Arles and La Grande Motte - 06/07

Mainland Europe - Day 72
Lepinassiere --> Arles --> La Grande Motte

After spending 2 days at a nice hotel in Lunel watching the Wimbledon Finals, we were ready to make the switch from tennis to cycling. We were perfectly positioned for the third and forth stages of The Tour De France, Marseilles to La Grande Motte and the team time trials in Montpellier.

We chose Arles as our viewing point to watch the tour go by. It is a small town about 3/4 of the way along the route from Marseille to La Grande Motte and we discovered on our arrival that it has a strong Spanish influence. In fact when we first arrived in town we were asked if we had come to see the bull fight or the cyclists. They even ran a bull down the main street (the same street the cyclists used a few hours later), but even though we were watching the whole thing we somehow missed seeing the bull :(

After a coffee and a bit of sight seeing we got in early and made claim to a section of brick wall on corner in the main street. As the hours passed (slowly) more and more people appeared. So to did dozens of promotional cars and trucks throwing freebies at the hundreds that lined the street.

National flags were prominent, but to my surprise the Aussie flag was the most common by far. We had a chat to one flag bearer who turned out to be the sister of Mark Renshaw, an Aussie cyclist on the tour.

When the tour finally came through it all happened very quickly. There was a break-away of about half a dozen riders, followed a minute or so later by the peloton. There was lots of noise, a last minute crush of people, the blur of cyclists and then it was passed.

We didn't waist any time ourselves, running back to the car hoping to beat them to the finish line in La Grande Motte. We probably would have done it too, if some stupid organisers didn't close off every road going into the town :) We did get to the finish line in the end, and only half an hour after the cyclists. There were lots of spectators still wondering around and lots of roadies packing up equipment. We were lucky enough to score some free canapes from a over catered fancy marque.

All in all our first Tour De France experience was great. It was a long day, but a good one. Full of anticipation and excitement. Now onto Montpellier and the team time trials.