Purito, the people's champion

Continued from Romain Bardet, a future champion

Long after the race was over, I was still there, hanging around this bus...

Katusha Team bus

The reason was to try to catch he who is probably one of the most popular cyclists in Spain, he whose custom saddle bears the image of his nickname.

Little cigar

If you still haven't guessed, it's Joaquim "Purito" Rodríguez - "purito" means little cigar - the 35-year-old who seems to have always missed out on the big ones. He finished third in this race, but this wasn't very important for him, his main objective for the season being the Vuelta a España. I wonder how many people have noticed that his bike has "Joaquin" with an "n" instead of an "m" (Joaquim is more a Catalan/Portuguese name while Joaquin is more Spanish).

Another take of his amazing saddle

Purito's bike

When Purito appeared, we were probably somewhere else. When we rushed back, he'd already gone into the bus. He never came out and some of his entourage said he wouldn't. But, every time we chased another cyclist, he reappeared.

Purito looked frightened

Looking for help, then promptly disappeared back into the bus!

Look, over there! He's coming! Up there! They were referring to the winner, Alejandro Valverde. This "fan" acted as though he'd known him all his life! May probably be the case, too!

Fan with Alejandro Valverde, the eventual winner

Back there! Back there! Purito took the appearance of Valverde as an opportunity to reappear briefly to please the waiting fans, especially the younger ones, who had been hanging around patiently, convinced that he would show himself again and they were right! Although  an aide was saying, that's it, that's it, he's going to miss his flight!

Two happy fans! Purito looked less happy, though!

I also managed to shoot some photos of Bauke Mollema, the runner-up, but they were not up to scratch. This one of Tanel Kangert, who came in 16th, is a little better.

Tanel Kangert (16th) with this fan again!

That's it for an exciting day of pro cycling, lots of hanging around, lots of photos, some good, a lot of bad ones, hehe. Perhaps I'll get another camera in the future as I'm experiencing certain limitations with this one. Oh, to be in a situation where I can spend money on what I want!

Romain Bardet, a future champion

Continued from 34th Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian, the finish

You caught a glimpse of some after-the-finish shots and might have guessed that I hung around for a while after the end. Yes, quite a while, in fact. The reason for this will be apparent in a later post. This post is dedicated to, by all accounts, a future champion, Romain Bardet, who's barely 24 and had just started riding professionally in 2012. This young Frenchman is currently riding for Ag2r-La Mondiale. 

In the 34th La Clásica de San Sebastián, he finished 18th, 43 seconds behind the winner. A mere 10 days later, he was racing at the Tour de L'Ain, and if I'm not mistaken, he finished, coincidentally, in the same position!

Enjoy the pics!

Romain Bardet, a future champion

A happy Romain Bardet

Wellwishers

A fan seeking autograph

Supporters clamouring for attention

A crazy lady

Romain Bardet checking his stuff

Girlfriend or sister?

Nice hairdo ;)

Taming it...

A happy fan

Romain Bardet, showered and changed

A more relaxed Romain Bardet

“When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!” 

― Ted Grant

I try, I try...

34th Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian, the finish

Continued from 34th Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian

So, we made our way as fast as possible in the general direction of the Boulevard. Bear in mind that we'd just arrived and we didn't really know exactly where Boulevard was. No doubt, we'd see the finish line...depending on how many people would be there!

Hurry, hurry! We were in a hurry, but at least we didn't do what this utterly ignorant, no doubt, sport-illiterate lady did. She dashed across and was totally unaware or unconcerned that by a fraction of a second she would have caused a catastrophe! Couldn't wait for a bleeding second! Just amazing. Those who noticed what she'd done was screaming blue murder!

Idiota! Almost caused a calamity!

The crowd thickened as we approached. Yes, yes, I think we've made it. They're not here yet!

There were hundreds of people. Trying to get a vantage point was impossible. I sneaked into the best position I could, stick my arm outward into the air, and shot blindly. I had no way of knowing where the cyclists were, how far or close they were. A lot of those blind shots were of air. Invisible cyclists.

No way could I compete with the pros!

Sadly, I didn't manage to get the winner. Not at the finish line, anyway ;).

My arm wasn't long enough, nor was the aim any good! Haha.

Yea, nice shot!

The culprit who had been blocking all my one-arm shots!

Once the people blocking me rushed off to the podium, I managed to get a few shots in. Haha. Of the losers. No, just joking. Seriously. They're all winners. Throughout my journey - flat land, downhill, uphill - I would see cyclists, sometimes accompanied, other times alone, pedalling away, sweat pouring down their cheeks, rain, sun or wind, or all three, in their faces, kilometre after kilometre, day after day. Such dedication, such sacrifice. I respect these people, but I don't envy them.

Actually, even the shots I managed of the other finishers were quite bad. I realise now that they were going so fast that 1/500s wasn't good enough and I would probably have been better off using 1/800s, and pushing the ISO up.

Envying-the-pros time...

Do big cameras mean big pictures?

Let me show off a couple more of what I managed to catch...

I thought this officer was going to tell me off, but perhaps he was just striking his best pose...

Hey! You're aiming at me?

Would they notice if I were to walk off with one of these?

Global Cycling

More of After the Race in the next post!

34th Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian

Continued from A crime in San Sebastian

After lunch, we walked along the promenade, past the Miramar Palace, but couldn't stop. We saw placards with an arrow on it, and I kept saying, listen, they're coming this way. We quickened our pace and saw more and more people getting more and more excited. And I kept repeating, look, they're definitely coming this way, look at all the arrows and the crowd.

La Clásica

My fear was we might not make it to the finishing line in time and we'd end up not seeing neither the finish nor this part of the race. So, I stopped and confirmed it with some passers-by. They said, yes, they're here now, just around the corner; they'll be appearing any time now, they'll go around and yes, the finish is at the Boulevard.

We stopped. I fumbled my camera out. I'm not much of an action photographer, but there's good light, so I set it to speed priority, fixed it at 1/500s, and hoped for the best. In no time, the cops and team vehicles started appearing. I just snapped away, hoping that I'd get some decent shots at least.

The cops are here!

Before long, the leader at this stage, Andriy Grivko, whooshed past. These guys must have been going like, what, 40, 50 kmh? It was exciting to be there in the midst of the action, everything happening so fast. Grivko was just the hare, I guess. He eventually finished way back in 54th.

Andriy Grivko

A split second later, the peloton rushed by in a blur. At this stage, the eventual winners were still farther behind.

The Peloton

A few more sped by and we had to start trotting towards The Boulevard. Could we get there before this lot? 200 km is just like a practice run for these athletes...