Tour de France 2025

It’s great fun. It passed in front of us in 2020 (Covid year, so it was in September) and a couple of years before that in a nearby village, so I’ve seen it twice. It’s a great occasion to invite friends around for a pre-Tour de France barbecue and there’s a great atmosphere. :slightly_smiling_face:

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It’s one of the world’s great sporting events, and is a great spectacle, albeit the cycling part is rather brief. Find yourself a good spot, a bit higher than the road if you can.

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Saw the final when I lived in Paris, and went with my sister and mum to see it in Bordeaux last year. Great fun, worth doing at least once if you’re living in France.

Doesn’t come anywhere near us this year so I will just have to watch it on telly instead.

Thanks to this thread, I looked up the route and checked the maps. I knew that it was going to be close to us, but as it turns out, it’s going right past our house. I’m not sure if I’m excited or terrified.

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It’s not coming anywhere within a couple of hours’ drive of our place, unless they’re flying from Mont-Dore to Toulouse on their rest day, in which case they might come within a few thousand metres of chez nous.

Judging by what’s been said so far, perhaps the route is more concentrated in the North than usual? If both us and @captainendeavour are getting it?

Well I don’t want to dampen the enthusiasm but unless you are an absolute TdF junkie, I wouldn’t bother.

I found a very good spot on the roundabout 10 kms away and then whoosh, and it was all over.

Last year though, they came through our village and I watched on tv (where you see much more) but then rushing to the kitchen veranda to see them on the road way down in the valley.

Saw much more than if I had gone down there. My friend Christine who is on the Committee des Fete of the next village was involved in much of the advance arrangements, but still saw less than I did. :rofl:

Not just about the seeing David - it’s often a great atmosphere (except some mountains stage where too many people are drunk), even if only a few minutes. And its free!

Normandie is not the most frequented part, the mountains get the most visits. But equally not bad as generally goes clockwise then anticlockwise round the edge of France rather than the middle

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Where did you find the route map for stage 6 @AngelaR? , It looks like its looping south of Vire before the finish so wondering if its close to us.

Quite some years ago it came through the southern Creuse, so we sat in a local bar watching the TV until we could hear the helicopters then went outside to watch. Deceptively fast even going uphill.

I think it was @captainendeavour who found that - I was just notified by the Mairie so haven’t found any maps yet.

That’s interesting @captainendeavour but I can’t find any detailed maps on there and the big one doesn’t show the tour going anywhere near us so I’m a bit puzzled…

I get most from LeTour website, but not opening up full route at moment, just the profile

Etape 6 - jeudi 10 juillet : Bayeux - Vire Normandie (201 km) - Accidentée

Étape accidentée en Normandie, avec des côtes pouvant favoriser les échappées.

Etape 6 - jeudi 10 juillet : Bayeux - Vire Normandie (201 km) - Accidentée

I’m a fan too. We did go to watch on two occasions when the tour passed nearby. Being on a bend is important. On a straight, it’s over straight away !

Hopefully this video works here… perhaps it’s of some use.

https://dai.ly/x986g9i

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That sounds about right for France :slight_smile:

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@AngelaR , did you find the map? Tour de France 2025 Route stage 6: Baveux - Vire Romandie

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Yep. That’s the one.

Thank you @Motherrobyn ! I saw the animated version that @gareth posted the link to but the map itself I couldn’t find :roll_eyes:

Even more puzzled now - it doesn’t go anywhere near us but does go quite close to @mark, it seems.

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Having studied the map I see that the tour uses exactly the same road into Vire where I viewed it from several years ago; the nearest viewing point is about 560m across the fields from the back of my house.

It was a bit of a non-event & pouring rain had arrived just before the peloton came through. However, this year Vire is a Ville d’Étape, so there’s more excitement in the air.

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