Travelling Adventures: Watching the final stage of the Tour de France

On Sunday afternoon we set up camp in the Jardin des Tuilleries to experience the final stage of the world renowned Tour de France. It was the perfect Sunday being equal parts relaxing and exciting.

When we had first planned our month in Paris I had mistakenly thought we would miss the Tour de France.
However, a couple of very excited facebook messages early last week from our favourite Dakiniewichs Shannon and Troy confirmed that it was in fact on Sunday the 24th and begged us to go on their behalf.

We were of course happy to take up the challenge and went online to try to figure out the logistics of watching the final laps in Paris. Unfortunately the english info was sorely lacking. So, in an effort to somewhat rectify that I'm going to include lots of practical details in this post. If you'd rather look at pictures feel free to skip the next few paragraphs.

Where to watch & when to get there:

The Tour de France always ends in Paris with the finish at the Arc de Triomphe. Every year the cyclists start in the outskirts of the city (different parts each year) and then make their way into the centre ending with an 8 lap circuit up and down the Champs d'Elysées and around the Tuilleries Gardens (where the Louvre is). The cyclists don't actually get into the centre until at least 3:30pm (after 4pm in our case).

The epicentre of the event is the Champs d'Elysées, crowds are tight and they have screens showing the cyclists as well loudspeakers with commentary. This is the most exciting place to view the race because the cyclists go up and down the Champs which means that you get to watch them pass 16 times. However, the catch is that you have to put the time in and be prepared to get there by at least noon in order to get a good spot. This is especially important if you are short because it is very difficult to see over the crowds.

Not being diehard cycling fans we decided to take the more relaxed option and view the race from the Tuilleries. We still showed up pretty early (12:30pm) and this allowed us to bag a primo spot next to the Musée d'Orangerie on the Seine side of the gardens where we could look down at the cyclists as they passed on the street below. Another huge bonus to the Tuilleries option was that we could sit on the park chairs while we waited.

After setting ourselves up with the sweet park chairs, a baguette and some cheese for lunch we spent the entire afternoon relaxing in the sun and waiting for the cyclists to arrive.

Sweet spot

The first group to arrive was a fleet of red trucks, they honked their horns and we cheered them on. I'm guessing they were on the road with the cyclists the whole time so they must have been pumped to be coming into Paris as well!

As the cyclists neared Paris, the sidewalk opposite started to fill up with spectators.

The first six people (left to right) in this shot are fellow french course friends. This is also a good shot of our sweet reclining park chairs. I would totally take one home if it that wasn't stealing.

Lots of official cars came through.

Then some cars with bikes on top, that's when we started to get excited.

Here they come!!

SO fast. Graham had trouble keeping them in focus!

We dutifully screamed "Allez allez!" with loads of French people who materialised to cheer minutes before the cyclists came through.

Then came the team cars with all the bikes on top. So many many bikes (they are hard to see in these shots but each car must have had at least 10 bikes on top). They drove like maniacs too, so close to each other and then one would just lay on his horn and start zooming past all the others to get to the front (perhaps to assist a cyclist?). It was fun/a bit scary to watch.

At this point Jason decided to take a nap. Not during the four hours while we were waiting for the cyclists but once they arrived. Some of the other guys tied his shoelaces together as punishment.

Here they are again (remember the 8 laps part), also note the yellow motorcyclist guys holding up a sign, it said 33 then a the next time 32, we could figure out what that meant. Any thoughts Troy?

Here's an extra big pic of that. Would love to know what it means! (update: my friend Chris has kindly clarified that these signs indicate to the distance, in seconds between the breakaway pack and the rest of the riders, thanks Chris!).

And here they are again! I'm guessing that you get the picture by now, it was so great because they go so fast that if they had only passed once it would have been a let down. But this way we got to notice new things each time they went by. Plus, screaming "Allez" is always fun.