Tour de France 2025!

For those who have a VPN and can select a server located in France, France-TV, the national TV channel group, broadcasts the race live every day. This is the original TV feed retransmitted by all other TV stations around the world.

You can select the final feed broadcasted on French television (with commentary in French), or the raw live feeds transmitted by the five motorcycle cameras (even when the motorcycle cameramen aren't filming the race and have stopped on the side of the road for a break), as well as the feed from the finish line at the end of the stage.

Registration is required but free.

https://www.france.tv/sport/cyclisme/tour-de-france/

I have some memories and experiences about the "Tour" since I worked for the TDF for a few years with the 3,000 or so other people who make this huge mobile vessel work. Although I was at the heart of the race, I was in the technical broadcast teams. Sorry, these are not really "sports" stories. -)

I was lucky enough to be on the Champs Elysées for the 2004 Tour. Tom Boonen won the stage; Lance Armstrong "won" the Tour.

We watched it from le Rond Point (near Franklin Roosevelt Metro). We got there about 4 hours early to get a good place, and we did, right up front. The crowd, the food, the promo caravan, the whole spectacle was amazing.

What I remember most from a cycling perspective is (a) how FAST these guys are going. These guys whizz past you way faster than you could possibly identify them; and (b) how LOUD the sound of a 180 man peleton going by is. These guys are really mashing on big gears. To see the race per se, TV gives you a much better perspective of what is happening and who is winning. But to experience the spectacle is something I will remember forever.

Fortunately, I usually get up at 4:00 AM !

I had always hoped to get over there for the tour. I wanted to find Didi ( the devil ) and give him an Arizona State Sun Devil tee shirt !

Years ago a man who coached another team in our Little League went over. You can see him cheering on Lance at the start of the Alpe d’ Huez time trial. Apparently he got to close and as a result we heard he was kicked out of France ( I’m not sure if that was true or just kicked out of the start area )

In 2008, I got to watch the final stage in Paris. It was a lot of fun as they made 7 or 8 circuits in Paris. I was able to watch on the Rue de Rivoli. This year is going to be great as they make 3 circuits thru Montmartre. For those of you who are planning on watching in Paris, scout out your possible viewing points the day before. Also keep in mind that a number of metro stations are closed hours before race time so have an alternate station to arrive in just in case the metro station you planned to use is not available. Also, look for a shady spot and don’t be facing the sun and no chairs were allowed.

Didn’t you give some pretty specific directions as to where you were standing last year? I had fun trying to figure just where you were looking at footage. Thanks for the reminder that it starts tomorrow as we’re usually in our summer spot by now and my brain uses that as the reference point. Our summer location doesn’t have Peacock access, but at least I’ll get to watch the first couple of days this year. I hope the thread stays us this year because talking about each stage educates us about a variety of locations and customs for watching.

Thank you to everyone for contributing posts prior to tomorrow’s Stage 1. Patty, I believe you’re right. Last year in the Pyrenees, we pulled off onto a shoulder just before a bridge, and one town away from a mid-stage Sprint. As the race sped past, I think all of the cameras were facing away from us!

On the final two days, in Nice, we were just past a corner at the edge of the old port, where the penultimate stage started two minutes earlier, and a couple of blocks north of there on the final day, at another corner, for the final Time Trial. Corners slow down the riders by a slight amount, but maybe enough to make seeing them easier.

Good news! NBC network TV is showing tomorrow’s Stage 1, starting at 6:00 AM, Mountain Daylight Time! That means I wouldn’t have to be up at 4 o’clock, unless I’m determined to see the first two hours. With the start at basically the French/Belgian border, I wonder if lots of Belgians (who all seem to be bike racing fanatics) will venture into France to see the race, live?

Stage 1: I didn’t get up super early, but watched the live Peacock airing. I think that showed almost the whole stage, so no need to get up in the middle of the night. Tomorrow starts at 4:30 my time, so I probably won’t be seeing it at the very beginning. Lille was a frequent host of Le Tour in the 1930’s, and now, 90+ years later, today was Lille’s 19th time.

Spoiler Alert: crashes while bike racing are extremely unpleasant, and can even cause a rider to have to drop out of the race. No exception today :-(

Did you say memories, experience and dreams regarding the Tour? Well right up my alley that. My dream was to take all my kids and their families to see the finale in Paris, everyone dressed in a stage winner category. Alase it was just me in a Red Poka dot dress for King of the Mountains and my grandson in Green shirt for Fastest Sprinter. Apparently not everybody is in the same lane so just me and him went. So many memories, what a great time we had. Got there very early, ended up in the second row from the fence behind some folks from the UK. I helped her on and off with her rain jacket and for the last lap her and her husband let me get in front of them. What a wonderful time! Go Chris Froom. J

Cyn - I think I found your bridge in the Pyrenees last year

I missed the first hour today as it started at 5:00 for us but I was on in time to see the cobblestones claim those two, which Liggett & Roll said they’d never seen before. Wondering how Vercher is feeling about now.

I know we’re supposed to keep things travel-related and today I discovered on the Tour website that there a breakdown of important sites in each stage. We’ve had people on the forum ask about sites to see out of Lille and so thanks to the site I now know about Chateau d’Olhain and Chateau Pierrefonds.

Darrenblois --- we watched the tour come in on the champs during the Armstrong years as well. I had a camera that had a somewhat slow mechanism and although I shot a roll of film, I didn't manage to get cyclists as they went so darn fast that between pressing the button and the shutter actually opening was long enough that they were long gone. Even in the fairly gentle raise on the Champs Elysees, the speed is awesome.

Another plus to watching it in Paris is that they go by 16 times on the Champs Elysees -- and so you get quite a show.

“ Another plus to watching it in Paris is that they go by 16 times on the Champs Elysees -- and so you get quite a show.”

This year the final stage of the TdF is different. The peloton will still go buy the Champs-Élysées, but only a few times. Instead of all those laps on the relatively flat Avenue, the riders will now have to do 3 laps to the top of Monmartre. No doubt, the organizers were inspired by the cycling road races of last year’s Paris Olympics.

Btw; I’m pretty happy with the TdF so far. Always nice to see a countryman win a stage and the yellow jersey :-)

Yes, always nice to see that.

Our fellow Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel is always good for some really exciting finishes, like we had yesterday in Boulogne-sur-Mer. He is not a real tour cyclist like Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, so winning the TdF is to MHO unlikely. But nevertheless I expect he will wear the yellow jersey the next few days too. And being the grandson of Raymond Poulidor he is very popular in France too and will give him that extra drive to keep that jersey as long as possible.