(L) What a nice view for a picnic! (R) This devil guy has been a Tour fixture for as long as I've been watching (since 1996), and - I imagine - much longer. From what I understand, he's just a German guy who's a huge fan of the race, and takes his vacation every year to dress up in this outfit and follow the cyclists around France. You can usually tell if he's anywhere nearby because he paints a devil's pitchfork all over the roads (everyone paints the roads, usually with a rider's name, so it's not the road-painting that's unusual - it's the pitchfork that gets your attention). He also apparently smells pretty rank by the end of the Tour, so the riders generally try to speed up when he's around so they don't have to smell him.
(L) Pforzheim, the starting town for Stage 8, is apparently known for its gold. They honored themselves by creating a golden start line, which Lance autographed. (R) One of the sadder moments of the Tour so far for American fans was Dave Zabriskie's abandoning the race on Sunday.
Lance has said he's much more relaxed this year than in years past, and his interactions with the press (that I've seen) seem to bear that out. Here he is with Discovery Channels' Directeur Sportif Johan Bruyneel on the air transfer to Grenoble.
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