Tour de France Finish on Sunday

[raisab]

Does anyone know what time the cyclists are expected to arrive at the Champs Elysee on Sunday? I would actually like to see this live this year.

[Bux]

All the information you want about the tour can be found here:

http://www.letour.com/2004/us/index.html

Go to stage 20 (pull down menu under the date) and then to the route (right hand side of the black bar).

Depending upon the average speed, the Tour should arrive in Paris (quai de Bercy) at about 4 PM. About ten minutes later they should be at the place de la Concorde. They make about eight or nine passes of the Champs-Elysées. The race should be over around 5:15 to 5:45 or thereabouts according to plans.

[raisab]

Thank you Bux! I had checked on there but couldn't find the times!

[John Talbott]

Just a warning. Like the 14 juillet défilé, it's mobbed and TV is better. Starting with all the promo-vans and ending with the meat wagon things are crazy. Go certainly but without a périscope (not kidding) or invitation from a friend at the Automobile Club, be prepared to be part of a fairly boring mob. Since it should be largely ceremonial this year there shouldn't be much going on until the final sprint but I agree you have to do see it live once. Lord knows, seeing it downtown certainly beats sitting in the hot sun in the countryside all day just to see them whiz by in 10 minutes.

Bux is correct about times, French 2/3 TV plans to cover every finish about 5-5:10 and be done with interviews and awarding of shirts by 5:30 in order to start the Velo Club then.

For those in the States, OLN has been better this year with improved graphics and commentary, albeit more ads and even the text newsflashes and radio feed via OLN's website seem better (except for yesterday when the text lagged way behind the commentary).

Enjoy!

[johnnyd]

The coverage on OLN was spectacular yesterday, and came on the heels of praise by the venerable George Vecsey, sports writer for the NYTimes.

Lances interview after the race included concern about all the people who had camped out for a week by the steep switchbacks. What if they'd been drinking all day and they fell in the path of a racer?

I concur but think what a festive community that would be! I'd expect an intrepid baguette maker to sell out by the halfway point. Vendors of food and ice must ply the route.

Has anyone here camped out for the Tour like this? Is it a nightmare???

Edited July 22, 2004 by johnnyd (log)

[slbunge]

I love the tour. I don't get OLN so I have been relying on the BBC live coverage. I think it is better than what is posted live on the official TdF website.

A food related aside, I've always been curious about the nutrition side for the riders. Were there any interviews or side stories about what the riders eat before, during, and after? How many nutritionists do the teams take with them? Etc.

Early in this year's tour, I do remember seeing a picture on the NYTimes online edition of Lance with some sort of rice-cake shaped thing between his teeth while riding.

[Mayhaw Man]

The coverage has been great and I have really enjoyed the way that the race is being handled (although I could do with less shots of fat guys in speedos running along side the riders and judging frim Armstrong's comments after the race last night, he could do with less of it as well....Yikes! ).

Now, to make this more of an eGullet topic---does anyone have any idea what all of the campers and cycling fans eat while they are on the side of a rural road for days? Somehow I picture it as kind of a Mardi Gras Parade with vendors passing up and down the streets of France, ahead of the race, with French Stuff. Is this the case? Or do people bring giant picnics? I notice that there are tons of motorhomes (caravans?) and I guess that they have the ability to make their own stuff.

So what gives? What are they eating out there?

[GG Mora]

Velo News online has excellent coverage – including a way-cool Live Update window, with one-line updates on the progress of the Stage, updated automatically every minute or so. Also good background and side info & links to lots of photos and rider journals and stuff.

[John Talbott]

does anyone have any idea what all of the campers and cycling fans eat while they are on the side of a rural road for days? Somehow I picture it as kind of a Mardi Gras Parade with vendors passing up and down the streets of France, ahead of the race, with French Stuff. Is this the case? Or do people bring giant picnics? I notice that there are tons of motorhomes (caravans?) and I guess that they have the ability to make their own stuff.

So what gives? What are they eating out there?

The times I've been in the country, folks have just set out home-prepared picnics with sausage, cheese, bread, wine etc depending on region. It sounds like the Germans yesterday had lots of beer beforehand, tho'.

As for the riders, there has been one segment on OLN about the sludgy-power-drinks, I believe while Ullrich was taking some. I'm sure you can Google up more on solids and what they distribute at the food breaks.

[Bux]

Having looked at Velo News, I prefer letour.com although you need to hit refresh on the letour site. I also seem to lose the last half hour or so on Velo News or are they that far behind. I could swear they were up to date a few minutes ago, but now their latest entry is forty minutes behind letour.com. Letour.com also offers maps, profiles of the course and all sorts of other windows.

In many of those remote rural roads, I should imagine the spectators are rather isolated and stuck in place. There would be a need to bring one's own sustenance. Those traveling in campers or caravans have a decided comfort advantage.

[John Talbott]

I'm sure those at the finish today in Grand Bornand already have dinner reservations but if not drive up a couple of clicks North up the Vallée du Bouchet and dine at my fave La Ferme de Lormay where the license plates are from everywhere from 75 to GE.

My Velo News is only 4 minutes late whereas TDF is 5, but Phil & Paul are in real time.

[Schneier]

We're seriously thinking of coming into Paris to see the final stage. And we're also seriously thinking of staying at home and watching it on TV.

Bruce

[Gary Marshall]

http://www.cyclingnews.com

is i find the best cycling news site, their live reports are more descriptive than the official letour ones.

gary

[bloviatrix]

Chris Carmichael did a segment on OLN earlier this week on diet and the number of calories the guys take it. If I remember correctly their diet is made up of 75% carbs.

For those of you thinking of going to Paris on sunday --- Do!! I was at the final stage in '90 (Le Mond won). It was wild.

[Louisa Chu]

Last year my sister actually got to chat with Lance right after the first leg of the race. The American caravan was parked right below a friend's balcony in our neighborhood around the corner from the Eiffel Tower. They'd blocked off the street so it was surprisingly quiet. The funny thing was that the friend was out of town - so was I - as were most of the neighbors who'd fled to their country houses - so it was just Lance, my sister, and two dogs.

I'd looked up Lance's diet last year - it's still up on his website - the riders eat baked potatoes the way we eat apples.

Edited July 24, 2004 by LKL Chu (log)

[Schneier]

Okay. We're going. We might not be able to see anything, but we're going.

Bruce

[Schneier]

Looking at the map and the Tour route, I planned to take the Metro to Cour St-Emilion and watching it there, figuring that the crowds would be less. What I forgot, when making my plans, was that the Tour route came right down Rue de Rivoli, which was less than 100 meters from Benoit, where I had my lunch reservation. We noticed the barricades--empty of people--when we went in for lunch. And we found ourselves a nice spot on the shady side of the street when we were done. It was just before 3:00.

And there we waited. People started filling in the spaces along the barricade. K climbed atop some sort of switching box and sat on it. The three of us held our positions on the barricades.

Just after 3:00, a huge convoy of cars and floats and bizarre vehicles from the sponsors drove by: people waving and dancing, music blaring, crass commercialism. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. Occasionally a car, or a motorcycle, would go by. But no bicycles.

Before I left in the morning, I printed an approximate schedule and itinerary from the web. We were standing at the 110 kilometer mark, with another 53 kilometers to go. According to the schedule, the riders would be by at about 4:03 if they were riding at a fast pace, 4:12 at a medium pace, and 4:20 if they were riding at a slow pace. They came by at about 4:35.

It was a single pelaton. Lance Armstrong's team was leading the pack, with him safely nestled in their wake. And the 100+ other riders were in a thick teardrop behind. According to various websites I read afterwards, they were travelling at 45-50 km/hr. All I can tell you is that it went by amazingly fast.

Because the riders were so late, we had to rush back to Montparnasse Station to make catch our return train. We did.

Bruce