Saturday, July 10, 2004
Tour de France at Evran 2004
Saint Ulrich
Tour de France 2004
We had a frantic morning cleaning the gites and missed the start of the caravane but managed to catch the tail end. It consists of a high speed carnival float with cars and small lorries decked out as water bottles, coffee cups, watches, cleaning products, all beeping and playing music etc.. You name it, there is a mobile version of it racing down the street with the roadside packed with people. Most of them are chucking free samples of the products, advertising hats, sweets etc. out the back. It's quite a sight and goes on for about half and hour. The kids were happy as they got some free sweets and liked the silly cars.
We were situated at the end of the main street through Evran just before a 90 degree sharp turn so the caravane and the peloton slowed right down and we had a chance to see some of the riders close up. There was actually a break away group of two riders 8 minutes ahead of the peloton below. It was actually difficult to spot the two cyclists in amongst the gendarmes, TV motorbikes and course cars.
They rush past but it's over in a few seconds and they are gone.
and then comes a stream of backup and ancillary vehicles. The number of spare bikes was unbelievable.
It is quite a sight and there is a real party atmosphere. Well worth a visit.
| 9:39:05 PM
Tour de France at Evran 2004
