Watching the 2016 Tour de France - Stage 7

We were on holiday in the Pyrenees when the TdF 2016 was passing through - this was a complete coincidence and not planned but we decided to take advantage and go and watch part of Stage 7 - L'Isle-Jourdain / Lac de Payolle:

Given we needed to drive 500+ miles the next day the preferred location of watching somewhere on the climb of Col d'Aspin was ruled out. This was given how many people would be in the same area and the fact that the most direct route was over the Tourmalet. Instead we went the top of the other climb - a paltry Cat 4 at Côte de Capvern. This was about an hours drive away on normal roads - i.e. not over a high mountain pass.

We checked the time tabled route and planned to get to the route about 60-90 minutes before the Caravan. We duly arrive in the village but it was not actually clear where the route was and there was no signage. However all along the side of a road were French families with the picnics, barbeques, verre de vin so we guessed we were OK. We went for a short walk and a few minutes down the road it was clear that we were in the right place - signage, even more people and a general party atmosphere.

We had to wait a couple of hours for the Caravan to arrive. There were quite frequent isntances where "official" cats came through but as it got closer the atmosphere did get quite tense and people were standing up and waiting. There were messages about staying to the side of the road and we were not quite sure why - but once the caravan came through we could see why - it really races past - 20-25mph as a guess and a constant throwing out of the "souvenirs". The Caravan was fantastic - about 15-20 minutes of really creative floats

The Caravan

Heres the souvenirs we managed to grab:

We also got a bottle of Vittel water, but missed out on a Polka Dot T Shirt

About an hour later the race itself came round. We were about 250m from the top of a Cat 4 climb so Iwas hoping that the riders would be a little slower - they were but not a lot!. There was a break away group of about 20 or 30 riders followed by some team cars. I didn't recognise any big names in this group

The Race - The Breakaway Group

Then the Peleton came through in a fairly team order, at least at the front.

The Race - The Peleton

Team Sky were really the lead team with a few Movistar riders at the front

Froome was the 2nd to last Sky Rider in the picture above

Team BMC -Porte 2nd here I think

Trek Segrefrado

Most of the Tinkoff Team

You can see how close the riders get

And at the end of the Course the Broom Wagon!

Within 5 minutes most of the people had dispersed, the official banners and railings at the top were being removed and within 30 minutes there would have been no trace that the race had been through!

It was a great experience - the worlds greatest cycle race and you can watch for free and be close enough to touch the riders.