By Injera, on July 21st, 2011 The race is crossing back into France for the end-game of this year’s Tour. The official race guide describes this as “the showcase stage of the 2011 Tour de France”. We’re pretty sure they are talking about the challenging cols over this 200.5km stage – Col Agnel, Col d’Izoard and Galibier are all hors categorie climbs – but perhaps they are also talking about the cattle. Galibier-Serre Chevalier puts us in the Dauphiné alps, so whilst there is no indigenous breed for this particular area, we remember the participation of les vaches in the Dauphiné-Libéré. This time, we hope they take a more spectatorial interest than a participatory one.
Photo: Will Levy
Continue reading Stage 18: Pinerolo > Galibier – Serre Chevalier
By Injera, on July 21st, 2011 Yesterday’s stage was not much for cows; in fact, the only non-human life we saw was captured in this image by cowrespondent Bill:
Life is probably the wrong word in these circumstances, as by this stage I think the life force had departed this little bug.
We did hear cowbells throughout the stage, which must mean there were cows around, right? When I wondered aloud what the purpose of cowbells were, my viewing companion responded that they are so “the farmer can hear the cows running away”. Now every time I hear the bells I imagine a farmer saying “there go the cows again, Beryl”. This is what happens when I don’t have visuals to distract me…
Continue reading Stage seventeen: round-up
By Essjaymoo, on July 20th, 2011 It seems like it taken an aeon but tonight … finally … the “incursion into foreign territory” AND The Alps! Oh yes!
There’s also some nail-biting time as we watch descents and hope for a safe, accident free stage. Apparently the sun is shining in Pinerolo so that’s something to look forward to at least. I don’t think any of the sprinters will be looking forward to today’s very lumpy ride. Four summits on the way to over 2,000m, then a long descent of 1500m, one more summit and a downhill finish. I’m exhausted just writing about it.
Meanwhile though, as the peloton crosses into Italy, so we’ll take a look at the local cow, the Oropa also called the “Pezzata Rossa d’Oropa”. This red pied cow is said to come from Northern European pied cattle dating back to the fifth century Burgundi or Borgognoni, similar to Simmenthal.
Photo: Kranky Kidz
By Injera, on July 20th, 2011 We had anticipated that this stage might be devoid of cattle and we were not wrong. Fortunately les agriculteurs ensured that Team Vaches’ bovine vigilance wasn’t in vain with their field art.
 Thanks, @LacusCurtius, for the #lvdt tweet - you made it easy for me to find this in the recording! Continue reading Stage sixteen: round-up
By Injera, on July 19th, 2011 After a much-needed day of rest, the Tour restarts in the Drôme and finishes in the Hautes-Alpes. The route profile shows a consistent uphill gradient, but only one categorised climb: a Cat 2 at 151km creating an 11km descent into the finish at Gap. Who will make a break this stage? Will the God of Thunder have a crack? Should we keep an eye on Simmental Gerrans? And what can we expect from this part of the world? Well, there is an AOC cheese – picodon – from the Drôme department, however it’s from the wrong four-legged mammal, the goat. Other specialties from the area include an AOC olive oil, truffles, herbs and white garlic. Do you see anything missing here? I was very excited when I came across “coeur de boeuf“… only to discover that it is a tomato. Surely there must be some produit de la vache? Monsieur Google teased me with a result for “cheese, hautes-alpes” that really got my attention: an article in Time Magazine called Restaurants for Cheese Lovers. Sudi Pigott refers to “Le Testard from the Hautes-Alpes”. Could it be? Well, the only other reference to Le Testard I could find in the entire interweb was on a blog that reproduced the Time piece. Please let me know if you are familiar with this cheese.
Provence Web mentions cattle grazing in the Hautes-Alpes in the Drac Noir valley, which is north of Gap, but maybe the helicopters will take pity on us and sweep over the area during the presentations. Otherwise, this may be as close as we’ll get to une vache tonight.
 Cows in Gap Photo: Will Levy
Continue reading Stage 16: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Gap
By Injera, on July 18th, 2011 It was only appropriate, in hindsight, that the stage from Limooooooo would give Team Vaches the Tour’s best bovine experience. Of course, it didn’t start promisingly. The landscape the peloton rolled through was notable for the absence of pasture, dominated by the vines of the Languedoc. Paul helpfully informed us that the vines produce 130,000 hectalitres of wine per year. ”Well that should keep Paul Sherwen in stead for the rest of the Tour de France,” was Phil Liggett’s dry rejoinder. It was at about this point that the helicopter gave us a long view of the terrain to come.
Sky shot – not a vache in sight.
That tweet was enough to persuade me to set the recorder and abandon for the evening.
See: Cows with Guns for what happened next…
After the excitement of the Cow tribute, the rest of the stage was a bit of a blur (yes, even watching it in replay – once I’d seen that fabulous montage I had to remind myself to keep watching the race!). The wind continued to attack the peloton as they battled towards Montpellier and the breakaway wasn’t able to keep the sprinters, eager for a last bit of glory before Paris, at bay. Cowvendish was able to take the stage victory and keeps the green jersey. There was no change for any of the “heads of state” or jersey holders, so they will all go to the rest day almost as satisfied by the stage as Team Vaches. Almost. I’m not sure they will be on quite the same high…
The montage is up at SBS Cycling Central. Vive les vaches!
By Injera, on July 18th, 2011
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School night, peeps, off to bed… keep me posted with cow sightings #lvdt [ir] |
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My timing was impeccable. Even if I’d seen this tweet from earlier, I’d have had no idea of its significance:
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May have just completed the most ridiculous/awesome work of my career. Will go to air tonight. |
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But it all soon became clear. Or clear-ish.
By Essjaymoo, on July 17th, 2011 192.5 kilometers of pretty flat cycling gets us from the Pyrenees to the Alps. The last day for the sprinters to shine and probably finalise the green jersey standings before they hit the Champs-Élysées. Mind you – if they come across any of our featured bovine for this stage, they’d better have their sprinting legs on [particularly those teams in red... I'm looking at you, BMC and Cofidis - Injera]! Mesdames et Messieurs may I present….Le Camargue!
Image: Kranky Kids
Continue reading Stage 15: Limoux > Montpellier
By Injera, on July 17th, 2011 It was the last stage in the Pyrenees and we had our sights set on the cattle, of course. There were reports of cows at 114.2km and 112km from those in Team Vaches who were watching the web coverage (thanks Kate and Andrew), but when the SBS coverage began at 101km the route was barren of bovines. The recap editor missed a chance fo show us the earlier cows, for some bizarre reason focussing on the climbs we’d missed. Huh. There was a sense of resignation, another cow free stage. At least Paul Sherwen was thinking of the geologists among us, discussing a source of chromium in the mountains. And then:
Well, what would be rather nice if we could spot round here, there is a very well-known rare race of cows, the belle Gascon. They’re actually white cows, but the youngsters have a brown coat.
This alone would have made the stage a winner for Team Vaches, but it was about to get better. A sighting!
 Paul Sherwen will have to talk about cows more often - he conjured these up!
Continue reading Stage fourteen: round-up
By Essjaymoo, on July 16th, 2011 The last Pyrenees stage, and we’ve leaving on a high (hah!) note with six climbs in 168km along the Spanish border. Easy! (umm… no not really). We can expect to see the leaders keeping a close eye on each other, and looking for opportunities to grab some time ahead of their rivals. No doubt you’ll hear this a few more times during the commentary tonight, but to get in first .. . note that every rider who has previously won at Plateau de Beille has gone on to the win the Tour that same year.
From a bovine point of view, we can expect to see some of the tough-hoofed Gasconne cattle, winners in the cattle race in Southern France.
 Gasconne Muqueusus Noires Image: Farming in France
Continue reading Stage 14: Saint-Gaudens > Plateau de Beille
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Les Vaches pour les enfants
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