The course for the Tour de France changes each year (the race has been run since 1903), but the finish line of the final stage is always along the Champs-Élysées. In fact the cyclists usually do a series of 20 laps up and around the Champs-Élysées. So even though we didn't know much about the race, we decided to take the opportunity to cheer on the cyclists. But we also figured the Champs would be a zoo, so we opted to just watch the racers pass by the Pont Neuf. The schedule had the riders arriving around 3:45pm, so we staked out a spot behind the barricades about an hour earlier and began to wait.
As we waited, there were cars passing by from the team caravans. Some were just plain old cars carrying the support staff, but others were the more interesting sponsorship vehicles, heading for the Champs-Élysées crowds to toss out freebies.
Spectators lined the street, but it really wasn't too crowded. We realized we hadn't needed to arrive an hour early.
In fact, the race was about 45 minutes behind the schedule on the website. Unfortunately for some people, the street closures prevented them from getting across. One gentleman with luggage said his cab driver just dropped them off on the wrong side of the barricades from their hotel because the driver could not find a way across. There were ways to cross via the metro passages, but that wasn't good enough for this lady...
Apparently she really, really needed to get across in a hurry. We had expected the gendarmerie (police) to arrest her...but no, they just deposited her back on the original side of the street. She continued to shout and harass them for about fifteen minutes.
And then....finally! A cheer went up and we readied our cameras! The pack whizzed by at breakneck speed. The overall leader, Cadel Evans (Australia), is in the yellow jersey. He is the time leader of the overall race, even though he is not shown in the front of the pack here.
To give you an idea of just how fast things went by, here is a video of the action -- and by "action" I mean a lot of slow-moving cars with a few seconds of cycling footage.
After the pack passed by, the police started removing the barricades. Kevin and I just looked at each other, saying "Is that it?". It was kind of a letdown. But then all kinds of bicyclists, including average joes on Velibs, started riding down the street. Of course the crowd started cheering them on also. This wannabe racer came along at least three minutes behind the pack -- the police had to scramble to get pedestrians out of his way.
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