Roc D'Azur 2012: The Big Show
Today was what we've been waiting for - the biggest mountain bike race in the world. If you are into mountain biking, and not just into a cliched genre, then it's hard to deny how cool it is to see so many people come together, just to ride bicycles as fast as they can. Over the event, over 100,000 people will pass through the gates of the Roc D'Azur and to see mountain biking so popular is amazing.
So there we are, that's the Roc D'Azur done for this year. I think next year I may even have a go at this XC racing business, it looks like it might be fun...
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 The sun rose into a clear blue sky over Cape Esterel. Perfect conditions to go racing. |
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| The motorcyclists were the first ones in this morning. |
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| What you can see there is the entries list for today's race... Over the four days around 18,000 people will take to the hills around Frejus to race, there simply isn't anything else on this scale in mountain biking. |
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| Marco Fontana is fast becoming one of our favourite XC racers. He can handle a mountain bike like a bastard, has an Olympic medal and couldn't see the point in wearin lycra today. Back in Italy he is more or less a national hero, lots of Italians make it over for the racing here and all of them seemed to want to congratulate him, get a photo with him or ask for an autograph. He found time for all of them. |
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| As you head for the start line, you realise just how big this race is. |
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| Some riders opted to warm-up on the atheltics track next to the start. |
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| That's the queue, to queue to get to the start line... |
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| A race this big isn't going to wait for you if you're late... |
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| Riders had quite a lot of time at the start to think about the 56km ahead of them. |
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| For some reason one fella showed up dressed as the Pope. They even let him onto the start line. The only thing we want to know is, why? |
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| Much of the front row had serious faces on, if you've had a bad season, this is the last big race left and the last chance to remind your sponsors that you're pretty handy at pedaling a bicycle. |
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| French XC-racing legend, Miguel Martinez, got an incredible holeshot, pulling out bike lengths on the rest of the field. He got wound back in soon enough, but it's always good to put on a show for the homecrowd. |
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| Marco got a good start, but by the halfway point a technical problem had put him out of the running for the podium. |
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| The riders just kept coming. |
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| Maxime Marotte was leading early on, but behind him you can just see Stephane Tempier... |
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| ...the local rider reeled in Marotte and then pulled away to a big win in front of his home crowd. |
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| There was some serious mouth-breathing going on from those trying to hold onto the leaders' pace. |
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| Christoph Sauser charged to a solid fourth. |
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| Much of the course wound its way through the Mediterranean scrub. |
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| The crowds out to watch the racing were incredible. This was at about the halfway point in the race and miles away from the nearest village, but just look at how many people turned out to cheer the riders on. |
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| With that kind of audience you need to dig in deep, show them you're giving it some. |
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| It was like some 80s rally flashback, with people running all over the place, but parting just in time to let the racers through. |
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| The final leg of the race ran along the sea front, and that meant some brutal sand sections to deal with. You could either put the power down and try to plough through, risking burning yourself out while you do it... |
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| ...or admit defeat and run, cyclocross-style. |
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| Strangely enough, the crowds were slightly smaller here, closer in to the towns. |
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| The section along the seafront was awkward as hell, a narrow footpath with ugly steps that you don't want to be ploughing into at race-pace. |
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| There was even a grown man dressed as Obelix to cheer the riders along. |
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| And that's it, 56km done. The winner, Stephane Tempier averaged 24km/h over that distance, which is a pretty intimidating prospect to consider. |
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| Last but not least, a big thank you to Remy, my motorcycle rider for today. Tearing down the Cote D'Azur on the back of a 1200cc motorbike faster than he'd want to let on to the police isn't something I'll forget quickly. Cheers! |
So there we are, that's the Roc D'Azur done for this year. I think next year I may even have a go at this XC racing business, it looks like it might be fun...
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is it some kind of "uncool hazing" I must endure to be a PINKBIKER?
Not sure how many spectators the Birkebeinerrittet here in Norway gets, but there were 25,386 participants this year. I recall reading somewhere there were about 18,000 in the Roc D'Azur last year?