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CHERIE SIVIGNON

TOUR DE ZOOM: The 2009 Tour de France leaders' group zooms through the Swiss Alps.

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OPINION: In the end it lasted just a few seconds, writes Cherie Sivignon in this week's L'expat.

It was blink-and-you-miss-it fast. An attempt to take photographs cost me a hefty chunk of the action but it was still well worth the effort, the heat and the two-hour buildup.

I'm talking about the Tour de France. This annual cycle race is the summer sport to watch in France. Probably elsewhere, too.

This year the 21-stage event swept through the Swiss Alps on July 19 during stage 15, from Pontarlier, in France, to Verbier, in the heart of Switzerland's ski resorts. As part of the course, the cyclists navigated the Swiss valley next to our French alpine border home. We dragged our boys Hugo, 12, and Tom, 6, from the PlayStation, plonked little Ella, 1, in her car seat and set off in convoy with some friends to find a nice possie from which to cheer the fit lads in their tight suits.

We selected a site at the bottom of a hill heading into the Swiss town of Aigle, arriving a good half-hour before the 2.22pm predicted arrival time of the sponsors' caravan.

In true Swiss style, at exactly 2.22pm not 2.21pm or 2.23pm the caravan paraded along the route, showering spectators with caps, lollies, chalk, biscuits, key-rings and handfuls of other goodies.

The children thought it was great, scrambling for the lollies inches from the wheels of a truck that had morphed into a giant plastic cyclist. I can understand why organisers of big parades now tend away from such sweet temptations.

In multinational harmony, there were police and gendarmes from France and Switzerland patrolling the route and telling lots of little boys to get off the road.

It was hot and I was getting a bit frazzled when finally, about 3.45pm, the shout came up that the leaders were about to fly down the hill.

I couldn't see who was in front because there was a whole bunch of them and they whizzed by in a flash. It was so quick that I managed to take only three photos.

About two minutes later the peloton raced by in hot pursuit. It honestly took just a few seconds but it was exciting. Like other live sporting events or concerts, it's all about atmosphere. Let's face it, you get a much better seat and can actually see who's in the lead on the telly at home but it's just not the same. Television, for all its amazing footage and knowledgeable commentators, cannot bring you the heat, the buzz of the crowd or the chance to be on telly yourself.

Even wee Ella got into the swing of it all, clapping, waving and shouting encouragement.

But it was Tom who was most impressed. "That was great," he said.

And it was. Spanish rider Alberto Contador won this year's event. He won the stage 15 race to Verbier, too. Maybe there was something about that cheering at Aigle.wCherie Sivignon is a former Southland Times journalist who has moved to France with her French-born husband and their family.

» Cherie Sivignon is a former Southland Times journalist who has moved to France with her French-born husband and their family.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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