Tour de France - who's watching?, which stage?, where?
Discussion
I'm trying for an early double:
Stage 9 (time trial), possibly towards the end - Montferrand le Chateau, or at the finish in Besancon
Stage 11 (first big mountain stage) - ascent of the Col de la Croix de Fer
Keep an eye open for a 03 Z4 but without any PH stickers (it's not Le Mans...)
Stage 9 (time trial), possibly towards the end - Montferrand le Chateau, or at the finish in Besancon
Stage 11 (first big mountain stage) - ascent of the Col de la Croix de Fer
Keep an eye open for a 03 Z4 but without any PH stickers (it's not Le Mans...)
6 - at the Grand Depart in Epernay then then plan is to drive along the A4 and try and get near the finish in Metz before they do!
7 - Got a campsite 30km away from the finish so a ride out early and get a nice place on Planche des Belle Filles for hopefully the first fireworks of the tour.
8 - Will probably head for the Col de la Croix but haven't thought too much about this stage yet.
9 - Likely head to Besancon and watch somewhere near the end, ideally on a turn. Need to hot foot back to Calais after.
Orange 07 Qashqai with two bikes on the back.
7 - Got a campsite 30km away from the finish so a ride out early and get a nice place on Planche des Belle Filles for hopefully the first fireworks of the tour.
8 - Will probably head for the Col de la Croix but haven't thought too much about this stage yet.
9 - Likely head to Besancon and watch somewhere near the end, ideally on a turn. Need to hot foot back to Calais after.
Orange 07 Qashqai with two bikes on the back.
Sunday 15th - Eurostar and TGV to Bordeaux then hire care into Pau then the Pyrenees sleeping in the car.
Should pick up a couple of stages around Peyragudes (correct spelling?) and really looking forward to it, and (at the risk of looking nerdy) quite looking forward to seeing what the TGV is like.
Should pick up a couple of stages around Peyragudes (correct spelling?) and really looking forward to it, and (at the risk of looking nerdy) quite looking forward to seeing what the TGV is like.
I'm driving support for a friend who's doing L'Étape du Tour (stage 11) on the 8th, doubt we'll still be there on the 12th since we're keen to swing south to meet up midway with friends from Cannes...
We just might catch a bit of the Épernay - Metz stage on the 6th but I suspect we'll want to be a bit closer to Albertville by then.
We'll be in a green ALPINA B10 Touring with bike rack and PH GB sticker.
We just might catch a bit of the Épernay - Metz stage on the 6th but I suspect we'll want to be a bit closer to Albertville by then.
We'll be in a green ALPINA B10 Touring with bike rack and PH GB sticker.
Some photos from Stages 13 (Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Cap d'Agde) and Stage 14 (Limoux to Foix)
Arrived at Moussac, about 90 minutes drive from our villa at Beziers at approx 10am. Spectator spots were filling up fast but managed to get exactly where I wanted to go (had scouted possible quiet photo locations on google maps previously). Had a couple of hours wait time before the roads were closed by the gendarmerie and then the caravan rolled through about an hour later. Got hit in the nuts by a packet of haribo flung from a vehicle doing 40mph which smarted a little but otherwise all good and we didn't demean ourselves by fighting with the 5 year old children for free s
t. Still got a bunch of stuff though including caps, wrist bands, fridge magnets, sweets and inflatable pillows.
We put up a huge union jack and got a beep of the horn and a thumbs up out the window from David Brailsford CBE in the Sky team car which was nice of him.
Breakaway group
DSC_1229a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Main peleton
DSC_1246a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
It's Millar time
DSC_1286a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Moar here
Stage 14 was a long way away from the villa so it was up at 5am much to my better half's annoyance for the 3.5hr drive to Vicdessos and the start of the Cat1 climb of the Port de Lers. Got there nice and early about 9am and found that the whole area was packed with campervans and there was literally nowhere to park at all. So anyway we took a chance and drove over the top of the climb and managed to get a reasonably picturesque spot on the descent. This was all going swimmingly and we managed to park next to another British couple so at least we had some company while we waited in lovely sunshine. The peleton was due to arrive around 3:30pm so we sat around in the sun for a bit, then unfortunately the weather turned and low cloud turned to rain which persisted all afternoon. Consequently I had to bump up the ISO to ridiculous levels on the camera so the shots aren't as good but hey such is life
Eventual stage winner Sammy Sanchez sprints out of a hairpin in the breakaway group
DSC_1333a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Sagan was also in the breakaway group and took second on the stage
DSC_1337a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Gautier dropped his chain on the top of the Port de Lers and was a few seconds back from the breakaway
DSC_1349a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Nibali and Liquigas following Team Sky down the hill
DSC_8299a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Cadel had a bad day due to punctures on the final climb of the day (Col de Peguere) but the peleton waited for him
DSC_8306a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Vino had been back to the team car so was one of the last down
DSC_1374a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Moar here
We were then amazed to see campervans descending the mountain before even the team cars had come through, those crazy dutch/belgian bds. The gendarmes took a very dim view of this.
Within about 5 minutes of the last support vehicle the entire mountain was blocked by campervans so we spent 2hrs queuing to get down the 14km's of the climb, and then another 2 hours queuing on the motorway past Foix. In hindsight spectating here was a crap idea as there is really only one road in and out, and I should have realised it would be a massive bottleneck. In the end we got back to the villa about 11pm after stopping for a bite to eat on the motorway so it was a long old day.
The next day was a rest day in Pau so we drove up the Tourmalet and Col de Aspin, and did some sightseeing at Pic du Midi and again there was just millions of campervans everywhere on every conceivable patch of spare ground at the side of the road including some ridiculously perilous places. We didn't stay to spectate the next day but instead watched it on TV
So, anyone else get any pics or end up stuck in traffic on stages?
Hope you enjoy the pics and the brief write up. Cheers
Arrived at Moussac, about 90 minutes drive from our villa at Beziers at approx 10am. Spectator spots were filling up fast but managed to get exactly where I wanted to go (had scouted possible quiet photo locations on google maps previously). Had a couple of hours wait time before the roads were closed by the gendarmerie and then the caravan rolled through about an hour later. Got hit in the nuts by a packet of haribo flung from a vehicle doing 40mph which smarted a little but otherwise all good and we didn't demean ourselves by fighting with the 5 year old children for free s
t. Still got a bunch of stuff though including caps, wrist bands, fridge magnets, sweets and inflatable pillows.We put up a huge union jack and got a beep of the horn and a thumbs up out the window from David Brailsford CBE in the Sky team car which was nice of him.
Breakaway group
DSC_1229a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Main peleton
DSC_1246a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
It's Millar time
DSC_1286a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Moar here
Stage 14 was a long way away from the villa so it was up at 5am much to my better half's annoyance for the 3.5hr drive to Vicdessos and the start of the Cat1 climb of the Port de Lers. Got there nice and early about 9am and found that the whole area was packed with campervans and there was literally nowhere to park at all. So anyway we took a chance and drove over the top of the climb and managed to get a reasonably picturesque spot on the descent. This was all going swimmingly and we managed to park next to another British couple so at least we had some company while we waited in lovely sunshine. The peleton was due to arrive around 3:30pm so we sat around in the sun for a bit, then unfortunately the weather turned and low cloud turned to rain which persisted all afternoon. Consequently I had to bump up the ISO to ridiculous levels on the camera so the shots aren't as good but hey such is life
Eventual stage winner Sammy Sanchez sprints out of a hairpin in the breakaway group
DSC_1333a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Sagan was also in the breakaway group and took second on the stage
DSC_1337a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Gautier dropped his chain on the top of the Port de Lers and was a few seconds back from the breakaway
DSC_1349a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Nibali and Liquigas following Team Sky down the hill
DSC_8299a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Cadel had a bad day due to punctures on the final climb of the day (Col de Peguere) but the peleton waited for him
DSC_8306a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Vino had been back to the team car so was one of the last down
DSC_1374a by deliciouscaek, on Flickr
Moar here
We were then amazed to see campervans descending the mountain before even the team cars had come through, those crazy dutch/belgian b
ds. The gendarmes took a very dim view of this.Within about 5 minutes of the last support vehicle the entire mountain was blocked by campervans so we spent 2hrs queuing to get down the 14km's of the climb, and then another 2 hours queuing on the motorway past Foix. In hindsight spectating here was a crap idea as there is really only one road in and out, and I should have realised it would be a massive bottleneck. In the end we got back to the villa about 11pm after stopping for a bite to eat on the motorway so it was a long old day.
The next day was a rest day in Pau so we drove up the Tourmalet and Col de Aspin, and did some sightseeing at Pic du Midi and again there was just millions of campervans everywhere on every conceivable patch of spare ground at the side of the road including some ridiculously perilous places. We didn't stay to spectate the next day but instead watched it on TV
So, anyone else get any pics or end up stuck in traffic on stages?
Hope you enjoy the pics and the brief write up. Cheers
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