Tour de France - Stage 1

Sunday, July 2 marked the first full day of the Tour de France. The day before was just a time trial to warm up the riders and the crowds. Sunday was the first road course and it covered a route of 185 kilometers (about 115 miles). The riders left Strasbourg in the early afternoon, headed west toward the Vosges mountains, curled around and headed back East into Germany, and then crossed back over the river into Strasbourg for the finish.

We headed downtown to see the start. The opening picture shows the riders parading up past the Cathedral to Place Gutenberg for the opening ceremonies. After the riders left town, Theresa and I went back to the apartment to watch on TV. This was kind of fun as the race passed through most of the villages that we often drive to go up to Mount Saint Odile. Then in the afternoon, we headed over toward the University to catch the arrival.

A cycling race is not the most exciting thing to watch. They wiz by at 40 miles an hour...which means that you stand waiting for a couple of hours to see about 10 seconds of action. Still, it was worth it to experience the atmosphere and the theater of the event.

After Sunday's stage, the riders were all trucked over to Obernai for the 2nd stage on Monday. With this stage, they headed North to finish in Luxembourg. The tour had left Alsace and it looked promising that things might get back to normal. I was even park in front of the apartment again.