Tour de Uzes

One of the motorhomes on the road to Uzes

Watching the race on SBS Tour Tracker app,
at least I could hear in English what was happening

Many trucks went by trying to sell official merchandise,
check out the lady hanging out the 1st floor window

The 'caravan' of sponsors

Everyone wanted the bottles of water

The guy on the left, said 'I'm the famous one',
I think he was joking

Wet hair trying to keep cool
with the rest of the Uzes crowd

Soap powder advertising? The girl
was extra enthusiastic shooting, all the 'throwers'
are secured with harnesses 

The leader, no idea who it was,
all too fast

Passing in a whirl of bikes

45 seconds later and they are gone

Over the years I have watched the Tour de France on SBS, what I loved best was the stunning French countryside and seeing the motorhomes and crazy people. I can’t believe I get to see it in France today.

But first some research must be done, who is leading, where are the French and the Aussies, last I heard Geraint Thomas (UK), last years winner was going very well. The race is into the last week and Geraint is still going strong, but the papers are trying to build up rivalry with his team mate Egan Bernal. Julian Alaphillippe (France) is in the overall lead, I bet the crowd will go wild when he goes past. At the moment Richie Porte is the highest placed Australian at 11th overall. Must keep a lookout for bib #131.


Today is stage 16 it is is 177km long. Mainly through flat areas, starting and finishing in Nimes and kindly going through the little town that is 5 minutes from base. Very nice for the Tour de France to plan ahead and predict my work/holiday plans. 

Russ and I stayed up late one night and have a few vantage points mapped out, armed with a map, lots of water and an umbrella for the punishing sun, Russ drops me off in the local town of Uzes.

Hmm, where shall I go, a loop of the route. A few options here, want some shade. Maybe over there. Opps, distraction finally a Tour de France pop-up shop, now I can do some shopping, fours choices in ladies t-shirts, hmm, this one with the heart, some more bits and pieces. Should I get Stephen a t-shirt? Hmm, better not risk that. Satisfied with my haul its time to check out some more streets, get some photos, gendarmes are putting up safety barriers, council workers are putting out protection bales in case there is a crash, its all happening in Uzes today.

Finally, this is the spot and I settle in for the long haul, time to get out the app and see where the riders are. This SBS app is good, now I can hear the race in English and get an idea of what is going on. The crowd is mostly French, with a splattering of English and me, the lone Aussie. This is the first time in a country that I have NOT run into an Australian. Nothing happens, for a long time, well except pushy French, pushing other French, they really do need to take a chill pill.

What's that lady doing over there? She is dragging one of the protection bales over to sit on, the crowd are booing her, she pauses, gives everyone an evil stare and now returns the bale. The crowd are now applauding. I can’t understand their French but can certainly tell this crowd could turn feral if the mood takes them.

Keep drinking Catherine, its hot. Finally, the caravan arrives, this is the fun bit to keep the crowd entertained and keep the sponsors happy. I can hear the loud music, the crowd jumps up and the first crazy decorated truck arrives, throwing out bottles of water. Much appreciated by the crowd, now its Mickey Mouse have no idea what he is advertising as it is all in French, more blaring music and crowd into a frenzy over caps and comics.  The closest I get is a keyring hitting my arm, but the guy behind me quickly grabs it. The older French couple next to me that I have had sign language conversations with each get a hat. Later I saw them doing selfies with their silly polka dot hats on, it was a lovely moment.

Ok, that’s done the caravan ended car just came through, time to go back to the app and watch on the map as they approach Uzes. More drunk people wandering down the street, locals on their bikes ignoring the gendarmes get cheers from the crowds. The crowd really wants to be entertained. Text messages going through the crowd I can’t understand 99% of what is going on. Many more cars and trucks the fire brigade pass through and they get the BIGGEST cheer of all, following their heroic efforts to save Notre Dame earlier in the year.

Finally, the leaders arrive, its the breakaway group. Snap. Snap. Snap. Gone. By my calculations its 25 seconds to the peloton. Get ready. Here they are, zooming, zooming, zooming, a stream of muscles and machine. Blink and they're gone. Wow.

Overall I waited 5 hours for 45 seconds of action. Was it worth it? YES!