IT MAY be the largest freely attended sporting event in the world, but there is an art to being a spectator at the Tour de France.
What you save financially in not having to pay at the gate, as it were, you can spend instead on your fancy dress costume. And while not having a specified seat as you might do in a stadium can be seen as a bonus, there are inherent difficulties to
o; just where is the best – not to mention safest – place to watch?
It is believed that Le Tour brings out 15 million spectators to roadsides through July, and last year's Grand Depart from London reportedly drew crowds of over one million to Britain's capital. While some of those are locals taking advantage of the world's most famous cycling race passing through their town, the majority will plan their own route weeks and even months in advance as they accompany the Tour stage by stage.
The most dramatic vantage point is on a climb, where panting riders are often seen being cajoled up the hillsides by fans who seem to believe they can pass on their own hysterical energy to their heroes. There is also the more laid-back approach of finding a kerbside restaurant in one of the numerous villages the race speeds through and supping the nearest vineyard's produce.
It will not be the peloton that breaks the silence, however. Instead the Tour 'caravan' heralds the imminent arrival of the cyclists. The caravan is a complete misnomer – it is in fact a cavalcade of publicity trucks for race sponsors that precedes the main event by around 45 minutes and features smiling belles throwing out free T-shirts and paraphernalia.
But when the racers finally approach, some spectators can find themselves overcome with excitement and literally entwined in events. Collisions between cyclists and fans are not uncommon. Only last Wednesday, Frenchman Aurelien Passeron crashed into a woman, fracturing his vertebra and ending his participation in the race. Last year, a spectator was left in a coma when Germany's Patrick Sinkewitz cycled down a mountain – and that was after the stage had finished. Just as bizarre was the fall of another German, Marcus Burghardt, who could not avoid a Labrador that wandered into the middle of the road.
Britain's Mark Cavendish is emerging as a major force in this year's Tour with two stage wins, the first man from these shores to achieve a double stage win since Barry Hoban in 1973. He could have tasted success on his home roads last year when the Grand Depart was staged between London and Canterbury. Travelling near the front of the leading group and set to unleash his sprint skills at the finish, he was knocked from his bike by a spectator straining for a better view.
"We were about 25km from the finish and I hit a woman who had been told repeatedly to stand back by the race marshals," recalled Cavendish who completed the stage in tears. "It's great that she wanted to watch the race, but I wonder if she knows that she might have robbed British cycling of a famous moment on the Tour de France." She would have a bruise – and maybe a free T-shirt – to prove it.
The full article contains 559 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
