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Watching the Tour de France- insider knowledge required!

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    Watching the Tour de France- insider knowledge required!

    So I'm in north-west France, as it happens, when the Tour romps around the area from 7th to 13th July. I wouldn't mind viewing a bit of at least one of the stages, but I wonder about the logistics. Has anyone watched a stage or two live? Any tips, info or links regarding watching from the roadside? Is it likely to be possible to drive to the vicinity of the route and wander down to the route roadside? Ultimately I guess the question is whether its worth the effort- are we gonna be hanging around for a few hours to see a 10 second 60kmh streak of colour?

    The details for me.... I'll have the wife and two sports enthusiast kids with me. The boys are 7 and 9 and capable of sitting thru 90 minutes of a football match but I'm not sure how suitable it'd be for them. I'll be staying quite near La Roche Sur Yon, so stages 1, 2, 3 looks the best for me. Are they likely to be swamped though?

    cheers,
    Sean

    #2
    There's a team time trial (TTT) in Cholet on Monday 9 July. It's about an hour's drive from you but this will probably be a more rewarding watch for a spectator than the rest of the opening week, which is largely flat and indeed you will just get the breakaway and the peloton blazing past the once. Since the TTT is contained in and around the one town you'll get to see more of the TdF paraphernalia all in one place, maybe even get an autograph or two. Worth looking at the time schedule (from the link below), for example, to see when the caravan is going round with all the floats and handing out goody bags.

    https://www.letour.fr/en/stage-3

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      #3
      But yes, it will be very busy. I don't know if this video helps give a better feel of the day than the standard TV broadcast - it's a backstage video from one of the teams at the 2013 TTT - you can see the size of the crowds from the car.

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        #4
        Originally posted by seand View Post
        are we gonna be hanging around for a few hours to see a 10 second 60kmh streak of colour?
        To a certain extent, yes and you're not going to come away from these flat stages saying "that was Froome, that was Martin, that was Roche, that was Quintana" - but that's not the point, it's all about the build up, the anticipation, the social day out and then all the noise and colour and speed as the riders actually arrive. I stood waiting on Jenkin Road for the thick end of eight hours when the Tour came to Sheffield in 2014, I'd have seen way more on telly but it was bloody brilliant just to see Contador leading from Nibali and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

        Here's some useful tips on watching the race from the Inner Ring.

        Timings came out recently, here's Stage 1 and other stages can be found from there (click the "Time Schedule" tab for details, bear in mind times are local). Stage 1 has an unusually early start, presumably to get finished in time for the World Cup match. Stage 3 is a team time trial, so each of the 22 teams will come past in formation at roughly five minute intervals. Never been to one of these so no idea what it is like as a spectator event - someone like FIGS or VTT might be able to advise on this.

        The roads that the race travel on close some hours beforehand, though you'll be able to get down the side roads close to the race - they close the race route and pretty much nothing else. Get there to see the publicity caravan - that's what the "Caravan" on the timings refer to. Again, not sure what happens with the caravan at the team time trial.

        In terms of how busy it will be, starts and finishes are busy (you won't get near the start of stage 1 mind what with it being on Noirmoutier), otherwise you should be fine. Don't have ambitious plans of trying to see too much, just settle in for one sighting per day and enjoy it.

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          #5
          Cool cheers. Just noticed the TTT day, certainly has it's attractions, especially in terms of spreading out the action

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            #6
            Tho bear in mind the team TT will go past even faster than the peloton. But 20-odd times.

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              #7
              And one might see some stragglers (though they increasingly drop out at pre-agreed points in the race).

              Having watched a couple of Tour stages and had the privilege of living on the traditional Giro course, I heartily recommend doing this to anyone.

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                #8
                Cheers. Looking at the route maps I've just realised stage 2 passes within about 5km of where we're staying so we'll probably try that out then make a call for stage 3 , the TTT

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                  #9
                  Did stage 2 and stage 3 in the end. Great days out and fairly easy to manage logistically
                  Very mixed welcome for Sky, where I was anyway. An amount of booing but plenty of encouragement and cheering too
                  Last edited by seand; 09-07-2018, 23:37.

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                    #10
                    Great stuff seand, hope the whole family enjoyed it!

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