I read the OP wrong and should have answered 0 when talking about live. I have seen one GT stage live (last stage 2007 Giro)
I have some plans to go to Utrecht next year.
I have some plans to go to Utrecht next year.
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Thanks!
option 0 missing.
dont have the $$$ to visit Europe let alone France. may be someday i will make enough money to see one stage in person.
i have been watching in TV since LA's third win whenever they aired it. (they never showed in TV in my part of the world before that.)
dont have the $$$ to visit Europe let alone France. may be someday i will make enough money to see one stage in person.
i have been watching in TV since LA's third win whenever they aired it. (they never showed in TV in my part of the world before that.)
Okay, 0 option added. My bad not adding that last night. 
For some reason it wouldn't work just putting "0" so had to put "0 Tours."
For some reason it wouldn't work just putting "0" so had to put "0 Tours."
6 stages 3 Corsica / 3 England
I started chasing the Sagan WT races last year with my wife, and I must say I really enjoyed it. We just love the atmosphere of big races. Most of the time people are very friendly and helpfull. It is such a new thing for Slovaks to be able to be pround of somebody, something abroad.
Since that time we have been visiting (Corsica, Italy, France, Belgium, England). Two great years.
Unfortunately Tour stages are not so fan-friendly as you need to fight hours for position to see few seconds of racing. I do like the idea of paid fan-zones with big screens and certain comfort. Yorkshire stages were huge, crowd was unbelievable, but for a first time I regretted I did not stayed at home. That was just too much.
My TOP: Florence, Kwaremont (Gent) - the best way how to fell in love to Italy and Belgium.
I started chasing the Sagan WT races last year with my wife, and I must say I really enjoyed it. We just love the atmosphere of big races. Most of the time people are very friendly and helpfull. It is such a new thing for Slovaks to be able to be pround of somebody, something abroad.
Since that time we have been visiting (Corsica, Italy, France, Belgium, England). Two great years.
Unfortunately Tour stages are not so fan-friendly as you need to fight hours for position to see few seconds of racing. I do like the idea of paid fan-zones with big screens and certain comfort. Yorkshire stages were huge, crowd was unbelievable, but for a first time I regretted I did not stayed at home. That was just too much.
My TOP: Florence, Kwaremont (Gent) - the best way how to fell in love to Italy and Belgium.
None.
Not too upset about it though. Cycling seems like just about the least fan-friendly sport. Much prefer to be able to see everything from in front of the TV.
Not too upset about it though. Cycling seems like just about the least fan-friendly sport. Much prefer to be able to see everything from in front of the TV.
Jerkovin said:
There are some hockey players who make several times more money than he do, but that is the sport played in 10 countries in the word
.Then we have few capable football players who never perform playing for Slovkia. (Skrtel, Hamsik)- proabably you have heard those names before.
We are superpower in canoening from which we have some amazing world and olympic winners, but this is agian the very minor sport.
Tennis - Hantuchova, Cibulkova
... and this about it in terms of Slovak sportmen, so yes, at this time he is probably our best sportsman
I've seen 8 live (well, technically 9, but one was just the departure so I don't count it so much); I live in Canada but have been fortunate enough to plan 3 bike touring trips in which I've been able to do a lot of things including watch some TdF stages. Here are the ones I saw live (with a bit of reflection because a) I like telling stories and b) it might be helpful for those thinking of going to watch someday):
2007:
Plateau de Beilles - I was so pumped to watch my first TdF stage live, I convinced my two friends I was travelling with (who weren't pro bike fans) to structure the first part of our trip around it. I ran them down on all the favourites, researched where the best places would be to camp/watch, etc. We biked up in the morning and were stoked by the general atmosphere of encouragement from all the fans and amateur cyclists at the side of the road - my friend Mark got the biggest cheer for having a 4 liter box of wine bungeed to his back rack. Drinking wine and eating baguettes all day at roadside with hundreds of thousands of people, attending a sporting event at a distance of one foot away from the athletes, for free? This was my type of event.
After hours of waiting, the publicity caravan came by, which was amusing and novel. Then, what seemed like a thousand cars and motorbikes streamed by endlessly. Then, we saw the helicopter hovering and twisting its way over the switchbacks as the lead riders came up the mountain. I had no idea who would be there at the front - Rasmussen had had a surprisingly good TT and was still in yellow, but surely he couldn't hang with the best in the big mountains; Valverde had had a bad TT but was surely good enough to stomp in the mountains; Vino had had his big crash but had crushed in Albi and was looking like he was on the comeback trail... and then the first riders came around the corner, and it was Chicken and Contador?!? No one else was even close, and Vino was 17 minutes down or something. Huh, not what I expected, crazy exciting.
Aubisque - after paying for a campground by PdB, we decided to set up in the woods for this one (which was free but had less security, as we realized to our chagrin when the day after my friend's front wheel was stolen stranding him on top of the mountain, haha). We positioned ourselves cleverly for the publicity caravan as we wanted to get free samples of laundry soap (man, do you know how sweaty your clothes get on bike tours?) This was to be the last day Rasmussen was in the race, little did we know - Vino had already been tossed the day before. We were hoping for a shakeup, but by the time they got to us, it was Conti and Chicken at the front, with the unpleasant surprise of Levi hanging on. Oh well, we yelled and screamed at all 160-whatever guys were left at that point. We realized the best place to set up was as close to the top as you could get before the barricades started, which I've followed ever since.
Champs Elysees - we had to do it; it was my friend's birthday and we were on our way from the south of France to Ireland, so it fit well to take a train to Paris and catch this. I'd definitely recommend doing it once and then never again, unless you were lucky enough like the person upthread who got all access to the finish. Us pleebs had to stake out a spot on the barriers and guard it with our lives for 5 hours so we could watch the peloton whiz past a bunch of times. Pretty fun, but we didn't really see anything. Oh, Bennati won? Cool. (confession: I had to look up on wikipedia who won, and was shocked that Bennati had won on the Champs)
2009:
Verbier - we (there were 2 of the 3 of us from the previous trip) staked out a good spot where we could see the whole valley, and found a tent near the top that had a TV so we could watch the race until it was in the valley, then go down the 500m to our spot to watch it come up. This was a great day for me, as I got into the Tour in the Armstrong years and cheered for years in vain for him to get dumped in the mountains. That day I saw it, got a great pic with him passing directly in front of me, focused and losing to both Contador and Schleck.
we stuck around for the rest day in Martigny and saw the depart the next day before going our own way. Going to the sign in was kind of fun, although we came too early and ended up watching an hour of corporate mascots trying lamely to entertain people by dancing around endlessly while Euro dance music played in the background.
Colombiere - This was the stage where the Schlecks and Contador romped, and Conti dropped his own teammate Kloden with an attack, oops. There was a descent after the Colombiere so we were only 100m from the top and there were no barricades. I've got a good photo of Menchov coming in with the gruppeto with my buddy standing behind him and laughing at him.
Annecy TT - Definitely the best watching experience I've had. After a morning of riding half the TT, we found a cafe with a patio 4k from the finish. Basically, we sat there all day drinking coffee and beer with our feet up, a raised platform overlooking the road. I had a stopwatch and was relaying times to my friend, and we would occasionally go inside to check the final times on the TV. This was the day that Contador beat Canc, which I still can't believe. It also means that between this, Verbier and PdB in 2007, I've managed to attend all of Conatdor's stage wins as of yet. I'm convinced I'm his good luck charm until proven otherwise.
2012: solo trip this time
Peyresourde - it was old hat by now. I stayed at a campground in Bagneres-de-Luchon and rode up, found a spot by the top and parked myself in front of a TV showing the race. Ignored the publicity caravan and watched until they were 5km away. Internally tried to will Vino into beating Voeckler but there was no chance. Other than that it was super boring, as anyone who watched the 2012 Tour knows.
Peyragudes - same deal the next day. Watched the roll-out in Luchon and found a bar to sit in to watch on TV until there were a couple of hours to go, then rode up the mountain. Didn't really know whether to cheer for Valverde to win the stage or for Froome and Wiggins to catch him, so I just decided to cheer for everyone. I think my favourite thing about watching the Tour in the mountains is that people scream just as loud (or sometimes louder) for the last guys struggling up the road as they do for the leaders. Allez allez allez!!! Courage!!!
Later on the same trip I caught a stage of the Eneco Tour and 3 stages of the Vuelta, which were way looser than the TdF, more fun in some ways. It's hard to replicate the grandiosity of the Tour, but watching a race in Belgium was great because the set-up is fantastic, and the two Basque stages I went to in Spain had such numerous and passionate fans. There was a much higher cycling IQ in both those situations for sure.
Anyway, some things I've learned are: it's better to watch at a really steep part near the end where you can watch people take time to go past, it's good to find a place before the barricades so you can be part of that crazy crowd, TTs are awesome to watch, flat bunch stages not as much, it's good to combine watching on TV with waiting for the race, although on a mountain stage the suspense is fun too if you don't know what's happening.
2007:
Plateau de Beilles - I was so pumped to watch my first TdF stage live, I convinced my two friends I was travelling with (who weren't pro bike fans) to structure the first part of our trip around it. I ran them down on all the favourites, researched where the best places would be to camp/watch, etc. We biked up in the morning and were stoked by the general atmosphere of encouragement from all the fans and amateur cyclists at the side of the road - my friend Mark got the biggest cheer for having a 4 liter box of wine bungeed to his back rack. Drinking wine and eating baguettes all day at roadside with hundreds of thousands of people, attending a sporting event at a distance of one foot away from the athletes, for free? This was my type of event.
After hours of waiting, the publicity caravan came by, which was amusing and novel. Then, what seemed like a thousand cars and motorbikes streamed by endlessly. Then, we saw the helicopter hovering and twisting its way over the switchbacks as the lead riders came up the mountain. I had no idea who would be there at the front - Rasmussen had had a surprisingly good TT and was still in yellow, but surely he couldn't hang with the best in the big mountains; Valverde had had a bad TT but was surely good enough to stomp in the mountains; Vino had had his big crash but had crushed in Albi and was looking like he was on the comeback trail... and then the first riders came around the corner, and it was Chicken and Contador?!? No one else was even close, and Vino was 17 minutes down or something. Huh, not what I expected, crazy exciting.
Aubisque - after paying for a campground by PdB, we decided to set up in the woods for this one (which was free but had less security, as we realized to our chagrin when the day after my friend's front wheel was stolen stranding him on top of the mountain, haha). We positioned ourselves cleverly for the publicity caravan as we wanted to get free samples of laundry soap (man, do you know how sweaty your clothes get on bike tours?) This was to be the last day Rasmussen was in the race, little did we know - Vino had already been tossed the day before. We were hoping for a shakeup, but by the time they got to us, it was Conti and Chicken at the front, with the unpleasant surprise of Levi hanging on. Oh well, we yelled and screamed at all 160-whatever guys were left at that point. We realized the best place to set up was as close to the top as you could get before the barricades started, which I've followed ever since.
Champs Elysees - we had to do it; it was my friend's birthday and we were on our way from the south of France to Ireland, so it fit well to take a train to Paris and catch this. I'd definitely recommend doing it once and then never again, unless you were lucky enough like the person upthread who got all access to the finish. Us pleebs had to stake out a spot on the barriers and guard it with our lives for 5 hours so we could watch the peloton whiz past a bunch of times. Pretty fun, but we didn't really see anything. Oh, Bennati won? Cool. (confession: I had to look up on wikipedia who won, and was shocked that Bennati had won on the Champs)
2009:
Verbier - we (there were 2 of the 3 of us from the previous trip) staked out a good spot where we could see the whole valley, and found a tent near the top that had a TV so we could watch the race until it was in the valley, then go down the 500m to our spot to watch it come up. This was a great day for me, as I got into the Tour in the Armstrong years and cheered for years in vain for him to get dumped in the mountains. That day I saw it, got a great pic with him passing directly in front of me, focused and losing to both Contador and Schleck.
we stuck around for the rest day in Martigny and saw the depart the next day before going our own way. Going to the sign in was kind of fun, although we came too early and ended up watching an hour of corporate mascots trying lamely to entertain people by dancing around endlessly while Euro dance music played in the background.
Colombiere - This was the stage where the Schlecks and Contador romped, and Conti dropped his own teammate Kloden with an attack, oops. There was a descent after the Colombiere so we were only 100m from the top and there were no barricades. I've got a good photo of Menchov coming in with the gruppeto with my buddy standing behind him and laughing at him.
Annecy TT - Definitely the best watching experience I've had. After a morning of riding half the TT, we found a cafe with a patio 4k from the finish. Basically, we sat there all day drinking coffee and beer with our feet up, a raised platform overlooking the road. I had a stopwatch and was relaying times to my friend, and we would occasionally go inside to check the final times on the TV. This was the day that Contador beat Canc, which I still can't believe. It also means that between this, Verbier and PdB in 2007, I've managed to attend all of Conatdor's stage wins as of yet. I'm convinced I'm his good luck charm until proven otherwise.
2012: solo trip this time
Peyresourde - it was old hat by now. I stayed at a campground in Bagneres-de-Luchon and rode up, found a spot by the top and parked myself in front of a TV showing the race. Ignored the publicity caravan and watched until they were 5km away. Internally tried to will Vino into beating Voeckler but there was no chance. Other than that it was super boring, as anyone who watched the 2012 Tour knows.
Peyragudes - same deal the next day. Watched the roll-out in Luchon and found a bar to sit in to watch on TV until there were a couple of hours to go, then rode up the mountain. Didn't really know whether to cheer for Valverde to win the stage or for Froome and Wiggins to catch him, so I just decided to cheer for everyone. I think my favourite thing about watching the Tour in the mountains is that people scream just as loud (or sometimes louder) for the last guys struggling up the road as they do for the leaders. Allez allez allez!!! Courage!!!
Later on the same trip I caught a stage of the Eneco Tour and 3 stages of the Vuelta, which were way looser than the TdF, more fun in some ways. It's hard to replicate the grandiosity of the Tour, but watching a race in Belgium was great because the set-up is fantastic, and the two Basque stages I went to in Spain had such numerous and passionate fans. There was a much higher cycling IQ in both those situations for sure.
Anyway, some things I've learned are: it's better to watch at a really steep part near the end where you can watch people take time to go past, it's good to find a place before the barricades so you can be part of that crazy crowd, TTs are awesome to watch, flat bunch stages not as much, it's good to combine watching on TV with waiting for the race, although on a mountain stage the suspense is fun too if you don't know what's happening.
i lost the count.. growing up in Bagneres de Bigorre, i went to see Louison Bobet and the gang with my father must have been in 1950. i remember being proud to wear a silly paper hat they gave you.. Since i have at least attended one stage except 1967 to 1970 year. When i moved to the US (1970) and i started to ride a few stages with some fellows from New York.. We have kept that tradition till this year. ( tried the Giro instead) often , when in shape, participating at " L'etape du Tour" did the one of Pau-Hautacam a few years back.. " followed the tour from Nice to the pyrenees last year. seeing different part of each stages. managed to get a low level press pass in 85 - 86 - 89 which gave me access to some interesting spots and cyclists. I was at the top on Luz Ardidens in the interview aeria when john Tesh did greg lemond. so which was my favorite? Many for sure.. too many to name But i recall special sensation the time Jacques Anquetil won in my home town ... http://la-legende-du-tour.francetvs...etil-vainqueur-Bagneres-de-Bigorre/annee/1963Fight.The.Power said:
Thanks Skidmark for the great read, absolutely fascinating. I encourage other posters to share their experience at the TdF, or even other races!
On TV the first stage I saw was Hoban winning in 1975, it was just a couple of minutes of highlights. I next remember seeing Merckx's last Tour, 1977, again highlights on World of Sport. Then I've watched it on TV every year since. As for watching stages by the roadside I think I've seen 8 to 10. Two stages came to/through my city so I was lucky.
Followed the 2004 Tour from stage 8 to stage 20. It was the trip of my lifetime so far, a lot of wonderful riding and a great race to watch (I was still drinking the Lance Kool Aid).
Once when the Tour came to Ireland in '98 and finished in Cork. The finish wasn't too far from where l lived. Around 30 mins walk.
Jan Svorada won. The same day Boardman crashed out while in yellow.
Jan Svorada won. The same day Boardman crashed out while in yellow.
5.
Was in St Malo in 2008 for the start of a stage, remember seeing everyone go past, then heading to the pub and meeting a man from the channel islands who reminded me of Sean Connery, don't remember much after that.
2012:
Stage 10: Mâcon / Bellegarde-sur-Valserine
We were on the Col du Grand Columbier
Stage 12: Albertville - La Toussiure
Was at the top of the Glandon for this one, such a beautiful place to spend an afternoon
Stage 19: Time trial Chartres (quite boring tbh).
Stage 20: The finish in Paris.
Was in St Malo in 2008 for the start of a stage, remember seeing everyone go past, then heading to the pub and meeting a man from the channel islands who reminded me of Sean Connery, don't remember much after that.
2012:
Stage 10: Mâcon / Bellegarde-sur-Valserine
We were on the Col du Grand Columbier
Stage 12: Albertville - La Toussiure
Was at the top of the Glandon for this one, such a beautiful place to spend an afternoon
Stage 19: Time trial Chartres (quite boring tbh).
Stage 20: The finish in Paris.
Cool. I know the footballers. And my second question was actually going to be whether Hantuchova and Cibulkova are particularly popular in Slovakia?SKSemtex said:There are some hockey players who make several times more money than he do, but that is the sport played in 10 countries in the word
Then we have few capable football players who never perform playing for Slovkia. (Skrtel, Hamsik)- proabably you have heard those names before.
We are superpower in canoening from which we have some amazing world and olympic winners, but this is agian the very minor sport.
Tennis - Hantuchova, Cibulkova
... and this about it in terms of Slovak sportmen, so yes, at this time he is probably our best sportsman
As someone who works in tennis and can spend as much as 12 straight hours at a tournament watching match after match, catching about 10 seconds of action as cyclists fly past just doesn't compute with me as a worthwhile thing to do.Tonton said:
Least fan friendly huh? WTF
I know the atmosphere can be great and, particularly at TDF the fans can be crazy, but I don't know...I was going to watch the guys as they came into London at the beginning of the tour, but then catching everything that happened while kicking my feet up at home with a beer sounded far more fun getting there hours early and fighting my way to the front in order to catch sight of them for a few seconds.
But I did enjoy skidmark's post.
Jerkovin said:
Only newbies visit Tour stage finishes or flat stages (like I did - twice) just to get a glimpse of the riders. But even this can get very interesting if you stick to the team buses/cars after finish. Good chance to get autographs, grab a leftover bottle or talk to the riders - although I always preferred race starts for all of this.
When standing on a climb in the Pyrenees or the Alpes it may take half an hour between the passage of the first and last rider, plus you get the spectacle of the caravane publicitaire an hour or so before the race. It's fascinating and highly recommended. But I have to admit that for me nothing sounds as dull as watching tennis for twelve hours.
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