France in Focus

The route can be seen here :
https://www.letour.fr/fr/parcours-general

It includes the Puy de Dome for the first time in 35 years

Yes, an interesting route through central France and N-A. I'll watch bits on TV - the only time I saw it live was decades ago when it came through the next village and was then gone in a blur!
France 2 does an excellent cover with potted histories of each place it goes through.

Very much based on time trials and mountain stages as was started last year; all very well but certain types or rider are definitely disadvantaged. Still, watching will be a pleasure, doubtless.

We watched the 2012 TdF, when it went through our small town. Half the fire brigade had to move across town as a precaution in case of fires etc as town was cut in half - those guys who came over to our side of town were very pleased, as they could see part of the race going by.

We watched from just across the road from our apartment building, took chairs and settled down for as long as it took, along with an elderly neighbour, who became an honorary English woman for the day. We knew there’d be endless publicity vans with stuff thrown out at the crowds; there were people of several nationalities around us, with Australians gleefully winning most ‘stuff’.

We knew that the riders would arrive when we heard the helicopters overhead, but unfortunately they didn’t accompany the riders! They were upon us before we realised they were even close and I rapidly clicked away with my tiny Ixus camera; unfortunately I’d managed to switch the video on by mistake, so I caught Wiggins etc on video in several very short bursts! Pretty good shots, though.

It was not only the day the TdF rode through, but also July 14th, the huge Saturday market and the weekend of the annual antiques fair - quite a day for a small town!

This is as close as I’ve got to them, watching them cross over to the Île de Ré in 2020.

The link is a general view of the route, I have been trying to get a more detailed route ie Town by town but have not been successful, anyone had better luck? its stage 8 Iam interested in, looks to come fairly close, thanks.

I don't think the exact details of the route are published until next spring.

I have always assumed that this is so that if road surfaces have suffered particularly over the winter and cannot be restored in time, an alternative can be selected. We always joke round here that when there is major resurfacing it means one of the big races is coming through later in the year - and often it is.

We have visited the TdF several times over the years. At least twice in the Haute-Marne, twice in the Vosges and one time 100 meters from our house in Epping Forest on its way into the City of London.

On one occasion, we found ourselves next to a gendarme in the baking hot sun; we offered him water from time to time, for which he was grateful. When the Caravan passed he was the target for many cadeaux but nobody dared to dive in front of him or push him aside to get at the gifts. He would slowly bend down and pickup anything at his feet and hand it to my daughter - she had a bumper haul from the event.

Our most enjoyable visit though was in 2021 at Autun in Bourgogne. I had reservations about viewing the race in the center of a decent sized town but there were lots of activities and events throughout the afternoon in the town square. As for cadeaux, the Caravan passed as normal showering everyone with knick-knacks but also there were groups from Saône-et-Loire tourism and Ville d'Autun tourism giving out loads of stuff and vouchers for reductions for various local attractions. We were beside a local jazz band who got more relaxed as the event went on and provided a great atmosphere.

Alas, next year's race will be no nearer to us than two hours away so that would require leaving the five dogs for too long.

Spectrum wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 9:59 am The link is a general view of the route, I have been trying to get a more detailed route ie Town by town but have not been successful, anyone had better luck? its stage 8 Iam interested in, looks to come fairly close, thanks.

We were wondering the exact same thing. It will be interesting to see the detail when it's released.