Tour de France 2020

We’ve spectated at 5 stages over the years, between 2008 and 2016. Haven’t witnessed a time trial in person, yet.

The Cardinal Rule, at any stage, is to get there before other people, if you want a specific position. We got to the Alpe d’Huez, 200 meters from the finish line, early, like 7:30 or 8am, and got a decent spot, but there were others there already, hours before the racers would arrive. If you have companions, and need to take breaks, one person can stick around to try to keep all your places.

There’s a caravan that precedes the peloton by an hour or two, vehicles tossing goodies from advertisers and sponsors. Caps, t-shirts, candy and other prizes. Some of it’s real junk, but people nearly kill each other to snatch them. At one stage, the start in St. Malo, we nicknamed one man “trinket guy,” because he went out of his way to amass as much as possible, even wrestling things from children! I wonder if he threw away most of it when he got home? Still, a souvenir.

Our first time, staying in Saint Malo, and armed with a Velo News Tour Guide for 2008, we plotted a strategy for the next day. We had a rental car and a map, but no GPS or other technology that seems ubiquitous now. Driving down a country lane, it was obvious that cars were parking on the side of the road. We immediately pulled over behind the last empty car, and got out and walked forward for maybe two minutes until we were at the top of the Mur de Bretagne, not a big mountain, but a steep climb that separated the field. We hung around with others, prepared with very small American flags we’d brought from home. The cavalcade of prizes caravan passed by, but didn’t toss out too much booty. One truck, adorned with the advertiser’s artwork, pulled over nearby all of a sudden, and the driver hopped out and ran over to a tree, and apparently had to urinate so badly that he couldn’t wait for a WC. When you gotta go, you gotta go. Finished, he got back in the truck to cheers, and motored on.

Suddenly, Thomas Voeckler, a beloved French rider, crested the top, leading the stage at that point. Seeing our first live TDF rider! A few minutes later, riders like Belgian Tom Boonen and Spaniard Alessandro Valverde (who won the stage) came by. Once the peloton had passed, we went back to the car and headed for Saint-Brieuc, the finishing town that day. We didn’t get there to see riders cross the finish line, but just afterwards. Riders like Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen being interviewed, two feet away. We saw them announce the stage winners, the overall leaders, and the awarding of stage prizes.
Don’t stand on a downhill stretch, or riders will fly by you so fast you won’t see them. If you’re on a flat section of road, have an open view of the road coming towards you, so you can see riders approaching. The pace will slow down a bit on an uphill grade or at the top of a climb, so you can get a longer look at riders, but you may have a lot of other spectators around you. And barricades. Many line some sections of road, which might or might not help your viewing experience. The Tour attracts fans from everywhere, so if you’ve got National or team colors to show, show them off!

Bring plenty of water and sunscreen. And a jacket, for rain or sun protection, as well as a hat. Bring a backpack or bag, to hold your stuff. If you’re in a town, food vendors will likely be nearby, but having snacks or lunch could be helpful, if you’re going to be there a while, and a picnic might be better than a leisurely French restaurant *

I haven’t been monitoring it yet for 2020, but the first few stages and routes are usually announced many months out, so you can start your location planning strategy. Later stages won’t be announced until later.
Haven’t been at the finish in Paris, either. I believe the finish line may have pricey spectator seats, while places along the rest of the Tour are free, if you can get there and wait.

The route is announced in October

We saw a time trial in Freiburg Germany one year. We missed the beginning because we flew in to Zurich that morning but made it to Freiburg for the last half of the time trail. We were happy to discover that the best riders were last so we saw many big name riders that year. We positioned ourselves close to a 90% turn so they’d have to be going slower and we’d get a longer time to see them. Most riders at the end had a motorcycle with camera person riding in front of them who leaned precariously at the turn.

It would be recommended to arrive early though if you can to catch the swag and parade at the beginning.

The time trial lasts a long time and spectators moved around to different vantage points as the day progressed. A local handed us a program so we’d know who was coming next.

So much fun! We’ve seen the ending in Paris 3x on different trips and enjoyed that too.

Thank you so much, Everyone! Very helpful!

I saw the finish of the Tour in Paris in 2008. I was able to watch from the north side of the Rue de Rivoli. It was a great location as you were not looking into the sun. The race ended that year around 2:00 and it was very warm. Here are some tips that may help you.

Scout out a number of locations the day before the tour arrives. The location I was planning on watching from was barricaded off so I had to find another location to watch at the last moment. I would watch past finishes of the race on YouTube to see what locations would be the best and how crowded they are.

Many Metro stops that empty out on the race route will not let you exit at the exit closest to the route. They close off those exits and you may have to walk further than planned.

If you get there early, you get to watch all the floats go by which was kind of fun.

Try to pick out a viewing site where you are not looking into the sun. Hopefully you can find a shady spot.

Don’t drink too much as restrooms are few and far between and you may not have your spot when you return even if a friend tries to save it for you.

Plan on walking back to your hotel or pick a Metro stop a ways from the race route to get on the Metro. I would scout out my Metro stop ahead of time so you don’t waste a lot of time trying to find one.

I know that appears to be a lot of negatives, but it was well worth it to see the race. I liked the fact that you get to see the racers go by 8 times.

Haven't done it yet. I've been to places they have either ridden recently or will ride soon.

If it were me. I wouldn't pick a random spot along the course. You'll wait most of the day then the Peleton will zip by and that will be that.

Your idea of a time trial isn't bad because the riders will come by one at a time all day.

Other ideas may be near the top of a big hill. The riders will be spread out and going slow enough to see for awhile.

I'd also like to plan an evening where they are both finishing and starting the next morning. If they finish one place and start somewhere else, I'm not sure which would be the better place? I'm afraid the riders and teams would be gone right after the trophy ceremony (sooner if they aren't getting any trophies).

Paris for the finish might be nice but I expect it will be very crowded. It might be worth paying for a seat with a view but I've never priced it.

After reading the other posts two ideas:

Don't go near a nature break part of the course, unless you want to see people riding with their pants pulled down.

Shade in Paris sounds like a really good idea. July in Paris can be really hot, the Alps should be comfortable if there aren't any storms.

We were living in Germany when Lance was predicted to win his seventh, so went to Paris that weekend on a whim. We found a room at a Marriott in the suburbs, so I'm sure we took the Metro in to watch on the Champs-Élysées. The peloton makes ten circles there, so you actually see twenty different passes. Lance was a yellow blur in a colorful, jammed together pack of riders. The crowd rises en masse, on tippy-toes, each time the peloton passes, so it's hard to see much even from a close-up row, but the excitement is contagious, and it was fun being there.

Again, thanks to all of you. Helpful thoughts and advice!

I was thinking of sounds I love that I often experience when we travel to Europe and I reminded myself of the sound the individual riders make as they speed by you during a time trial. It’s rather unforgettable and very different from when the whole peloton whooshes by. It’s kind of a zin, zin, zin, ZIN,ZIN,ZIN effect and it’s exciting.