Tour de France question
 

I'm curious and asked on the forum but nobody answered.

Where do all of the riders and back up crew, reporters, etc. stay on the tour? It seems that there would not be enough hotel rooms in some of the smaller towns to put them up.

As far as I know, they don't have to stay in any one particular town, they usually book a hotel in a moderately-sized town in the vicinity with enough rooms or spread out to several places nearby. They also have team buses, but I'm not sure if some of the crew sleeps in them or not.

You should send an email to Phil Liggett with this question and maybe he will answer it on the show or return the email. I do know the riders share rooms so I would think that everyone else shares as well.

Since the towns bid to be at the beginning or ending of a stage I imagine that the town has to be large enough to accommodate everyone connected with the race. This is most important for the town at the beginning of the stage since I think that's where the riders head to after they finish a stage so they can be close to the start line the next day.

I just picked up another TdF book to read and if I come across anything that answers your question I'll post here.

This would undoubtedly have been an excellent "color" aspect for those babbling commentators to add to the otherwise continuous pictures of wheels turning and thanks to Adrienne for adding the appropriate information. With all the so-called "coverage" we get for the Tour there is IMO remarkably LITTLE real information unless someone goes out and buys a BOOK...

Good points Dukey. I imagine it is difficult for the producers to tailor the coverage to different viewers...from avid cyclists to people who are watching for the first time.

For me the balance is pretty good. I like getting a better understanding of the racing and team strategies and I like hearing about the history of the different regions and seeing the "sites" along the race. I especially like the aerial shots.

DaveMM

Actually this question has been addressed (in the past) by the "babbling" commentators. They do provide a great deal of information relating to the tour and the riders; however, their commentary is spread over three hours a day for twenty one days. Of course you will likely miss such details if you don't watch the tour in full on a daily basis.

The person to whom you should address any questions is Bob Roll. Each day he responds to viewers questions.

We used to have Dutch television on cable at one time but no more unfortunately. I tuned in every morning to get an overview of the Tour and see lots of behind the scenes goings on which you never see on the conventional chanel broadcasting the race. I miss that somehow as it gave a whole new perspective to the event. Even down to the way the washed the bikes after every race, repaired and tested them, etc. etc. From what I remember the chaps looking after the equipment usually worked through the night and slept in the bus during the race so they could be in attendance in the evenings when things needed to be fixed.

I have stayed with backup crews in various hotels before. They had about 75% of the rooms. This year the main backup hotel chain is Etap. I think the cyclists themselves stay in slightly higher grade hotels.

Thanks for the info. I have been watching all of the races, but I guess I missed any talk of accommodations.

They never talk about the accommodations. For Etap, I just found out on an Accor website. Another time, I was staying in the Villages Hôtel chain (now absorbed by the B&B Hôtel chain), and at breakfast I was surrounded by lovely nubile women all wearing LCL t-shirts for the advertising caravan.

The only time there was much talk of hotels in the coverage was during the Armstrong years of glory (?) when people were upset that the cyclists are supposed to stay in twin rooms in 2-star hotels, but the Armstrong group was staying in 4-star hotels in defiance of tradition.

Thanks for that insight Kerouac - I was surprised to hear Phil Liggett mention yesterday that the cyclists share a room!
And Etap rooms are very basic so they must feel really close!