Greig Leach

The Tour de France brings out the most avid fans, many of whom will follow the race for days, camping out in RVs along the race route. They can become a traveling city independent of the race entourage, who will line the roads of the big climbs with their satellite dishes turned to race coverage. They will come out to cheer every rider on, from there heroes to the last guy struggling of the back. Team Movistar came out of the rest day with a plan to break Astana's hold on the race and to try and put Vincenzo Nibali on the defense. As they started up the final climb of the day they put man after man on the front. It was the efforts of Benat Intxausti who shuck the last Astana support rider, Tanel Kangert. Alejandro Valverde still had one more guy in reserve, the Frenchman John Gadret. As Kangert cracked, Nibali looked over to thank his teammate for all of the effort on the long climb and the long stage.