Tour de France advice & insight

Many years ago when I was in much better shape I went with some bicycling friends to France while the TDF was underway and we were able to see the tour go up Alpe d'Huez. The police know what time the tour is expected to arrive on the climb (in our case mid afternoon) and so in the morning they block the road off to cars but allow pedestrians and cyclists to go up. In the days before the race comes thru all kinds of people go up and camp on pullouts and meadows next to the road. Some in campers & RVs, some in tents. It is a real party scene! The rules for camping beside the road appear to be different there than back in the US. As for us, we rode up to the top weaving thru the pedestrians and then came back down a bit and found a place on a hillside to watch them go by, maybe 30 feet away. It's a lot of fun, more than you see on TV. For 30 minutes or so before the riders go by there are sponsor trucks going by throwing swag to the crowd.

There are people that follow the tour and you might be able to find posts by them on the web. Some of the people sitting near us were doing that, going stage to stage for a while. For me, watching a mountain stage is more interesting than watching them whiz by at 35mph on the flats. But given what you've said above you might want to find a few towns mid-route the tour passes thru so you'll go out to watch them fly by and then spend the rest of the day in town. If there is a local bicycling club in your area you might want to attend a meeting and ask if anyone has gone to watch the tour, and, if so, can give you advice.

Thank you - this helps a lot and confirms some of what I’ve found. Ideally, one day we would be pedestrians climbing up to watch a climb someplace, another day watch a finish.

We have seen 2 very different events of the Tour and I really liked both. On 3 occasions we’ve been in Paris at the end when they lap the Champs-Elysees about 8 times. You can stand along the barrier and watch them several times as they speed by. The other event we saw was a time trial one year when we stayed in Freiburg im Briesgau. They sped by one at a time on city streets and we positioned ourselves at a corner so we could watch them slowdown, lean and speed through with the motorcycle camera on their tail. If we had wanted to we could have gone to Colmar the next day to watch the start of that leg but we thought it would be over in a second and we’d just seen each rider up close and personal. I hope you get to see a stage or two on your trip next summer. It was a sight and sound you won’t forget.

Thank you Mona- I am thinking I need to relax into those days (we don’t intend to stay late in July enough for Paris finale) ask around, make day-of choices about where we want to be, if we want to be at end, etc.

We went to the prologue and one stage a couple of years ago in the Vendee. The prologue was a fascinating behind the scenes look at how the tour operates. We had a few words with Geraint Thomas as he got off the bus - he won it that year. The prologue is in Bilbao next year.

The detailed routes are published. We weren’t anywhere near the mountains, so we picked a position on one of the early stages in a village where, using Streetview, we established that there was a 90 degree turn and as the streets there were fairly narrow, we knew that the cyclists wouldn’t be whizzing past us at the speed of light. There was a carnival atmosphere in the village with pop up cafes and a village fete. We had folding chairs with us, which were a life saver as you have to be there early. The caravan goes through about an hour before the race throwing sweets etc

The mountain stages often close the roads to traffic at 6am, so unless you are in place early, it’s a long walk up to somewhere interesting. There aren’t any bathroom facilities!

Jennifer what character were you dressed as? :)

These are the mythical mountain stages where the spectacle is most appreciated and where there are the most people. Several hundred thousand people during a stage that arrives at Alpe d'Huez for example, where the supporters gather several days before and transform the side of the road into an open-air discotheque.
It's an experience you won't find anywhere else. If you can find a place.

Otherwise going to a stage arrival city is more interesting than to a departure city
Or you have to find a small town or a village on the course of the race (located in a climb).
In most towns or villages where "Le Tour" passes, it's party time, with music, beer stands, sausages / french fries / mustard (or ketchup if you prefer! )

Next month the places chosen for the start and finish of the stages will be published (we already know the details of the first 3 stages which will be in Spain)
The details of the other routes followed by the race will probably come later.

The first thing to do when you have decided where you want to see "Le Tour" is to find accommodation, and to worry about possible accesses from this accommodation because all the roads which access or cross the route will be closed several hours before the passage of the race.
If you have a car it will also be impossible to park it on the race route one or two days before the race (if you forget it, it will go to the pound)
And be aware that places to stay will not be easy to find, not only because of the tourists, but the Tour De France is a real city of several thousand people who move from city to city every day ( I was one of those people for a few years) and for whom accommodation is booked well in advance.

JoLui I appreciate all the insight!! Everyone here is really helping me visualize what to expect.

We plan on train or car service a day ahead of tour twice, and let ourselves really just get into the spirit of the thing!