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V.I.P. day on Tour de France

What a fantastic day! Yesterday I was invited by the Tour de France organisers to spend a day with them, for the stage between Marseille and Montpellier. I arrived in Marseille at around 10ish, and had full access to the 'Village du Départ' where all of the journalists and riders go before the race. There were plenty of famous riders there (although I don't know enough about the sport to know who they all are) and loads of entertainment (see the BMX guy in the photos, and the girls that are very flexible). I then got taken in one of the official cars, and drove just behind the advertising 'caravane' and in front of the riders. The 'caravane' is made up of around 200 vehicles that are sent out before the riders. Basically they are just there for advertising, but they give out loads of goodies to people who are waiting on the road side. My guide for the day told me that, on average, people wait for just over 6 hours just to see the riders go past (which takes about 30 seconds...). Anyway, after about 14km, they stopped and left us on the side of the road, where we watched the riders go past and then got into helicopters for a 25 minute ride over the race. It was a great experience (first time for me) and a really original way to see the race. It turns out that I was in the helicopter with Michel Hidalgo, who is one of the previous coaches of the French national football team.
The trip from Marseille to Montpellier was quite quick, as the roads were all closed off for the race. It was amazing to see the number of people that were waiting for the race to go past, they were everywhere along the 182km of the race.
When we got to Montpellier, we were in the VIP area, right in front of the finish line. After the race there was loads of Champagne and stuff.....All in all a very good day, and well worth the trip!
I've added some photos here. The photos are all mixed up, but I'm sure you'll get the idea!

Added : 20/07/2007   View comments (3)