my lunch bag. And many, many more.

This was the last time we saw the bus. It had some
problems and never made it to Stage 1 or 2.

Watching the race at the electronics store.

Uh, this was not appetizing.

But this looked terrific on my plate.

BMC Racing Team evening staff meeting in the lobby.

You see these guys on TV before each stage.

Team Sky apparently had a break-in overnight. Not good.