and I’m not talking about live streaming…
This year I’m celebrating 10 years of watching the Tour de France live, and by live I mean on the road, a touch away from the racers, the peloton and the sponsors caravan.
This close:By now, I got to meet all kinds of Tour De France followers.
There are the scenery followers, the people who watch the tour de France because of the views and the tourists attractions in the different cities and town, where the tour passes.
The racers followers, the people who cheer for their favourite team or rider and watch every stage of the tour with the pray for them to win.
The drama followers, we all know them! they watch and wait for crazy attacks and crushes.
And the real life followers, the hard core followers who travel year after year to watch the tour de France LIVE!I have too many stories from these Tour de France trips and I’m going to share some of it here with you. If at some point you catch yourself thinking “man, I want to be there too”, let me put it out clear: You can!
Back to the stories,
Have you heard about Didi the devil?
Didi the devil (aka El Diablo) is a one legendary follower of the Tour de France. He made his first appearance in 1993 and since then you can be sure to find him on any big hors category climb, dressed as the devil!
He is a unique character. You can explore more about him here :http://www.didisenft.de/en/Do you recognise me here? 😉Or here?The last two photos are from 2008, when a good friend and myself traveled to Paris. We watched the last ITT and the final stage of the Tour de France in the champs elysees.
Our first year in the champs elysees was 2006, so by 2008 we already knew where the action happens and had the camera ready for the it!
Funny story, some years I had to travel to watch the Tour de France, but then I had two years in a row, when a Tour de France stage started less than 100 meters from my front door!
Yes, you read it correct. Open the door, walk 70 steps, I stand on the Tour de France start line!
You can actually see the van I drive in this photo:That year was the bomb! We had all of the teams in town and Tour de France’s sponsors village in town!
Have you seen the Tour de France’s sponsors caravan?I mentioned the real life followers before, they are the real fans, if you ask me. They sit and wait on the side of the roads for hours (some even days!)
The fan’s treat is the sponsors caravan. It drives through the whole stage with music, lots of colors, souvenirs and gifts. It is the tour’s carnival!
If you happened to fall asleep while waiting, this will wake you up 🙂
Want to try and sum it up?
You can be out on the road to cheer the racers as they wiz byYou get loads of gift
Amazing memories and photos….
And then,
If you are lucky enough
You might get a chance to play a role in the tour de France and hand a bottle to one of the racers
Now tell me, are you going to sit and watch the Tour de France at the local cafe
Or do you join me out on the road?!