Tour De France Forums

Enodreven

Hi,

Is anyone going to watch the tour this year and any tips on good places to stay

Brian

Moondog

www.letour.fr

Enodreven

Hi, Moondog

Thanks for the link, do you know of any good places to stay/campsites that will give you easy? access to some of the mountain stages ? as they seem to be the most spectacular ?

Brian

Crackle

Hi Brian

thinking of doing the very same thing myself this year but I have no tips on the mountain stages as I've never been to one, maybe this year.

The only tip I would give is to also consider a team time trial stage where it goes through a village, preferrably on a bend. This will give you the maximum viewing time of the riders (other than the mountains) and if you can get yourself near the time split board even better. Then when the last team goes through wonder into the nearest bar and watch the finish.

There were some threads last year on the TDF mountain stages, with a few tips in, I'll see if I can't find them again.

Tim

Enodreven

Hi, Tim

Thanks for the info and if you can find anymore i would really appreciate it,

If anyone else is interested perhaps we could make it into a meet if we can find a suitable place/Aire/campsite etc ?? as i have only ever whatched it on the TV but it always seems a great event ?

Crackle

Hi Brian

sorry I thought you'd been before so I missed the more basic advice out. With the mountiain stages you have to get there about two days in advance, sometimes more on the popular one's like Alpe d'Huez (there were a million people on this stage one year). If I can find the thread and depending on the stage, you can stay at the bottom of the mountain and cycle/walk drive up for the race day.

For any other stage you need to get there at least three hours before the riders are due through (roads closed two hours and often longer before the riders are due), less if it's out of a village. The publicity caravan comes through about an hour or so before the riders and is well worth waiting for, as they dispense all the free goodies.

There's a lot of waiting around, which is why you should pick your stages carefully, if you pick the wrong stage and spot all you'll see after 3 hours waiting is 20 seconds worth of peloton, this is why I recommended the team time trial (or the individual) and a bend, becasue that slows the riders enough to look at them and take a picture, otherwise you won't believe how fast these guys are travellin'.

The atmosphere is superb, everyone comes out to watch, whole schools bring their desks out to the roadside and the villages, which often pay good money to get the tour to come through, make a festival of it. Everyone brings a picnic, wine and chairs.

I can only guess at the mountain stage atmosphere, which is why I also want to go to one.

If you are ever tempted to go to a start and watch the riders sign on, then get there at least 4/5 hours before the start, again a great atmosphere and it gives you a sense of the scale of the event as you see the hundreds of cars motorbikes and officials.

I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone at least once in their life.

Tim

pneumatician

Sorry no usefull advice re camping we stayed in Hotels.
But like the I-O-M TT the tour is fantastic primarily for the atmosphere.
My wife and I accidentaly led for part of the stage to Mont Dore some years ago. Being on a BMW bike we think the Gendarmes thought we were part of the preceding calvalcade that flogs the memorabilia etc, fantastic riding the bike through thousands of spectators but desparately trying to find an escape route to evade embarrassment.

Steve

billym

We were on the Col de Tourmalet this year ( last year ) We stayed on a campsite in Lourdes and went up in our tent. There were hundreds and hundreds of motorhomes everywhere. No problem you just park where you can. The whole thing was a great experience. There were loads of campsites around for those who did not want to freecamp. there are some pictures on daisys web site below ( which is a tiny bit behind as our computer is broken and the repairer is suffering from the manana syndrome.)

timhg

I am booked in at the Caravan Club site at Crystal Palace so we can see the opening ceremony, the prolouge and the ride out on the 1st stage through kent. We intend taking our bikes, but I think we will use the train to get us straight in to London (station 1 mile)

Tim

GregT

My wife and I are also booked in at Crystal Palace, intending to travel into Westminster to watch this year's prologue.

We saw the tour on Alpe d'Huez last year and stayed in a Sites & Paysages site near Bourg d'Oisans - we also wild camped at the top in a car park in Alpe d'Huez three years ago when Lance won the time trial and there was over a million people on the mountain. What an experience that was. We arrived three days before race day and found what must have been one of the very last places to park - people were even camping on mini roundabouts in the village!!

Wherever you go to watch the tour, you will enjoy it regardless but if you go to the mountains or to one of the time trials you will see so much more than if you watch a 'normal' flat road stage. Enjoy.

Greg.