#tbt Stage 20 - Le Tour De France 2012

At the beginning of my grade 12 school year, I was under a lot of pressure.
Pressure to do well in school.
Pressure to do well in my athletics senior year.
Most importantly, however, I was under a lot of pressure to get into a good program in University.

My dad, also an avid cyclist, made me a deal/goal. If I were to complete grade 12 with more than an 87% average, thus basically guaranteeing me acceptance into my programs, he would take me on a cycling trip to France to ride a few stages of Le Tour as a graduation gift. For the whole school year, I kept a small print out on my desk as a reminder to keep me motivated. In all honesty, 87% wasn't that difficult to achieve, but it would assure me my acceptances. I'm sure my dad wanted to go on the trip almost more than I did. Needless to say since I am writing this, I obtained the  >87% average I needed.

But of course after a full school year of hard work and dedication, I wouldn't get off that easy... (Sarcasm of course). My mom and sister both had quite a mouthful to share as we were making our plans. Long story short, they absolutely insisted on coming along on my grad trip and suddenly a cross country bike trip seemed less feasible with 2 non-fluent, non-athletic women. They wouldn't want to sit around small French villages all day while we rode 6+ hours/day and my dad wasn't too inclined on letting them loose in Paris for a week with his credit card...

So our plans changed and it turned into a London/Paris vacation. We first flew into London Heathrow and spent a few days in London doing the usual touristy things. It was about a month before the London Olympics were to begin so we spent a good bit of time checking out the venues and locations where the events were to be held. It was pretty cool seeing Hyde Park (the venue for the triathlon) as well as the finishes for the cycling and road race events.

After London, we took a train under the channel to France. Of course travelling all this way to France at the end of July wasn't by coincidence. If we couldn't ride the tour, we were going to do the next best thing: watch the race finish down the Champs-Élysées on stage 20.

The anticipation of watching the finish sort of took away from the overall trip experience because I simply could not wait for the last day of our vacation to come. Prior to our depart, I spent hours online reading blogs and forums of enthusiasts  who had also made the trek (no pun intended) to what I would consider to be the cycling Mecca of the world. I read horror stories. People lining up along the fences 8+ hours before the riders were expected to arrive, people lying down in the street to reserve spots for their party, even people getting trampled. Had I been there in Paris alone, certainly I would have been up at the crack of dawn with a lawn chair soaking up the atmosphere of the greatest sporting event in the world. But, I was with my family so we ended up strolling onto the Champs-Élysées around 3 hours before they were to come in for the first lap.

I truly believe the final stage on the Champs-Élysées is the stage of Le Tour de France to go witness in person. On any other stage you would see the riders for a fraction of a second as they blow by. Of course you would see them marginally longer on a climb or more spread out on a TT stage, but to watch them blow by full speed down the finishing straight 7 times criterium style, lined up in their sprint trains is breathtaking. The great thing about cycling is the vicinity in which spectators are allowed. In nearly every other sport, there is a 6 foot Plexiglas wall separating you from the athletes - an obstructed view. In cycling, the largest barrier is a 3 foot fence that still allows a direct view 2 feet from the action. We could even feel the turbulent wind created by the riders as they came by.

When we arrived on the Champs-Élysées, nobody was lining the fence as literature indicated there should be. We spent the next hour or so browsing the stores along the street and taking in all of the festivities. There were countless tents set up advertising and selling various products. There were team tents set up selling team kits/merchandise (picked up an official replica elite race cut Saxobank jersey for 20 euro!), official TdF tents selling the jerseys & souvenirs as well as trucks driving around giving away freebies. When we were done looking around, we found our spots and settled in atop a small hill just past the finish line. We were fortunate enough to be at the top end of a round-about in such a way that looking down into the oncoming traffic was completely unobstructed; less than if we were simply watching from the edge of a straight road.
 



The BMC Army


About an hour before the riders were to arrive, the caravan came through the street. On every stage, a huge caravan of sponsor's cars, floats and V.I.P delegates pass through the stage as sort of a formality. Again, giving away freebies and getting the crowd pumped for the arrival of the riders. It was a huge parade, with extravagant floats and choreographed routines.



Just a few of the floats we managed to grab a shot of


Right on schedule, the motor brigade came into view and seconds later  a quiet rumbling could be felt, growing in intensity after each passing moment. Then they came into view.
 



A few of the big guns: Bernie Eisel, Brad Wiggins, Cav, Peter Sagan & Thomas Voekler

It was surreal how fast they came at us. Starting off as a small blob in the distance and growing exponentially. Although we only saw them about every7-8 minutes, there was still a lot to see. The peloton was largely spread out, there was sometimes a break present and the caravan of team/official cars seemed to extend almost until the group rode around again. Another benefit of watching form the Champs-Élysées (depending on where you are situated) is that you not only get to see them once a lap but twice if you have a view of the opposite side of the road. It was tricky, however, to keep up with the race since the announcing over a P.A. system was in French, but scattered throughout the street were large projector screens with a muted display of live media coverage. We could understand enough of what was going on.



The caravan of race vehicles went on forever...



 

We knew it was the final lap because the break was about to be caught, the sprint trains had formed and the pace had noticeable increased as they flew by us. We glared up at the tv monitors broadcasting the live coverage debating over who would take it.

 

 


Here's the British Invasion

In 2012, it was the first year a very long time that a British rider was in yellow and the first time ever a Brit would win the race. Even better, a compatriot was in the runner up position. Because of this, thousands of fans from the U.K. flooded to Paris to take in the historic event. The influx of British fans gave even more motivation to the British Sky team to not only take home the yellow jersey, but to also win the last stage with the man who had won it the previous 3 years- Mark "The Manx Missile" Cavendish. Led out onto the final straight by the man in yellow, Bradley Wiggins, as well as Edvald Boasson Hagen, Cav did just that. He took home his 4th consecutive win on the Champs-Élysées to a roaring British crowd.
 

  



Clearly, I had a thing for team Sky...

 

 

Final 3KM of the 2012 TdF

 

After the race,  there were the award ceremonies in the middle of the street with the recognizable yellow path to the Arc de Triomphe, which we fought our way close to get a good view of. What I wasn't anticipating was after the awards and after the tv cameras are packed up, the athletes take part in a team parade on the street. With their helmets, cycling shoes and engines turned off they slowly and casually cruise up and down the Champs-Élysées to salute the crowd. A few lucky individuals even managed to beckon some riders over for a quick autograph and picture. This was probably the coolest part of the day for me- to get a good close up look at some of my idols.

General Classification: Bradley Wiggins

Stage Winner: Cav



King of the Mountains: Thomas Voekler

Points Classification: Peter Sagan





Team Champions: RadioShack-Nissan

Great view of my "extended" point of view due to the bulge of the round-about

I like to think he's calling me out
Notice Wiggins Jr. on his tiny yellow Pina ;)

Yep... It must have been me

Hey Tommy!

Embarassed to say I didn't know who this rider was,
but he rode up to some fans beside me to say HI
 

Too bad Hesjedal crashed out, would have been awesome to see him!

At the end, it didn't turn out to be half as daunting as what was said online. As long as you made it to the race by the first lap, there were plenty of spots along the fence and even more vantage points if you could find a good hill or bench. The atmosphere was amazing and to experience it with 100,000 other like minded individuals was truly something special.Watching the final stage of the Tour de France should definitely be on every cycling enthusiast's bucket list and I can only hope to go back and relive one of the greatest days of my life.

And I definitely came home with a pair of those fabulous green foam hands!!!

(photo to come)
  

I figured, if he was taking a picture of me, I was going to take a picture of him for a change!