My husband and I are planning a trip to France in July 2016. We would like to watch the beginning of the race, the end of the race in Paris, and a few stages in between during our month in France. Does anyone have any experience doing this, and if so, any advice would be appreciated. We are planning to try to stay 5 or 6 days in various locations along the route. I think the difficulty will be the logistics of getting to the areas to watch the cyclists. Is it best to rent a car, or are there tour groups (we will be on a pretty tight budget) that anyone knows of which could take us right to the action?
Thank you!
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3279 posts
The Grand Depart will be from Mont-Saint Michel on 2 July. Only the first three stages have been announced. I would suggest periodically checking the tour's official web site. I believe the full route will not be published until September. I'm unaware of any tours that woul take you to places on the route and because of some of the more remote locations, a car might be a necessity. Realize that many places will be very crowded and you'll have to stake out a spot hours before the cyclists zoom by.
I would visit cycling websites to get more specific information as to the best way to see the tour. I'll be watching on TV wishing I was there. Go Teejay!
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
They are sure to end in Paris (not start) and they do multiple laps. There will be a big crowd but at least you get to see the peloton pass a half dozen times instead of just one quick one.
If I were going to try to experience some of the race, I'd do one of two (maybe both) things. One is to stay in or near a town that is both the start and finish of a race. Not all legs are like that. You can watch the finish one day, experience the festival atmosphere, then watch the start the next day. The other is to get near the top of a beyond classification climb near the end of a race. Everyone will be going slow, so you'll see a lot more of them. They'll also be thinned out and pass in small groups, so it won't be just a quick view as the peloton breezes past.
Posted by
Copenhagen, Denmark
971 posts
I have seen the Tour live twice, once in Paris a few years ago and once at L' Alpe d'Huez this year.
Paris is relatively easy, you find a nice spot along the route a few hours before the race and wait. The good thing about the Paris stage is that you see the riders zoom by several times. On flat roads they can go pretty fast, so if you only see the Peloton zoom by on a flat stage it can be over pretty quickly. In the mountains they slow down so you can see the riders up close and the field spreads out into smaller groups, so you get to see more of the race.
The mountain stages like L' Alpe d'Huez can be more tricky and L' Alpe d'Huez is propably the most iconic tour stage, so I might have experienced the most crowded the tour gets. We stayed at Burg D'Oisans, the village just below the climb to L' Alpe d'Huez. The town was absolutely packed with people, caravans and tents, and we where lucky to get a hut at a camp site at a price that could get you a nice hotelroom elsewhere on the night before the race. I recommend you book in advance, though i noted that there were tents put up everywhere, so if you have a tent you could propably find a place to stay, but be prepared to pay for it!
On the day of the race the advertising caravan will come down the route a few hours before the riders, you can see the schedule on the tour website as well as estimates to when the riders will be at different places along the route.
Depending on how keen you are on finding the best spot, head up the mountain a few hours before the race. We went up the mountain when the ad caravan came and got to the third bend and found a decent spot, but some people had been there the whole day.
After the race the roads were the route is will be closed for several hours and for some places in the mountains this can be the only road out of town, so expect trafic jams out of town on the evening of the race. I would recommend staying the night to enjoy the atmosphere, even though accommodation will be expensive.
Posted by
California USA
4102 posts
We've seen a stage of the TdF in different places 3 different years. My favorite place to watch is the end in Paris as others have said you get to see them pass by several times. My second favorite stage to watch is a time trial because you get to see each individual rider and his support car come by. We positioned ourselves in a town, along a 90 degree turn so the rider really slowed down enough for us to see him easily. Usually the next stage starts very near by so you can go to that location and watch them leave from there the following day.
I like the idea of seeing the end of a stage and beginning of the next stage in the same town too. We haven't experienced this yet.
I'm a little nervous about even driving in narrow mountainous roads so seeing a slow climbing mountain stage in person isn't on my horizon. I'll leave that viewing to TV with those nice aerial shots.