Here is Alberto Contador stepping out of his team bus right before the stage started yesterday. If you want to see the difference between regular riders and stars, find a pro race and check out the anonymity of nearly everyone except guys like Bert.
Even Eddy Merckx managed to walk around relatively unmolested. Here he is from the side, but just before this he walked right past my open gob. Hoping something rubbed off…
The last bad photo I took was just before Alberto lost the sprint to David de la Cruz, and therefore Paris-Nice itself (he would have gained 10 bonus seconds, giving himself enough space to jump over Henao into 1st).
The day itself turned out much better than the photos did. P-N is a great and easy race to watch live, since the last two stages are nearly always in or near Nice, which isn’t a bad place to ‘have to’ go for a bike race.
The Vicious Cycle 
Access to the riders’ buses was much restricted this year as part of increased security measures following 14 July Terror Attack. Nonetheless, it was still easy to grab a few photos of the buses and podium, plus get relatively close to the finish line. The last stage was a bit of a repeat of last year’s (and 2009’s), where Alberto also launched an offensive to try and move up GC. You can rely on his never say die attitude to enliven any race. He’ll be much missed when he retires. Note, for those that ride, there’s the added attraction of the ASO organised sportive on the Saturday.
You are everywhere, Sheree! I was in Nice for last year’s stage, too. Agree with you on Alberto. He rides with tons of style.