Day: May 16, 2006

The 150th day of the race, the days follow each other and are all alike…..

Since yesterday, the comment at the end of the stage is “hurry up tomorrow.”

Hurry up tomorrow so Serge will suffer less, will not be so hot, will be able to tick off another day, yes, one more, Sergio.

Serge only looks at his feet and since noon the heat on the road has been overwhelming (41° Celsius).  Serge twists from left to right.  We have the impression that he is searching for some relief for his body which is so badly treated.  His rib pain seems to be getting stronger, rather than weaker.  He doesn’t talk, keeping his pains to himself and in spite of a 500 meter descent at the end of the stage, he keeps trotting with his head lowered.  Serge doesn’t give in and for an inexperienced eye it would be easy to say, everything is OK, he’s still running.  An expert eye will notice his pace, the way his body is bent, the way he has almost stopped swinging his arms, the way he keeps his head in the handlebars, his stern features, the frown on his forehead with his chin held in.  All those things are signs of a bad day’s race, physical pain and a battle of mind over matter.

The new highway 314 on this portion is 2×2 lanes.  The funniest thing is that when the 2×2 become a single lane going in both directions and where everyone drives as he wishes, it’s total anarchy, which makes stopping our vehicles very dangerous.  At least it puts a bit of spice in our conversation.  The scenery is always desert like and we are now going through a small mountain range, before reaching the Turpan depression, which is about 154 meters below sea level