Watching the Tour de France is something we look forward to each year....especially with the opportunity to watch it live. This year we selected the city of Metz, France to watch a finish versus the traditional hill climb. When we visited Metz this past winter the extreme cold weather prevented us from truly enjoying all the city has to offer. Not this time. As it turns out, July is a great month to explore any city.
Watching the Tour live is always an experience, as we learned first-hand during the 2010 Tour de France.
Arriving at the finish line well before the riders....
The caravan before the riders is always entertaining.....
Pretty sure these guys were not riding the Tour....
Watching the tour live does have one downside; you never really know what is going on with the race until you watch the rebroadcast later that day. So you simply hang out and wait for the tell-tale sign that the riders have arrived: the helicopters approaching.
The lead riders coming down the final stretch....
Peter Sagan in fourth place...he went on to win the stage and flashed the 'Hulk' across the line.
The rest of the Peloton arrives.....
The crash about 20Km from the finish split the Peloton into several small groups and forced some top contenders, like Frank Schleck here, to finish up minutes behind the lead riders.
As anyone who as watched a finish stage will tell you: after waiting a long time and enjoying the caravan, the real moment of the riders passing by lasts about 2 seconds. After they pass and the winner is determined, there is nothing more to do than pack up and call it a day. Our plans included avoiding the traffic snarls by spending a few hours walking around Metz and getting a bite to eat before we headed home.
The Cathedrale St. Etienne.....
A little more walking around, a tasty stone-baked pizza, and we were ready to call it a day. With the exciting finish and near-perfect weather, watching a tour finish in Metz was a great call.
No comments:
Post a Comment