Beautiful Tour de France Hostesses

Jen sent me this article and it is just drop dead funny.  It's consolating to know that there are news reporters and editors just like me out there.  See some fantastic quotes.

The Tour de France has its hotesses. (The term means "hostess" in French, not "hotty," despite the resemblance.)

This nation's leggy, high-cheekboned angels have been bewitching men for centuries. Beautiful women are formally endowed with an elite status here: Professional models have been among the select cadre of professions entitled to a sizable tax rebate.

The hallmarks of the Tour hostesses are glamour and sophistication, and Nessrine Mousli has both to spare. Tall, with large dark eyes under a fringe of bangs, she looks something like a dewy, brunet Brigitte Bardot.

He likes to joke with the girls. The first time she zipped him into the yellow jersey, "his eyes were glittering and he was very excited," she said. "But then one day he was bitter, you know? Sour. He said to us, 'Maybe this is the last day I'll have it.' "

Hostess Emilie Moreau is a veteran Armstrong kisser, having accessorized the American's victories at the Tour finish on Paris's Champs-Elysees for three years running.

The hostesses are strictly forbidden to get any closer to the riders than those officially sanctioned pecks on the cheek. Fraternizing is strictly forbidden. However, love doesn't listen to rules, and romance has been known to arise from those calculated kisses.