flat4

apart from Armstrong this and that, anyone going out to watch it or been in the past? interested to know about anyone's past experiences of what time to get there to park up etc.

andyr

I saw a couple of stages last year : the roads were shut to cars hours before but they were open to bikes for far longer. Climbs are very popular and you have to plan to get to a popular spectating spot well before even the publicity caravan arrives if you are going by car : we arrived via car in a little town that the stage passed through about 3 hours before the roders and at that point the tour road was closed. I rode from there to the top of the Col de Neronne last year via a back road (which met the tour route road on a horribly steep little climb) whilst the caravan was passing.
Spectating from a random point on a stage can be pretty uneventful IMHO : next time I'll go to a steep climb or a stage finish.
Well known climbs get packed out hours and hours before the riders arrive !

Simon C

Got it on now. He's done it what a way to retire!!!!!!!!! Although I think he would have prefered to fight it out rather than the last stage special rule being invoked cos of teh rain.

SJ_Skyline

Eurosport really screwed up yesterdays coverage ITV2 was a little better, I was hoping for live coverage of the final stage and it jut wasn't there

markr1963

Saw the Prologue when the TdF started in Dublin in 1998 and Chris Boardman was riding. I remember standing for hours and hours waiting for these guys to fly by then hitting the Guinness, big style A top weekend.