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Will stage 5 or 6 of the Tour de France be easier to spectate in person?

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Will stage 5 or 6 of the Tour de France be easier to spectate in person?

Old 03-23-22, 12:16 AM
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Nvhrw
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Will stage 5 or 6 of the Tour de France be easier to spectate in person?

I'm planning a holiday that will take me across parts of Europe this summer. I am still finalizing the details but know that I will be in Belgium or France during stages 5 and 6. I do not plan on hiring a car and will use public transport for the entire trip. It may be difficult to hire a bicycle at this time so I may have to do a bit of walking. I don't have any specific goals (cobbles, hills, etc) I just want to see the peloton for the first time in person

Would it be easier to access Stage 5 (Lille > Arenberg) or Stage 6 (Binche > Longwy)?
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Old 03-23-22, 12:47 AM
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Leinster
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I think both might be tricky with no transport, but of the 2 I'd definitely work on making sure I could see the Arenberg stage. Wallers, 7km from the finish, appears to have a train station.

By that point of the stage you probably won't be seeing a peloton, so much as scattered groups of riders rolling in in groups of 10-20 or less. Should be an awesome day.
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Old 03-27-22, 03:17 PM
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The peloton goes by in a flash after all the team cars, the advertising caravan, hundreds of motorcycles. televison trucks, then more team cars. If you happen to be nearby take a look, but I wouldn't go far out of the way just to see it in flat terrain. The climbs are much more interesting.. But best way to watch is on the Tele;
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Old 03-28-22, 05:11 AM
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^^^This^^^

I went to the’95 Giro.
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Old 03-28-22, 05:43 AM
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Stage 5 absolutely! This is the cobbled stage and I would be watching along a cobbled sector.

https://dai.ly/x84umwv

(https://www.cyclingstage.com/tour-de...ge-5-tdf-2022/)
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Old 03-28-22, 10:14 AM
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The one and only time I witnessed the TdF in person was the finish of a mountain stage at Luz Ardiden 1995. As indicated above, the peloton goes by in a flash (on the flats). Literally only a couple of seconds, and your in-person viewing has come and gone. Personally, if I were going again…I’d opt for viewing a mountaintop finish, or at least a summit along the route. In other words…if time and travel permits…you might consider going one day later to watch the mountaintop finish of stage 7 on July 8. In ‘95 I was able to get right against the barrier at the inside of the final turn/switchback just about 150 meters from the finish line. The riders came past in slow succession, right next to the barrier, and I was able to get some really good photos from just 4-5 feet away.

This description doesn’t take into account our experiences of the 24 hours prior to the finish we observed…wherein we camped in tents on the isolated mountaintop in the vicinity of the Luz Ardiden ski station with about 200,000 other TdF fans who partied the entire time ‘like it was 1999,’ and got to watch the construction/assembly of the finish area. Watching the riders finish the stage was the highlight, but only a small part of the whole experience.

Dan
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