How crowded do towns get that are hosting TdF stages? Is it better to find a place to stay further away and then drive to the stage? Better to camp out at the start or finish points, or to find a place along the route? Any Belgians or Dutch who have tips for the opening few stages this year?
i havent made it yet but from people ive talked to, its an all day affair and be prepared for traffic jams once people start driving after the stage.
I saw the Prologue in Paris in 2003 and Alpe d’Huez that year.
Paris was fairly simple, jumped on the subway and got off near the race.
For Alpe d’Huez, I stayed in Lyon and caught a shuttle bus. It took about an hour to get there and 3 hours to get back. People on bikes got back to town long before we did.
If you go to a mountain stage, be sure to take a full day of drink and food.
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I’m targeting the Prologue and the first stage in Belgium.
Funny, I did the same. I rode my bike from Grenoble to Huez and rode up then halfway down to watch the race. No way would I ever try to drive to a stage the day of or even before.
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Actually, we were in Grenoble, not Lyon. It’s been a few years and my memory is getting fuzzy.
Waiting for the bus, we were all beginning to go get concerned that there would be no bus back to Grenoble. Someone from the Netherlands near me commented that would be typical of French mass transit. I remember thinking it was only 28 miles and I’ve done marathons, worst case I start walking back.
Been twice.
Depends on the town/stage.
Prologue - go all day and walk around. Isn’t Utrecht a fairly large town? Should be places to stay there or close but I’ve not been there.
Stage 1: Haven’t been to this part of Belgium.
Stage 3; Go out by Huy and ride and ride the Muur du Huy. Hope it’s not raining! You can stay in Liege. We rode from Liege out to Huy and back.
Stage 4: Cobbles! Lots of great riding here.
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Been twice.
Depends on the town/stage.
Prologue - go all day and walk around. Isn’t Utrecht a fairly large town? Should be places to stay there or close but I’ve not been there.
Stage 1: Haven’t been to this part of Belgium.
Stage 3; Go out by Huy and ride and ride the Muur du Huy. Hope it’s not raining! You can stay in Liege. We rode from Liege out to Huy and back.
Stage 4: Cobbles! Lots of great riding here.
I won’t be riding at all. I’ll be out there because of work, so no bike. I think I’ll try to limit it to the prologue and first stage, because I’ll be moving on to other parts of my vacation.
It’s shaping up to be a good trip. I’ll already be in Belgium for work, so maybe hit TdF. Then on to London, with potential to hit Wimbledon, although that’s a long shot. Then on to Scotland in time for The Open. Not a bad two weeks if I can make it work.
We went to Pinerolo in 2011.
It was an arrival point one day and a depart the next.
We stayed in Turin and caught the train out and back each day.
Technically, we could have driven, but it was almost impossible for us to figure out the parking arrangements with the maps provided.
On the arrival day, we got to town early and explored, then down to the finish area about 2 hours before expected arrival.
Anything within 200m of the finish area was already packed.
On the departure day, the train to Pinerolo was full of people and was a good part of the vibe of the day.
Milling around for rider introductions was great.
Got a couple of nice pics from the start line area by holding the camera over the top of people, like the back row of photographers at the red carpet.
If you have to choose, I’d say get there for a depart, more time to see cyclists, rather than them flashing by toward the finish or out on the route.
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2005 - Time trial in St. Etienne - Start/Finish were actually not that far apart. Mostly watched the start and then moved to the finish while the leading riders were on the course. Felt like that was a good way to do it. Great part of the race to see because riders, teams buses, etc are all around a lot longer during the day (warming up, cooling down) than they would be on a regular stage where everybody takes off together. Actually took a train into St. Etienne the morning of the race. Crowded but manageable. Getting back to Paris at the end of the day was much harder largely because the next day was the final stage on the Champs Elysee so the whole tour was headed for Paris. Probably not a good comparison for a normal stage. Generally though my public transit experience was positive as long as you plan for plenty of extra time.
2007 - Prologue in London - Mostly watched the finish for this one. Spent part of the day watching on Jumbotron. You definitely want to see some live riders, but the atmosphere and the event is what it’s all about. Again, a time trial stage is a good chance to see lots of riders. Next morning the stage left from London. Watched the riders roll out. Fun to see, but they were still in the neutral zone when they rode by so no one racing yet. Probably more energy at the start than there would be out on the course where the number of fans isn’t as dense. Again this is obviously a major city so the “where to stay” conversation is a little different.
Pro-tip. I saw two guys walking around with small (2-3 ft tall) step ladders on their backs. They’d roped them up so they could wear them like backpacks. I realized they were professional spectators when they set up the ladders 10 feet behind the 4-deep row of fans at the finish line, climbed to the top and had an unobstructed view of the race. Ladders allowed them to be tall enough to see while being far enough back not to be in anybody’s way.
Been twice.
Depends on the town/stage.
Prologue - go all day and walk around. Isn’t Utrecht a fairly large town? Should be places to stay there or close but I’ve not been there.
Stage 1: Haven’t been to this part of Belgium.
Stage 3; Go out by Huy and ride and ride the Muur du Huy. Hope it’s not raining! You can stay in Liege. We rode from Liege out to Huy and back.
Stage 4: Cobbles! Lots of great riding here.
While it’s one of the bigger towns in NL, Utrecht isn’t a particularly large town. It’s about half an hour from Amsterdam however, and a little bit further from Rotterdam and The Hague.
Stage 1 isn’t in Belgium, but in the SW of the Netherlands. As far as I understand the finish is on one of the dams, basically in the middle of nowhere. If the weather cooperates it’ll make for the mother of all “waaiers” (forget the English term - it’s where the peloton breaks up due to the wind). It’ll be an interesting experience for sure - It’s nice out there, basically in the middle of the sea. It’s about 100km from where I grew up.
My advice would be to get a hotel in Antwerpen. From there you can easily get to Utrecht, Rotterdam, that dam I mentioned, Huy, and Cambrai (which is close to Roubaix/Lille). And on top of that it’s my favorite city in the world for, um, lightly refreshed entertainment. And food.