Why not ride portions of the Tour yourself? Many if not most of the bicycle tour companies (DiscoverFrance is one of them...no, I'm in no way associated!) offer a kind of tagalong ride following in the wake of the Tour for cyclists of varying abilities. Sounds kind of fun, and it will certainly give you a different perspective of the Tour. You can ride a leg or two, scoot ahead to see the Tour in the town of your choosing, and then train up to Paris for the finale. Might be worth checking out.

That sounds pretty cool, redstater... I'll check it out.

Just an update! I have the plane tickets and all of the hotels for this trip secured. The first two nights we will be in St Remy, but moving on to Aubignan (not far from Sault) for the next 5 nights and we will see the Tour come through on Saturday July 25. After that we will head to Avignon to take the TGV to Paris to watch the last stage in Paris on Sunday.

I am hoping/assuming that if we watch the stage on the flat part near Sault (not Mont Ventoux, but before it) and then hightail to Avignon for the TGV, that we'd be safe reserving tickets for the 8PM train. I'm assuming the peloton would be on its way up the Mont before 5 PM which would give us ample time to get out of town. What time is entire day's stage typically over each day?

Celticharper, Beaupeep, are you planning to attend this year?