Greig Leach

The Gendarmes that travel with the Tour de France work tirelessly to protect the members of the peloton from many different dangers along the road. They will race ahead of the entire race then stop their motorcycles out of the way. Then they stand fearlessly in front of a dangerous piece of traffic "furniture" waving a bright yellow pennant, blowing ceaselessly on their whistles to warn the peloton. After everyone has passed, they will remount and work their way back through the peloton to warn of the next danger up the road. In my continuing list of things I have never seen before, earlier, one of the Gendarmes had crashed his bike into an embankment. He chose to crash rather then risk causing even one of the competitors to fall. So chapeau to the men in their bright blue jumpsuits!