The Official 101st Tour de France, thread.

[Padders]

Off to Kettlewell on Saturday for a panoramic view from the ridge above the village. On Sunday we are going to Honley near Holmfirth.

 

[edna krabappel]

Team presentation ceremony on ITV4 right now.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Team presentation ceremony on ITV4 right now.

Every year I watch this. I always find it cringeworthy in the extreme, and this year is no exception. It's like Eurovision on wheels.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Embrace!? FFS...

 

[Garage_Doors]

Saturday 13th September

Thank you.

 

[Stat Brother]

Podcasts:-

BBC 5-live Bespoke Tour de France and www.thecyclingpodcast.com both have their tour preview shows available.

 

[cirC]

Off to Kettlewell on Saturday for a panoramic view from the ridge above the village. On Sunday we are going to Honley near Holmfirth.

I hope you are not driving to get there.All the roads are shut because of..........
My wife has to go to Hawes on Sat to work and the roads in the whole area are shut from 6am.Night shift rates is what she needs.

 

[cirC]

Un accident terrible................ By eck.

3rd from bottom,lol,

 

[rcf0712]

love le tour, especially Phil Legget who we get on the SBS coverage - is that little Colombian mountain goat chap Nairo Quintana backing up the Giro and riding this year, if so I'm going for a Colombia World Cup and TDF double! Next choice is TJ for BMC, anyone but feckin' metromomic Sky Racing,....

 

[strings]

Every year I watch this. I always find it cringeworthy in the extreme, and this year is no exception. It's like Eurovision on wheels.

I watched it for the first time last night and I thought Eurovision too (even without having seen your post!). It was very cringe-inducing.

 

[Bedsex]

I've just seen this nutter outside City Thameslink station, not far from the route along the Victoria Embankment on Monday. Could he be scoping out another protest?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Horan

 

[Bold Seagull]

Who is driving up to Yorkshire today?

I'm thinking of leaving it late hopefully missing some of the traffic, leaving Hove around 6.30pm I reckon.

Any advice from anyone? M1 or A1M? Roadworks to avoid etc.?

 

[vegster]

I'm finding it a little odd that various radio sources are confidently predicting 2 million people lining the route in Yorkshire. I wonder what they base this on or is it just the usual everyday hyperbole, as used as standard in many sporting events as a matter of course these days ?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I'm finding it a little odd that various radio sources are confidently predicting 2 million people lining the route in Yorkshire. I wonder what they base this on or is it just the usual everyday hyperbole, as used as standard in many sporting events as a matter of course these days ?

The official Tour website says that the Tour de France attracts 12 million spectators along the route in a typical year's race. With 21 stages to get through, that's an average of about 570,000 a day. Is the Yorkshire figure based on two stages? And are Yorkshire folk twice as keen as everyone else? That remains to be seen.

 

[Stat Brother]

I'm finding it a little odd that various radio sources are confidently predicting 2 million people lining the route in Yorkshire. I wonder what they base this on or is it just the usual everyday hyperbole, as used as standard in many sporting events as a matter of course these days ?

These were the stats I omitted from the thread opener:-

Spectators on the road-sides (for the 2013 edition)
12 million spectators
63% of men and 37% of women
55% under 50 years old, including 12% under 25 years old
80% of spectators from France and 20% from abroad
38 different nationalities identified
6 and a half hours of presence on average on the road-side (5 and a half for flat stages, 7 and a half for mountains stages)
93% of people come in groups (of 4 to 5 people)

Omitted by virtue of 'oh come on, you can't possibly know that'.

I guess the figure of 2 million is basically saying 'there's gonna be a proper s*** load of people on the route'.

It'll be a 4-5 hour route, moving through it at an average of 25-30mph.
If it's rammed all the way round, that will be a pooh load of people.

I'm expecting it to be heaving and mental, and I'm still expecting to be blown away by the crowd.

 

[Bold Seagull]

These were the stats I omitted from the thread opener:-

Spectators on the road-sides (for the 2013 edition)
12 million spectators
63% of men and 37% of women
55% under 50 years old, including 12% under 25 years old
80% of spectators from France and 20% from abroad
38 different nationalities identified
6 and a half hours of presence on average on the road-side (5 and a half for flat stages, 7 and a half for mountains stages)
93% of people come in groups (of 4 to 5 people)

Omitted by virtue of 'oh come on, you can't possibly know that'.

I guess the figure of 2 million is basically saying 'there's gonna be a proper s*** load of people on the route'.

It'll be a 4-5 hour route, moving through it at an average of 25-30mph.
If it's rammed all the way round, that will be a pooh load of people.

I'm expecting it to be heaving and mental, and I'm still expecting to be blown away by the crowd.

The 3 UK stages are easily accessible to the residents of York, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Cambridge and London, plus all the other towns it passes through, and the nutters like myself driving 270 miles to enjoy the spectacle. I reckon 2 million is a really conservative figure. Over the 3 days lining all the routes I think it is going to be a lot more than that.

 

[manintheblackpajamas]

Who is driving up to Yorkshire today?

I'm thinking of leaving it late hopefully missing some of the traffic, leaving Hove around 6.30pm I reckon.

Any advice from anyone? M1 or A1M? Roadworks to avoid etc.?

We left hove at 3:30pm. Probably going to hit tons of traffic. In fact as I write I'm staring at a queue of cars.

Where are you hoping to watch each day?

 

[Bold Seagull]

We left hove at 3:30pm. Probably going to hit tons of traffic. In fact as I write I'm staring at a queue of cars.

Where are you hoping to watch each day?

Friend of mine lives in Pool in Wharfedale where the tour actually passes through on Stage 1. Their local cricket club is setting up an outdoor screen, so we may either watch the rest there, or head up Harrogate for the finish - might depend on how sunny / how well the ale is flowing!

Stage 2, I'm going to get on my bike and cycle from Pool up to 'Blubberhouses' which is the first climb (if it can be called that) of the stage. I'm then thinking of having a ride myself, maybe some of the Stage 1 route before heading back.

The other place I was thinking of for Stage 2 is driving down to Stocksbridge, parking up and walking or cycling up to the Midhopestones climb.

All the websites seem to suggest not a lot of parking, but I reckon a lot of people will be pulling over on surrounding lanes that aren't closed to get to the routes.

What are you doing?

 

[Stat Brother]

This always makes for a nice companion piece.

http://www.lionelbirnie.com/gourmet/

 

[manintheblackpajamas]

Friend of mine lives in Pool in Wharfedale where the tour actually passes through on Stage 1. Their local cricket club is setting up an outdoor screen, so we may either watch the rest there, or head up Harrogate for the finish - might depend on how sunny / how well the ale is flowing!

Stage 2, I'm going to get on my bike and cycle from Pool up to 'Blubberhouses' which is the first climb (if it can be called that) of the stage. I'm then thinking of having a ride myself, maybe some of the Stage 1 route before heading back.

The other place I was thinking of for Stage 2 is driving down to Stocksbridge, parking up and walking or cycling up to the Midhopestones climb.

All the websites seem to suggest not a lot of parking, but I reckon a lot of people will be pulling over on surrounding lanes that aren't closed to get to the routes.

What are you doing?

We are (rather ambitiously) planning to see them sweep past our base in Ilkley tomorrow before heading to an acquaintances house in Harrogate to park the bikes and soak up some finishing town atmosphere.

Hoping to make Holme Moss on Sunday but expect it will be incredibly busy!
Whatever happens it will be great to be there in the Yorkshire rain...