The Tour entered France for the first time on Stage 3, passing through the beautiful villages of Belgium and Luxembourg along the way. Here's my watercolor:
And then there was Stage 4. I suppose in retrospect all other stories of this beautiful stage were overshadowed by Peter Sagan's eventual ejection from the Tour. But my watercolor depicts Guillaume Van Keirsbulck's unintentional lone breakaway, when he took off at the start of the race and -- to his surprise -- no one went with him! Seeing that happen, some riders would have simply fallen back into the peloton. But not Van Keirsbulck! He just kept going. After establishing a 13 minute advantage, the numbers on the yellow chalkboard started getting smaller and smaller as the seconds between him and the peloton decreased. Van Keirsbulck was caught 16.5 km before the finish line, but he survived out front for 191 kilometers, was given the red number award for being the most aggressive rider of the day, and he had plenty of TV time in front of happy sponsors, friends, and family. Totally worth it, I'd say.
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