Tour de France Stage Friday in the Alpilles - Help....
 

Thinking about popping over to Maussane, or there abouts to check out Friday's stage. Was wondering if any of you out there with some experience can tell me: 1) how early do we need to show up ? 2) is it generally a mob scene and will an 8-yr old have any chance of seeing something; 3) any advice or strategy....

merci d'avance,
kevin

When we saw it in Le Bugue a few years ago, we got to town about 2 hours ahead of time and set up camp at curbside. By an hour before the riders came through, it was a complete mob scene. The promotional cars come through and shower the streets with sausages, cheese, backpacks, t-shirts, and all manner of souvenirs - and of course the crowd goes wild trying to collect the stuff. We saw some rather barbaric behavior on that score.
As you probably know, Maussane is a small village. People will probably start filling up the two cafes and the steps by the fountain along the main street several hours before the riders arrive. I should think that it will be very hard to see anything from the actual village square. Remember, it's over in the blink of an eye. I'd say pick a spot outside town, have plenty of water, and bring picnic provisions.
You should probably email PBProvence as well - I don't know if the Tour has been through Maussane before, but since she lives there she can probably offer some tips.
Enjoy!

If there is any place on the route that is uphill, that will give more of a view of the riders.

thanks for the advice. maybe we should try for a spot somewhere along the route and outside of Maussane itself. I have this image of the hordes of tourist in the area at the moment all descending on that little village. Maussane is great, but I wouldn't want to be there for that.

If we go, I'll definately post with an update...

-Kevin

Just printed out the route today... they'll be coming along the D17 from Mouries, making the right turn toward St Remy on the D5, then turning up the D27a towards Les Baux. Since you're coming, most probably from St Remy, you should get here a couple of hours early because they'll be closing the road (D5) into Maussane at least an hour ahead of the Tour's arrival (approx. 12:30 PM).

We were out scoping out a place to watch this afternoon - the intersection from Maussane to Les Baux will probably be jammed, so we're planning on being further along the road toward Mouries, which is somewhat behind our house so we can take the back roads.

I'd suggest the back side of Les Baux above the Val d'Enfer, if you can get there early enough - along the D78f (which will be all downhill for the riders).

Let me know if I can give you any other info - [email protected]

Patricia

Patricia,

Where did you find that detailed route info? We've been looking and looking, as my husband loves to follow the Tour with a map.

Go to cyclingnews.com and you can read the tour in real time when they are racing. There are also maps.

Also at letour.fr and OLN's website.

Underhill,

Here's a Tour map link:

http://www.olntv.com/tdf/article/vie...l&ss=route

Better than a map, check out the live/repeated coverage on Outdoor Life Network (DirecTV #608). It's the most splendid travelogue you'll see.

We're glued to OLN!

But my husband wants something that shows at least some of the intermediate towns...and we finally found it at the cyclingnews site.

Thanks to everyone.

We're glued to OLN!

But my husband wants something that shows at least some of the intermediate towns...and we finally found it at the cyclingnews site.

Thanks to everyone. We started watching the Tour for the scenery and then got hooked on the sport, having a friend who is an avid fan.

PB -

Merci beacoup. Much appreciated.

-Kevin