This years Giro or TDF for best mountain stages

photoleary

Hello,

I am wanting to travel to one of the two mentioned events to photograph the riders and spectators for a project. The main thing I want to shoot though is looking down on one of the mountain stages with all of the caravans and spectators and tents by the sides of the road and the peloton or break away riders making their way through it.

Now I'm doing as much research as possible but any immediate pointers would be much appreciated.

I feel I'll need three stages as I will be shooting on a traditional plate camera so the first few stages might be very hit or miss. I think the plan is for me to drive to the stage the night before [no way I can cycle up the mountain lugging a plate camera and tripod] so I can get up early and scout the exact location.

Am I right in thinking they shut the stage off to cars early morning of the stage?

I want as steep a climb as possible so there is more chance of as many solo riders as possible. Also as well as being steep it would be great to have the road as twisty and windy as possible so that I can maybe have different groups of riders in the same shot.

Sorry if these are all obvious questions but I need to get this right.

My work so maybe you get an idea of what I'm trying to do -

http://www.mark-leary.com/

Thanks again.

Mark

iainf72

Giro. The final few stages would be what you want.

The Tour is so flat this year it may as well be in Norfolk.

rebs

I think it'll be the tour because of what Iain said. If the climbers are even going to attempt to win the GC. They have to light up the mountains as they wont get many chances. If you are not a strong TT'er you have got to be as aggressive in the mountains.

greasedscotsman

I would think for photographs, the Giro would have better scenery, the Dolomites are fantastic. You also might have snow. But then the Tour is probably better for the number of spectators. I have never seen so many camper vans as I did on the Galibier last year. But then the number of spectators at the Tour makes it a bit harder to get about compared to the Giro.

TBH I reckon you'll get good photos from both.

LeicesterLad

Theres always the Vuelta - Extremely hilly this year, and of course Contador will be there, and love him or hate him, theres nobody quite as photogenic on a mountain pass...

mrc1

rebs wrote:

I think it'll be the tour because of what Iain said. If the climbers are even going to attempt to win the GC. They have to light up the mountains as they wont get many chances. If you are not a strong TT'er you have got to be as aggressive in the mountains.

Have to say that I agree with this. Stage 16 and 17 in the Pyrenees are going to be the last chance to pull out a signficant time gap ahead of the time trial so I'm expecting fireworks.

There's certainly some pretty decent scenery as well with Stage 16 including Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde and 17 including Mente, Ares and Port de Bales!

Also, Im not sure if you are only after pictures of the pros for your project, but the Etape du Tour Acte 2 covers the Stage 16 route a few days before hand so you could get some cracking pictures of the amateurs as well for a contrast.

As an example of the sort of potential, here is a pic from the West side of the Tourmalet:

ddraver

^Superb example of a missfit Stream there [/geogeek]

emadden

Mark, in terms of accessibility the Giro beats the Tour hands down. For the Tour all the roads close at midnight the night before. To make matters worse, there are usually limited places to park on the mountains... Whatever spaces exist are usually filled a few days in advance with camper vans.... Sometimes you can get parking lower down the slopes but usually towards the top of mountains the roads are narrow with limited run off space for parking. With the Giro you can drive on the roads up to 2 hours before the race arrives.

If the climb is expected to have alot of action, expect even more crowds. Final mountains on a stage (where there is a finish at the top) can close to traffice as much as two days out (e.g. Ventoux in 2009, Morzine Avoriaz in 2010 and the Galibier was closed for 3 days in advance this year.

In any event, this year's Tour de France isnt going to present you with many opportunities. Whilst some on here are saying that the lack of serious mountain stages will light up what is in the parcours, the reality is that from a creative photography perspective there is nothing worth mentioning. Ok, you have the Tourmalet... but you get one shot and if that screws up, there arent exactly a lot of other mountains you can scramble to...

I would hence strongly recommend the Giro this year - the last Friday and Saturday in particular.... If you are looking at a "down the mountain" shoot, this is what you are thinking of :



And that image is the iconic Stelvio Pass... which hosts a stage finish on the Saturday

andyp

That's the north side of the Stelvio, though, and the Giro is approaching from the south (although there is an excellent section of banked hairpins about 2/3 of the way up).

inkyfingers

As an aside I drove over the Stelvio in a banger rally two years ago. Just before we left the UK we realised that the rear brakes had seized up so I had to strip it down and rebuild them myself.... I'm not religious, but every time I braked for one of those corners I said a little prayer!

ddraver

andyp wrote:

That's the north side of the Stelvio, though, and the Giro is approaching from the south (although there is an excellent section of banked hairpins about 2/3 of the way up).

Well OK, but you could try and capture the "waterfall Effect" of the groups descending maybe...?

andyp

You could, but anyone descending down there during the Giro has missed the finish line and is going off course.

photoleary

Cheers all. Thanks for the input. I feel it might be the Giro then. If the Tour closes off the mountain stage a few days before then that means I really only have one stage to get it right.

I'm not so bothered with shooting the pros [although hopefully I will be able to snag a few portraits]. It's more getting the stage with all the craziness of the fans filling up half the mountain but then I would like to get some portraits of the fans who ride up and also the fans who dress up in stupid costumes.

Thanks again. Plenty of stuff to get my research going.

Cheers.

ddraver

andyp wrote:

You could, but anyone descending down there during the Giro has missed the finish line and is going off course.

Booo!

Pross

You'll get the Italian army mountain corps in their feather hats to ohotograph on the Giro summits and proper cycling fanatics (the Tour seems to pull in more of the big event show offs trying to get on TV).

greasedscotsman

Pross wrote:

...(the Tour seems to pull in more of the big event show offs trying to get on TV).

You mean the Tour of California, right?

Anonymous

photoleary wrote:

Cheers all. Thanks for the input. I feel it might be the Giro then. If the Tour closes off the mountain stage a few days before then that means I really only have one stage to get it right.

I'm not so bothered with shooting the pros [although hopefully I will be able to snag a few portraits]. It's more getting the stage with all the craziness of the fans filling up half the mountain but then I would like to get some portraits of the fans who ride up and also the fans who dress up in stupid costumes.

Thanks again. Plenty of stuff to get my research going.

Cheers.

Book a night at a hotel/B&B in La Mongie for the night before the Tourmalet stage and you've got a golden ticket past any roadblocks.

Giro has very few fans, but obv likely to be more dedicated. Stelvio will be very white!

Pross

greasedscotsman wrote:

Pross wrote:

...(the Tour seems to pull in more of the big event show offs trying to get on TV).

You mean the Tour of California, right?

That's just the training race - once they are 'funny' enough they are given passports and let out of the US