"The racers in the pack can't see the crowd." "They think, "I'll see my wife or my mom, but they don't see a thing." "But they sure can hear them." "The crowd is so incredibly loud that the whole the pack can hear them." "The motorcyclists are part of the family." "The racers know them as well as they know their opponents." "They move through the pack just like racers." "They have their own place in it." "They know all the racers'reflexes, so it's absolutely safe." "At the feed zones, each racer knows exactly where to find his food handler, whether up front on the left or further along on the right." "Maybe one of your pals picked up two, but you can never be sure." "The contents are always the same. ;" "mostly fruit, rice and carbohydrates." "It isn't quite looting, but they demand and take anything. ;" "red wine, champagne, beer." "Even water, if there's nothing better." "Actually, they really should be drinking water." "Then they're off, usually without paying." "The director of the tour receives a number of bills." "Sometimes they lose two or three minutes and have to chase the pack for the next 10 miles." "But there's a good excuse. ;" "On a hot day on the Tour de France, a racer can lose up to eight pounds and up to a gallon of sweat." "So you have to drink and drink." "Either drink or get soaked." "But getting soaked can be dangerous." "And if you soak your feet, your shoes tighten up as they dry." "The champions drink the least." "They're lucky." "They're provided with cold drinks chosen by their water carriers." "That's why at the end of a leg, they're always fresh and ready to go." "The final sprints are unimaginable." "Even the racers are surprised by the speeds they achieve." "They can go up to 37 mph." "In the final hour, they're going 37 mph." "Last lap of the sprint." "Van Looy takes the lead, but Darrigade isn't beaten yet!" "Too bad about that breakaway." "My thighs hurt." "The soles of my feet are burning." "So many feats in this Tour." "So many guys have done stuff " "We don't work harder than the others." "We just talk more." "Everyone was going flat-out!" "It's so fast." "I don't know how long I can keep it up!" "A bit of coffee, caffeine - it all gets sweated out." "Some get "chargedjust to play cards." "Yesterday my butt hurt so bad!" "Tomorrow's gonna be the toughest part." "By elimination, you get the 30 best." "It's always like that." "Anquetil-issimo." "I repeat, "The Eagle has torn apart the Angel of the Mountain." "The pileups always happen when you least expect them." "Often it's when the pack is moving slowly, because the pack gets sleepy, reflexes are dulled, and bang!" " everyone falls." "One racer, then another, until there are 30 on the ground." "And sometimes it's serious." "This was the day Rik Van Looy got the scare of his life." "And Van Looy's no softie." " Lay still." " My head's cold." " I'm cold." " Is that better?" "There's nothing uglier on the Tour than a fall." "The pain they can handle, but if you fall, you can't sleep." "If you don't sleep, you're forced to give up after a few days." "Now let's talk about doping." "In cycling slang, doping is called "the charge, and "the chargeis killing this profession." "Now every time someone quits, he's under suspicion." "This racer told us he must've eaten some bad fish." "That same day, ten racers quit, and each said he'd eaten bad fish." "Contrary to popular belief, doping doesn't give you extra strength." "It simply suppresses the pain." "The doped-up athlete no longer knows his limits." "He's nothing more than a pedaling machine." "They can't quit, and off they go." "Go, go!" "Who's his trainer?" "Without mountains, there'd be no Tour de France." "There the pack breaks down and the racers spread out." "The helpful pushes don't make much difference." "Only stragglers are pushed." "The 15 leaders are perfectly in control." "No one ever pushes them." "But people feel bad for the stragglers, so they push them." "Some spectators end up more exhausted than the racers." "DON'T PUSH THE RACERS YOU'LL SPOIL THE RACE" "You don't realize the extreme differences in temperature and pressure the racers undergo in a mountain leg." "They climb from an altitude of 600 feet to 6,000, descend to 800, climb again to 9,000." "It's awful." "Go, go!" "GO BAHAMONTES KING OF THE MOUNTAINS" "Translation by lynn MASSEY for SUBTEXT SUBTITLlnG"