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Ralf Grabsch Tour de France diary
09/07/2024
On Saturday, July 5, the peloton started on the 95th Tour de France. MILRAM rider Ralf Grabsch is racing his third "Grande Boucle", the Big Loop through France. In a diary on www.team-milram.de, the 35 year-old relates his impressions of the stages and of everything that happens before and after the race.
Monday, July 14, 2024
A day to forget
Something really annoying happened to me today. After the mountain summit finish, we wanted to ride down towards the bus. It was chaotic on the road, as many fans were on their bikes up there and wanted to descend, too. They party on the roadside, probably have a drink – and one of them rode into me. I crashed, and he just continued. Some other people nearby helped me. Now, I have a lot of scraped skin all over my body. The wounds will certainly disturb my sleep and hurt during the race in the next few days.
What a stupid, useless crash. On top of it, a hit-and-run. And the stage itself didn’t work out much better. A big group got away with 24 riders, and we should have been represented in it, too. But somehow, our guys missed out on it. As a consequence, we had to ride really fast to reel them in again. It took over 70 kilometres – a massive effort that cost us a lot of power. On a mountain stage, of all days! Just afterwards, the race went up the Tourmalet, some 2000 metres high. But I felt better on the climb than I did yesterday. Slowly, I’m getting into the rhythm. All in all, it wasn’t my day. A useless crash and a waste of energy. Fortunately, tomorrow is a rest day, so that we can recuperate a bit.
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Wednesday, July 9, 2024
Fast-paced start
The first few days of the 2008 Tour are over. It was stressful and hectic during the first stages until the time trial in Cholet. Everyone was feeling fresh and wanted to show themselves in front. In addition, we had stormy weather with lots of wind and rain. That resembled the Spring Classics, so it wasn’t easy for everybody. Unfortunately there were some crashes in the bunch, too. It’s good that all of us went through safe until now.
Generally speaking, you have to be immensely concentrated in the first days to keep out of harm’s way and into the finish healthy. The Tour de France is very special, and definitely different than all other races!
Today was a nice day, the first summer day under the sun. All the riders really enjoyed that. Moreover, we had a light tailwind, which made the stage even more relaxed. In the beginning, it was a bit nervous, with lots of attacks. I tried today, too, but Gerolsteiner was against it…
After 25 kilometres, a group of three finally left. After that, we could enjoy the nice roads and the many spectators. We came through a lot of countryside today and the atmosphere on the roadside was excellent as always. The French get so excited! They find a spot on the evening before with their campervans or tents, and then they wait, seated at tables, until the bunch comes through – or more exactly: they party until the race comes through!
That makes it all the more fun for us, too, especially when I see the German flag from time to time on the roadside. Tomorrow, we’ll hit the first mountains. I think that the following days will see the favourites come to the front and shake up General Classification a bit.
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Thursday, July 3, 2024
Finally arrived!
We finally arrived in Brest! The "Grand Départ" of the 95. Tour de France will be celebrated in Brittany this time. Even though it is my third participation in the race, it seems like the first one.
I was really sure I'd be nominated into the roster. But you only realise it once you're there, at the start line. The excitement increases, but mentally, you're not really there yet. Too much has happened these last few days. All of us probably had the first feel of the Tour at the team presentation at our new headquarters in the Olympia Club in Dortmund. recently, we always rode races with different team rosters, different line-ups, but in Dortmund, the team for the Tour was complete. That's when I realised for the first time that it was finally happening.
The last few days, I trained intensively once again. Last week-end, the German Championships in Bochum were on the programme. My team-mate Erik Zabel almost took the jersey. Fabian Wegmann from Team Gerolsteiner was only two seconds faster, as he broke away during the penultimate lap.
On Wednesday, we left on our journey to the Tour de France. Christian Knees' dad brought us there, but there was a surprise: We flew from Brussels to Brest on a propeller-driven plane! The IPCT, the international federation of the ProTour teams, had organised this for us. On the plane, it was as though we were in a race already: it was like a peloton, with riders from MILRAM, Quick Step, Rabobank and CSC sitting there.
The flight lasted two hours. And it wasn't that relaxing... in the end, a Boeing 747 is still a bit more comfortable than a Fokker 100!
We arrived at the hotel only at 23:30pm. The next morning, we grabbed our bikes and went to check out the first 30 kilometres of the first stage, until the KOM points. We got soaked, too. It's typical weather here on the coast, with rain and sunshine alternating constantly.
On Thursday, it was finally time for the teams' presentation. As I stood there with my colleagues on the podium, I finally understood that I had arrived at the Tour de France.
On Saturday, we will hear the starting shot here in Brest. I will be in touch sometime in the next few days. Keep your fingers crossed for a good start!
Yours kindly
Ralf
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