2015 was my 5th participation as a photographer at the world’s biggest cycling competition, Le Tour de France. The photo collection of first two editions editions (2011–2012) has been the result of random intersections of my tourist trips with the paths of Le Tour. Starting with the centenary edition of the race, in 2013, I began to realise what my cycling photo collection is about on www.procyclingimages.com: a comprehensive set of images of professional cyclists in action and other interesting aspects caught by the photographer as a spectator on the side of the road.

In 2015, I covered 9 stages of the race, being present during each of the three weeks of the competition.

Utrecht, Netherlands – 4th of July 2015: The Irish cyclist Nicolas Roche of Team Sky riding during the first stage (individual time trial) of Le Tour de France 2015.

I started with the first stage, an individual time trial circuit in the city of Utrecht, The Netherlands. I went there despite not being a big fan of stages of Le Tour de France happening outside The Hexagon. After all, it is about Le Tour de France and not of Europe. But this aspect is decided by organisers who certainly know very well how to do their job. So, I went to Utrecht because in this edition there was the only one stage of individual time trial.
In the context of this particular stage, it is a good opportunity to get images with individual cyclists in action, not an easy fit in other stages. Without having much knowledge of the city, I had some difficulties in finding suitable places to take my shots. The circuit was extremely short and only within the city, with lots of biking amateurs and picnic areas. I managed to photograph cyclists from 3 to 4 different spots on the route, but on a hellish heat and in a crowded space.

Quievy, France – 7th of July, 2015: Some of the biggest favourites of Le Tour de France 2015 (Contador,Sagan,Froome,Degenkolb, Martin,and Nibali) riding in full effort on a cobblestoned road during the stage 4.

The next stage I managed to photograph, was the 4th one, which, was held on the paved roads of the north of France, famous for its yearly Paris Roubaix race. Generally, such type of stage is not part of Le Tour de France every year. When selected by the organisers, it represents an extreme challenge for cyclists racing in the most difficult professional road cycling competition. Taking advantage of the opportunity of this special stage from 2015 edition, I went there in order to take lots of photos. I used my strategy practiced several times during Paris Roubaix, as well as in a stage from 2014 edition, which took place on the same roads. It was something special not only due to the difficult roads but also because of the extremely dense and persistent rain that pushed me to use all sorts of tricks to protect the camera. This year though, the weather was particularly good, without rain, only a few clouds dimming the bright sunlight.

Quievy, France – 7th of July 07, 2015: Cochonou Caravan during the passing of the Publicity Caravan on a cobblestoned road in the stage 4 of Le Tour de France 2015. Cochonou is an important French brand of short dry sausages.

Under these circumstances, I managed to capture, thanks to an extremely favourable spot, some interesting aspects of the race. The most important photo is probably the one in which all those great 4-5 favourites of the competition can be seen in action, which practically just started. During this stage, I photographed for the first time the special vehicles of Publicity Caravan on the paved roads, a real trademark to the area.
After the stages from North-East of France, the peloton got in the Northern part, in Normandy.

I carefully studied the route and it was hard to find a place where the highway was close enough to the beautiful and extremely wild scenery of the Coast of Normandy. Finding a spot to highlight the presence of the peloton in the landscape was a real challenge.

Sainte Marguerite sur Mer, France – 9th of July 2015: The peloton riding near the beach in Normandy during the stage 6 of Le Tour de France 2015.

This was possible in a small commune near the Northern beach, Sainte Marguerite Sur Mer. Here, in the same conditions of high heat, after I have briefly scanned the area, I decided to get on a peak, slightly above the road, which offered me a wider picture of the coast and of the town itself. I was placed exactly in the centre of a pasture, near a herd of cows. Probably, because of the heat, the heard preferred to sleep all the time, sitting still during those few hours that I have spent there. At the end of this stage, I managed to capture three images as scheduled, in which the peloton of cyclists fills the grooved and rocky landscape of the Coast of Normandy.

After Normandy, the route of the Tour passed through the Brittany. Those who follow the development of my photographic projects know that this area is one of my favourites and that I am preparing a special collection dedicated to it: “Brittany- the Land of Stones”. Like in Normandy, the route failed to pass close enough to the interesting landscape of the Coast in Brittany. From the stages taking place here, I choose the 9th one, at Plumelec.

Plumelec, France – 13th of  July, 2015: Team LottoNL Jumbo riding the Team Time Trial stage between Plumelec and Vannes, during Tour de France 2015.

Here, it took place a team time trial stage. This kind of stage is also not included in each edition. For me, this stage was a premiere: shooting for the first time a cycling team time trial on a professional road race. It has been a remarkably interesting experience as it gave me an artistic idea that I might explore in other photographic projects other than sports. It is about expressing some aspects of “symmetry in motion” generated by teams consisting of 5 to 7 cyclists and 1 or 2 technical vehicles that are placed in some specific ways during their evolution at a travel speed of 60 km/h. Succeeding in getting such images depends very much on the position of the photographer relative to the peloton of cyclists in motion and to the moment in which the team makes the best arrangement. This time, the best conditions to shoot such an image was possible at the pass of LotoNL-Jumbo team.
I have also shot with great interest the caricatures filling the windows of various shops in Plumelec.

Plumelec, France – 12th of  July, 2015: Funny window shop decoration in Plumelec during the Team Time Trial stage – Tour de France 2015.

When I passed through the town, the lighting conditions were very precarious and I have not had so much time to stay there so it was very helpful that my camera allowed me to get HDR images directly.

Then it came the second week of the competition that meant getting into mountains where the most difficult and disputed races occur. This time, the first mountain stages have been scheduled in Pyrenees.

From the Pyrenees’ stages I chose the one with the number 11, in which the peloton had to cross the Col de Tourmalet. Before that, it was Col d’Aspin. The day before the tour, I have visited both possible destinations. I preferred Col d’Aspin this time because I had already photographed on the climbing towards Col du Tourmalet a year before.
Because of a bad synchronization, I arrived too late at the entrance at the Col d’Aspin and I could not reach the area by car, so I found myself in the position of climbing about 9-11 km on foot with my backpack and all my photographic equipment to reach to a place as close as possible to the top. So, I got on that road with a lot of confidence and I climbed about 10 km and getting at about 1.5 km from the top. I stopped there because there was a well-lit curve with an interesting landscape in the background and without too many spectators. Waiting for cyclists, I had to face a terrible heat and an absolute tack of shade.

Col D’Aspin,France- 15th of July, 2015: The peloton climbing the road to Col D’Aspin in Pyrenees Mountains during the stage 11 of Le Tour de France 2015.

Since there were not so many spectators and not an overcrowding area, I found the perfect and suitable conditions to try to also shoot some videos. So, I placed one of the devices somewhere above a few meters from the road border to record the action. At the same time, I was walking with the other camera in different places to identify the best photographic angles when the peloton comes. From all the conversations with lots of fans near the road, I recall one question of whether Romania has any cyclists in the peloton. My answer was no and then I thought how great would have been to actually have a fellow citizen among competitors… but maybe in one of the next editions. Then the Publicity Caravan appeared and after about 2 hours, the cyclists showed up. The main characteristic of the passing of the cyclists is represented by the speed, even if the path is on the way up. The time left for taking pictures is extremely limited. Cyclists appear in 2-4 groups.

Imagine that a group passes in front of you in about 1-2 minutes, in which everything is on the move. You do not have much time to think. You have to act. In those moments, all the things that you have done before the arrival of the cyclists are particularly important.
The detailed analysis of the place and the exploration of as many possible locations, to create possible scenarios, matters a lot. Despite this fact, all that you have tried to anticipate is highly likely to lose its value, but it is extremely helpful to have almost a reflex reaction to take the photos when the action happens.
After the players’ caravan and all the technical vehicles have passed, you must start your way back. Another 10 km of walk, but this time at a higher temperature, without the slightest shade….it was a real torture. Then another few kilometres by the car, hotel, shower, food, photos downloading, quick review, fast photos editing and delivering those to some agencies and then go to bed because tomorrow is a new day in which I have to focus.
I skipped the following stages so I could preserve my energy for the last days of races in Alps, when the weather forecast gave me hope that the conditions will be very good.

Col du Glandon, France – 23th of  July 2015: The peloton riding in a beautiful curve at Col du Glandon in Alps during the stage 18 of Le Tour de France 2015.

The 2015 route has been altered from the scheduled because of some unfortunate natural phenomenon that have significantly damaged one of the roads. Thus, the three stages in the Alps have passed in three days in a pretty low and narrow area which has included two mountains leaps: Col du Glandon and Col de la Croix de Fer. Both are located at about 2000m altitude in the middle of a fantastic alpine landscape.
As usually, I have chosen a close city as my destination, in which the internet access is a bit safer and with an acceptable surfing speed as to what you can get on the mountain.

In the first alpine stage I witnessed the crossing towards North of the Col du Glandon. I got there early in the morning, before 9 o’clock and I succeed to find a spot on the side of a back road, about 3 km from the place in which I was thinking to take photos. I have spent about 4-5 hours walking through the area trying to find the best emplacement.
In the end, I decided to get on the top of a barn’s roof, from where the final curve could be seen, before reaching the highest point. As the time of the arrival of the cyclists and Publicity Caravan was approaching the roof of the barn was getting full of people. So, I stood there because I feared that I could lose my place. All I wanted in that moment was that the roof would resist with all the people on it. I took all kind of pictures as trial but, in the important moments of the course the light was different. I managed again to take photos and to make some videos at the same time and that made me really happy.

Col du Glandon, France – 24th of July 2015: The peloton riding in a beautiful curve at Col du Glandon in Alps during the stage 19 of Le Tour de France 2015.

In the second alpine stage I also went to Col du Glandon which now had to be climbed from the south, opposite to the previous day approach. On this way, the road is extremely sinuous and with important curves in ascension which offer, in theory, the possibility of seeing some extremely interesting images. After I analysed some more road curves, I decided to sit on an extremely declivitous slope which offered a unique perspective of the road located at the base of the great mountain peaks in the area. It turned out that I was inspired because just before de arrival of the peloton, a group of Columbian supporters which represented a “spot of colour” got there and their energy was very welcomed in the images that were captured there. I succeed again to shoot and videos. The place where I sat was the one in which some remarkably interesting events could be observed. It was the only stage in which Froome, which was an authoritative leader of the race was surpassed by one of his direct opponents. It was Nibali the one who won the Tour de France one year before.

Col du Glandon, France – 24th of July, 2015: The British cyclist Chris Froome of Team Sky in Yellow Jersey,climbing the road to Col du Glandon in Alps, during the stage 19 of Le Tour de France 2015.

It was pointed out after the race that Froome had a tech problem and because of that he remained a little behind. Nibali realized that Froome slows down and had launched the attack. I managed to capture exactly the moment in which Nibali looks back and accelerates realising that Froome remained behind him. It was an action that lacked fair-play from the Italian but I was paying attention.
Once again, I was very inspired in choosing the place, which always is a consequence of several hours of exploring the route before the cyclists showed up.
In the last alpine stage, I placed myself on Col de la Croix de Fer, 3 km from the Col du Glandon. I knew the place from a previous trip and I remembered that it is an extremely wild place where you can feel the hardness of the mountain. The climbing was extremely difficult, corresponding to H category. I have decided that in this particular stage to only take photos and as usual, I searched suitable locations. Finally, I have chosen a hairpin curve where I could photograph the cyclists from above the entrance into the curve and after crossing it. I could capture frontal images of them. Moreover, I tried to place myself between two groups and also in the inner side of the curve getting a good angle on the arrival of the cyclists.

Col de la Croix de Fer, France – 23rd of July 2015: The peloton riding in a rocky natural environment at Col de la Croix de Fer in Alps during the stage 20 of Le Tour de France 2015.

Then, I went to the car and after three days of exploration of the mountain areas and days of shooting. I drove back home almost 1000km and during the following days and months I will relieve intensively all those stages during editing the pictures.
So, this is the story of the first tour in which I managed to shoot a more dynamic presentation of the competition.