Cycling a stage of the tour

Cumulonimbus

Hi there

Me and a mate are thinking of riding a stage of the tour next year - not the etape but riding the stage by ourselves on the day. Has anyone any experience of doing this and able to give us any tips? I'm guessing that the roads are shut all day and that we will have to aim to finish more than two hours before the end to avoid the caravan and so start early? Is that pretty much it? Going by this year i dont think we will be able to ride to the very finish but will be able to get to about the kite. The stage in question is probably stage 13 from Pau to Lourdes so not the hardest of the mountain stages and also the start and finish are relatively close together. Am hoping there will be quite a few other people doing it actually to make the early stages easier - although im sure that the bumps early on in the stage profile are harder than they look as they are scaled against the Aubisque.

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/fr ... etape.html

mrushton

The roads aren't shut all day - prob. only from the time the race starts and even then the whole route isn't closed, it's more of a rolling closure. just make sure you set off early enough or do it the day befor/after

Cumulonimbus

mrushton wrote:

The roads aren't shut all day - prob. only from the time the race starts and even then the whole route isn't closed, it's more of a rolling closure. just make sure you set off early enough or do it the day befor/after

Ah ok hopefully most of the ones that arent closed will only be open early on when we wouldnt be there.

ugo.santalucia

To give you an idea, if you are a reasonably fit cyclist, you should ride the stage in one and a half time the finish time of the PROs. You can check the timetables on the Tour website and set off early enough to avoid getting caught (which is kind of fun... ) Normally the PROs start around 11-12 , or even 10 AM for very long stages.
I suggest you choose a relatively short one, as you might have to do diversions... the one with the Alpe d'Huez finish is probably your best bet

Cumulonimbus

Thanks for the advice on the timings Ugo. The Alpe d'huez stage will probably have lots of people doing it and if we go to the Alps then we will probably give it a go but at the moment the Pyrenees look more likely.

Chiggy

Do it the day after. Keep your eyes open for discarded bidons.

lochindaal

Did Tourmalet the day before last year. Great atmosphere as the hill was already jammed with camper vans and people shouting you on

Bentyler

If you ride a mountain stage on the day before you will still experience a tremendous amount of atmosphere and you can ride it at your own pace, not cause a possible problem to the race and be able to ride the full course
Raceday either go out on the course and see how the riders tackle it or watch the whole stage from a local bar!

thomasmc

If you get a chance read Paul Howard's "Riding High: Shadow Cycling the Tour De France", its not a bad book. Author cycled each stage on the day of the stage IIRC by starting very early in the morning, sometimes in pitch darkness following the lights of his dads car.

rc856

thomasmc wrote:

If you get a chance read Paul Howard's "Riding High: Shadow Cycling the Tour De France", its not a bad book. Author cycled each stage on the day of the stage IIRC by starting very early in the morning, sometimes in pitch darkness following the lights of his dads car.

+1
Enjoyable read for me.