catching the individual time trail into mont st Michel, any advice on:

programme gives times and shows ‘caravan’ – is this procession of weird cars etc that proceeds the racing?
keeping the kids occupied (6 & 4 yr olds)?
best place to watch (I assume avoid the finish a decamp a few km out of town?
and finally – getting the most amount of TdF tat for me and the kids.

cheers

Dunno, but ill be there too… So ill be taking interest in this thread..

See you both there then as we’ll be there too!

Saw the tour in ’09 in the Alps. The road generally closes to vehicles an hour or two before the first listed time in the program (I think this is the first commissar’s pass). L’equipe do a race paper (free) and souvenir packs (not free) then after a bit race caravan comes through an hour or so ahead of the first riders; that’s the sponsors vehicles. Ranges from flat-back trucks with people throwing stuff off them to modified vehicles – the year we saw it was Skoda Yeti launch so had cars with 15 foot high Yetis on the roof. That’s the time you get the booty – I got a KOM hat, some Skoda stuff, various bits of preserved food.

TT might be different but the peleton was through pretty fast even on a climb, but the excitement builds with more cars and the helicopters coming through, then the bunches of riders. All over pretty fast then the broom wagon, a police car and road is open again.

Top tips – prepare to be outside for many hours, prepare to take ages to get out. Cycle or walk for a bit if you can, the gendarmes will wave you through unless something is actually about to happen on the road, and enjoy it – it’s an amazing experience! A smartphone will help you keep tabs on what is actually going on as well.

Oh, and get out the way of the vehicles behind the riders if it’s not barriered off. They are very close behind the riders, the guy next to me got clipped by one of the cars as he was too busy taking pics and not fast enough to jump back.

The caravan is the procession of commercial vehicles with people throwing out freebies to people on the roadside. It’s the reason why you see whole swathes of people wearing Skoda sunhats and the suchlike.

I’d love to go but can’t take time off work 🙁

Take some fold up easy to carry chairs, munches, sun cream/umbrella/coat. Take a flask if going to be cold. The kids will get bored so something for them

cant wait 🙂

Get there early. It’s peak season and a TT is a fairly small space so expect it to be packed.

Fantastic atmosphere but as mentioned take something to eat, sit on and drink as it can be a long asses day. It is not a spectator sport. I spent the best part of eight hours up the Croix de Fer last year for 5 mins of skinny blokes on bikes and cav breathing out of his ass at the back. Not very thrilling at all if I am being honest. The atmos was a different matter, absolutely brilliant.

I`m doing this as well and the finish in St Malo .I dont think the kids will get that bored./As regards getting free tat be prepared to fight in ditches for Haribo,Skoda hats and keyrings with very old French ladies

The caravan is the best bit. Especially for the kids. Wouldn’t worry too much about getting there really early for the best spot, some group of American tourists will turn up 5 mins before and stand right in front of you anyway. Just allow half an hour to walk from where you park to the route, before the caravan us due. Lunch bag hand out spots mean slow riders and photo ops.

Feed stations also mean spare musettes handed out to polite kids (and rude adults) as most of the time, they have fresh stuff in them they can’t be bothered re-packing into the fridge. Same reason the spare bottles are handed out at the end of the race.

feed stations on a 33km TT??