I’m SO excited; our plane leaves for Pairs on Friday! We are planning to camp out all day on Sunday if needed but I need some advice from all the folks that have watched the final staged in person before. Where is a primo spot to not only watch the riders go by but to also get some good pic’s of the awards ceremony?
Many thanks,
Dave in VA
BTW, I would like to see Basso and Ullrich on the podium with Lance. Jan because he has been Armstrong’s main rival over the years and Ivan because it will symbolize the “passing of the torch” for future Tours IMO.
Two years ago my wife and I happened to be in Paris for the finish. It was raining that day and all of the street cafes and sidewalk spots were wet and packed. My wife had read about a trendy Renault car dealership on the Champs Elysees. This isn’t a normal car dealership it is an marketing location for promoting the Renault brand and not really for selling the cars. The front is two stories of seemless glass windows and inside they have a suspended cafe. From the cafe you look over all the steet peoples heads and down on the Champs Elysees. We sat with a bunch of German’s and drank beer and watched in the comfort and dryness of the upstairs cafe. When the stage was over we walked down to the podium cerimony.
The dealship is right about at the dip in the Champs Elysees and more or less across from the big Nike Store.
I found some pics…
The Champs Elysees 3 hours before the riders and raining! You should see the crowd later in the day.
Inside the Renualt dealership.
The view from our table
The postal boys.
Bring a big lens if you want to get a shot of the podium. The crowds are big and the barriers keep you away. While I could “see” the podium they were just to far away to get a good picture… the best I could do was a pic of the big screen.
Wow looks great; what year was that, I don’t remember a rainy finish on the Champs?
Dave in VA
go down the champs elysees on the left side…all the way down to the big round about there…go left…there is a tunnel the riders take…near the exit of the tunnel is one of the best spots
.
2003 the year Jan crash on the final TT.
Oh yeah, I think Cooke won the sprint and the green jersey that year.
Dave in VA