The Tour de France is a bicycling race that takes place over all over Europe. It is THE bike race of bike races, it is the Super Bowl of cycling to cycling fans. For 21 aurdous days the riders race across open countrysides, toil up incredibly steep grades though the Alps and Pyrenees and fight the wind, rain and heat to finally race into Paris and cross the finish line. It has been on our bucket list to get to the Tour de France and we finally get to check it off! It was an awesome day!
I am not a fan of getting up at four in the morning, but on the day of the Tour de France that’s what we had to do if we wanted the chance to ride the route of the race finish. As the roads were being closed in preparation of the finish of the race, we were able to ride the famed Avenue Champs-Elysees. We rode a couple of laps from the Arc de Triomphe to the Luxor Obelisk. Riding on the cobble stones is much harder than the pros make it look. Oh and, I landed on those cobble stones when a taxi turned across in front of me. I hit my brakes hard, my rear tire went up and I went off my bike. Luckily I bounce well and was more embarrassed than hurt.
Michael and I do not demand VIP treatment but that was what we experienced at Tour de France. As people were beginning to flood the area and barricades were herding everyone in certain directions, showing our tickets allowed us to cross the barriers. I have to admit that I felt pretty posh being escorted to our private viewing area.
Our VIP location was in this long row of tented spaces close enough to the route to high-five the riders. We arrived at 1:00 just in time to see the finish of the Tour de Femme (ladies race). This was the first time since 1989 that there has been a ladies race. They were fast and it was super exciting to see who would be in the break away each time they came past us.
We were treated to tasty small bites of food prepared especially for us by our own chef. There was an open bar (you’ve got to love an open bar) and this award winning mixologist prepared his signature Tour de France drinks for us.
A fun part of the Tour de France fanfare is the loud and gaudy Publicity Caravan that includes vans driven by of the many sponsors and some that were like parade floats. The caravan was about two miles long.
We wined and dined as the excitement built to the finish of the men’s race. As they made their final laps around the Champs-Elysées we cheered them on. There was a lot of comradie among the team members as they road arm-in-arm toward the finish line. On the last lap they were back to business and raced at top speed to the finish line. Although we were very close to the finish line, the best view was to turn around and watch the finish on the jumbo tron behind us. A great day was had by all! Exhausted we made our way, with the hoards of other cycling fans, back to our hotel.
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What a phenomenal experience! So glad the tumble didn’t take you out Tina! That will just further ingrain you wonderful memories and bucket list! Thanks for taking us on your adventure!
You are living your dreams come true! Very epic cool!
Tina, how did you get Tour de France tickets? Very exciting. We are enjoying your posts very much. Frank
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Hi Frank, the Tour de France was the pre-trip for a cycling cruise we booked with Santana Adventures. They had the contacts to get the VIP space.
Great post Tina. As I watched the end of the race on TV I kept wondering where you and Michael were stationed. Now I know! What a great event and memory. I am glad you bounce well. I can’t imagine riding those cobblestones at 40+ mph. Sheesh