As part of my trip, I had always dreamt of watching the Tour de France, and Stage 20 seemed like the perfect opportunity. The stage was set in the scenic hills of the Alsace region, making it an ideal spot to witness the action up close. I decided to cycle up the final hill of the stage and find a spot near the summit to spectate.
As I pedaled my way into the Alsace mountains, I noticed a steady stream of cyclists all heading in the same direction, with many coming over from Germany for the day to catch a glimpse of the race. The atmosphere was electric even before reaching the race route.
As I climbed the Col Du Platzerwasel, the road was already packed with camper vans, cars, and passionate fans, despite it being 11 am, a good 6 hours before the race was expected to pass. The climb was alive with cheers and EuroParty anthems blaring from speakers, creating a motivating and exciting environment.
Reaching the summit took me about 50 minutes, a far cry from the pros who later conquered it in under 20 minutes. While not classified as one of the highest category climbs in the Tour, the summit stood at an impressive 1187 meters, which is higher than the peak of Snowdon. I then descended about 350 meters to a section with a 14% gradient to watch the race from.
The anticipation rose as the caravan appeared, a colourful parade of floats tossing souvenirs to the cheering fans. After making friends with a group of Germans next to me, I was now in direct competition with them to catch anything being thrown our way. In the end I managed to catch quite a few souvenirs to remember my day by.
The sound of helicopters signaled the approaching race, followed by race official cars and motorbikes attempting to manage the crowd in order to make space in the road for the cyclist to pass. However, despite their efforts, and that of two policemen they couldn’t do much to control the enthusiastic 500-strong crowd from getting up close to the race.
When the riders finally zoomed past, I was taken aback by their size, looking much younger than expected. Jonas and Tadej, the top riders of the year, looked about 15 years old. Furthermore, being within touching distance to the race was a very surreal experience.
Cheering on the other riders as they conquered the hill brought joy and camaraderie to the crowd, with French stars Pinot and Alaphilippe receiving the loudest cheers.
After the race had passed, I cycled up to the finish area, where preparations were already underway to dismantle the course. The thrilling day concluded with a somewhat nerve-wracking descent alongside fellow cyclists, many of whom were quite drunk by this point.
None of us in the crowd had phone signal, likely due to the remote hillside location, this meant I didn’t know who’d even won till I’d set up camp that evening. Watching the race back I was trying to spot myself on the cameras and I think you can just about see the back of my head!
It was an unforgettable day, and a great conclusion to my time in France. It’s been a great and rather easy country to cycle through and I’d love to return to follow the race through the Alps one day.