<p>They make me crazy. I am such a rule follower that their behavior seems bizarre to me.
They must be really drunk</p>
<p>I can’t imagine wanting to be on camera so bad that I would interfere with a rider.</p>
<p>They have never been models of good behavior and not been above physically attacking non-French riders. One such moron caused the great Eddy Merckx to lose one Tour de France, and perhaps years of his career. </p>
<p>Their behavior could be traced to sitting in the sun for hours, drinking cheap wine, and their well-known chauvinism. The people who line the streets and climbing areas are not necessarily Rhodes scholars.</p>
<p>No, but they’re one of the really entertaining aspects of the TDF. The riders know what they’re getting into when they decide to race Alpe d’Huez.</p>
<p>In 2003 I was in the front row as the riders did all those rounds on the Champs. The speed was incredible. </p>
<p>I would never go to any other stage, though, because I woudn’t want to ge with the crazies drinking all day.</p>
<p>I’m with you -I would want to see a stage but not the Alpe dHuez </p>
<p>I understood that some of the roads had been closed for a good while before hand -so I guess there was nothing to do but sit around and drink.</p>
<p>I did see one of the riders give a guy a shove.</p>
<p>We have vacationed in the area (great hiking that even younger kids can handle) and have been on the Col de la Croix Fry a couple of times when the tour came over. Our little inn has a big deck overlooking the road about 3/4 of the way up the mountain. Locals rent out space in their parking areas or fields and RV/campers are all over the mountain for days ahead of time. DH would get up very early and ride a chunk of the that day’s course. It was exciting as they came through but it was wonderful waking up the following morning to find the campers had all departed and the mountain was peaceful once again.</p>
<p>I would love to vacation there </p>
<p>I think the riding would be beyond my skill set. I could handle some hiking though ,and I understand there is some river rafting at some of the tour locations this year</p>
<p>gloworm, the first time the Tour of California came to Sacramento, we went down to watch the finishing stretch. We could actually feel the breeze as they went by on the far side of the street. Incredible.</p>
<p>Rather timely…</p>
<p><a href=“Riders in the Swarm - The New York Times”>Riders in the Swarm - The New York Times;
<p>Thanks!
I enjoyed reading that</p>
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<p>as if cheap wine in France is bad. The best I had in France was cheap wine, no name house wine, a lot of flavor.</p>
<p>Last summer my sister got married in the south of France and I drove up from Santander (in Spain. This is where the ferry arrives from England) and unknowingly ran into the Tour! In was quite fun but slowed our progress (carrying the precious bridesmaid dresses) and Luchon was full of drunks for a couple of nights. Most of them appeared to be Australian. I didn’t know cycling was so popular down under.</p>
<p>Here’s one of the most famous instances, from 1999 (fast forward to 4:50, crash is right at 5:00)… this guy was probably not even drunk. Just wanted the awesome picture. Doesn’t even give him a push to start him back up. Fortunately the rider still wins the stage.</p>
<p>[alpe</a> d´huez 1999 Guerini kollidiert/collides with fan // funny angerman vs rominger;-))) - YouTube](<a href=“alpe d´huez 1999 Guerini kollidiert/collides with fan // funny angerman vs rominger;-))) - YouTube”>alpe d´huez 1999 Guerini kollidiert/collides with fan // funny angerman vs rominger;-))) - YouTube)</p>
<p>I saw three different instances of riders slapping or shoving spectators away, including Chris Froome. I don’t remember seeing so many cases of that before.</p>
<p>The awards ceremony tonight was beautiful. I’m hoping for twilight finishes in the future.</p>
<p>“This is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time.” I hope he’s right.</p>
<p>Ever since Lance’s definitive fall from grace, and the knowledge that he’s probably right about the great majority of world class competitors’ use of performance enhancing substances, I’ve been less than excited and impressed by the Tour De France.</p>
<p>I love watching it. They are all working so hard.
I enjoy seeing the countryside. I watch with my laptop and look up some of the cities and Chateaus they pass.
This year I was researching cruises that stop in Corsica.</p>
<p>I hope the doping culture is gone from professional cycling.</p>
<p>Soccer Guy -thanks for the video. It makes some of my more embarrassing moments look tame</p>
<p>Las Ma -Paris certainly looked beautiful at dusk</p>
<p>@poetsheart:“Ever since Lance’s definitive fall from grace, and the knowledge that he’s probably right about the great majority of world class competitors’ use of performance enhancing substances, I’ve been less than excited and impressed by the Tour De France.”</p>
<p>Regardless I’m impressed with the Tour, the Giro, and the Vuelta. It would surprise me if the riders could do these races WITHOUT any assistance. A football game lasts an hour(actual playing time) and is once a week, baseball lasts a few hours including downtime. Basketball soccer and hockey keep a pretty fast pace but again for a limited amount of time (an hours or so). Cycling in tours like these keep riders going at rates that would be full bore for most of us for 4-6 hours a day and they do it for 3 weeks with only a couple of down days. I believe that one of the early riders in the Tour called the organizers “murderers” because of the difficulty of the race. Of course back then the tours were longer than they are today and the roads often that in name only.</p>
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<p>why? they still battle it out and one person is the fastest…</p>
<p>The spectators make it hard for me to watch. I don’t know how the riders manage to get through, with these morons jumping in front of them, and waving flags so they hit them. I don’t know why the French don’t hammer people who do this, make an example of them, make a rule that they have to stand back. Somebody is going to get seriously hurt. We like it when we see the riders push them away. My husband wants to see one of these idiots get decked by a rider.</p>