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Any fans have got to see it in person at least once to get the real experience....roads closed, whole towns and villages holding street parties waiting for the caravan, then (typically) the whole race passing in less than ten seconds.
Been fortunate enough to see at least one stage most years since 1994, and was in Belgium last week.
Greatest memories....
1) '96, camping near 's-Hertogenbosch, road into the town to watch the prologue on my Pinnerallo Banesto team replica. The circuit was barricaded, but anyone on a bike was being allowed to ride the course, whilst the actual teams were out doing reconnaissance. I couldn't resist tagging onto the Banesto group (along with many others) for one lap, but the highlight came when Claudio Chiappucci joined the circuit (to do a warm-up lap) as I was passing, in great spirits and was doing practice sprints with the crowd.
2) '94, having been to France to watch the team time trail the day before, I road from home to watch the first categorized climb (Blackhouse Hill, near Hythe UK). The race passed as a bunch, with approx 1000 cyclist following up the hill. On reaching the top, the spectator group realized that the race was heading to Canterbury, then back to Ashford, and there was a direct short-cut we could take. Que a 1000 cycle, mass time trial, closing both sides of a two lane highway as we going flat out to try and cover the 12mile direct route faster than the race covered 32mile race route. We made it just in time to watch the caravan for a second time.
2) '98 camping in County Wicklow near Dublin with 3 friends we had ridden into Dublin for the prologue. Had a great day out with a clear view about 300m from the finish, which meant a constant timing point and meant we knew Boardman had taken the prologue 300m before he crossed the line. We hang around for an hour or so, but then realized we had about 40mile ride back to camp, and a little over 60mins before it got dark and none of us had lights on our race bikes. Que a 4 up, 'team' time trial back to camp. We were moving through traffic on the outskirts of Dublin, but had to stop for a traffic light. The light changes, the guy on the front starts to pull off and in doing so pulls his wheel over to foul the chain stay. At this point, we realize the big yellow team ONCE bus is along side us. The bus stops, the team mechanics jump out, re-align the wheel, and give the guy a push start before jumping back on the bus....they drove alongside us for a few miles cheering, before the traffic cleared and they were gone.
You just don't the experience watching on TV!
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