The Tour de France - blink and you really will miss it! by guest blogger Dave

On holiday in northern France, we decide to devote half a day to watching one of the world's greatest sporting spectacles passing through not far from where we are staying.

The local tourist board is very helpful with information on where and when to see the race, and we duly pitch up at a country crossroads about 15 kilometres from that day's stage finish in St Malo. We reckon that would be too crowded for our liking.

A recce about three hours before the action shows a sizeable crowd already gathering, but we think there's time for a picnic in a shadier location off the Tour de France route.

 

Returning an hour later we find our vantage point much busier, but not uncomfortably so. A lovely sunny afternoon helps to build a carnival atmosphere at the side of the road.

First up comes the caravan - floats bearing cartoon characters representing the main sponsors, along with police outriders, team cars and race officials. 

Dads enthusiastically take part in competitive stamping on goodies thrown to the crowds from the caravan, excited kids retrieving the freebies from under their feet.

Veteran French spectators explain to us novice Brits that predicting the tour's arrival time is not an exact science, and indeed we wait another couple of hours for the next event.

At last a posse of police motorbikes heralds the headline attraction. A breakaway group of some six riders led by the Cofidis team shoot past and I fire off a couple of pictures.

Alas, I am completely blown away by the air blast preceding the peloton, panic and switch off the camera by mistake. Never mind, standing right next to nearly 200 riders belting along at 55-60 kilometres an hour, just a few centimetres between their wheels keeping them from a mass pile-up, is an amazing experience. Do I spot Chris Froome in the bunch? Hmm, if I do he vanishes in an instant.

Heading back to the car, our family agree it's well worth all the waiting. You can get a better view of the race on television, for sure. But that's nothing like the fun of the real thing.