Spectator Normandy

Welcome to France! We will be picking up at the Bayeux train station (Gare de Bayeux) in the early afternoon. We won’t waste any time getting started with our afternoon tours. We’ll visit Pont du Hoc (the cliff with German pillbox fortifications featured in the movie “Saving Private Ryan”.  Just 12kms to the east is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, which overlooks Omaha Beach. What an honor it’ll be visiting the cemetery and memorial.

Our hotel is ideally located in the town of Bayeux, where we’ll enjoy our welcome dinner with local cuisine. In addition to visiting with our fellow group travelers, we’ll go over the itinerary for the next four days. Each guest will receive a gift from Custom Getaways.

Good morning. With the start of Stage 6 in Bayeux, we will feel the buzz of the Tour. After breakfast, we embark on a leisurely stroll to the Start Village of today’s stage. You’ll have VIP access to the Start Village with coffee, snacks, tour officials and merchandise tents. You will also be able to see the riders interviewed at the sign-in stage before they begin today’s stage, which will be the most challenging flat stage in the Tour’s recent history, featuring more than 3,500 meters of vertical gain.

Another great feature of the start village is that you will have access to the team bus paddock. You can walk around the team busses and cars before the race begins. However, you need to be careful as the racers will ride around you to get to the sign-in stage and to the starting line…a really cool experience!

Once the racers depart, you will grab a light lunch in Bayeux and we will board our bus and head towards Mont Saint Michel. This iconic island has a magical setting and is one of the most unique places in the world…no wonder it was chosen as the Grand Depart for the 2016 Tour de France. The group will tour this walled city, also a UNESCO World Heritgage site. Be prepared to climb a lot of steps as there are many in order to get to the very top of Mont Saint Michel. Luckily, there are shops and restaurants along the way where you can stop for a break and take in the views.

After our time at Mont Saint Michel, we will transfer to our next hotel located in the Brittany region of northwestern France. Our group dinner will include local cuisine and French wine.

After a little free time this morning, we are on the move to our next VIP venue, the Relais Etape.

We will drive on the race course for a little while to the Relais Etape VIP venue. This venue is located along the course and serves an excellent 4-course meal for lunch. It also offers snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee and water. Once the race finishes, champagne will be served to toast the stage winner. Another nice feature of this venue is that it has TV’s to watch the race until the racers pass right in front of us.  As Christian Prudhomme says, “Everyone’s attention will be focused very much on the present as the double ascent of the Côte de Mûr-de-Bretagne approaches. A warning to attackers who are a bit too eager: it’s a climb where tactical sense is almost as decisive as physical strength.”

We’ll see the caravan parade pass in front of our venue prior to the racers passing. The caravan pumps up the crowds with colorful floats and the tossing of small prizes. Each Relais Etape guest will receive a gift from le Tour.

Once the race finishes, we will head to our hotel in the capital city of Brittany, Rennes. You’ll be on your own for dinner tonight. There are loads of choice when it comes to eating out but as this is Brittany, you should consider trying the local creperies.

Another busy day is on our itinerary.  You’ll have the morning free to explore Rennes. Wander the tree-lined, cobbled streets of the medieval district. The houses are colorful with fascinating carvings on the walls and doors. Another option is to visit the Saturday morning market in Place des Lices….France’s second largest weekly market.

Once we depart Rennes, we’ll head to the finish of today’s stage in Laval, France. We’ll drive on the race course to the finish area. The group will walk across the finish line and have the privilege of touring the podium area and taking pictures.

After the podium, we will find a place to grab a bite before entering the Izoard VIP venue. This venue serves snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee and water. Champagne will be served at the end to toast the stage winner. For your convenience, private restrooms are located at the venue.

The likelihood is that the stage will finish with a bunch sprint, although the profile of the likely contenders could well be restricted by one specific feature – the finish line comes at the end of a kilometre-long, rising false flat. We’ll be there to see the outcome!

After the finish of the stage, we’ll transfer to our next hotel in the nearby city of Le Mans (home of the world famous Grand Prix). We will have our farewell dinner and review all of the amazing bike-racing and sightseeing we’ve done for the last few days.

After a hearty breakfast, we’ll say goodbye to France and to the Tour until next time.

The group drop-off will be mid-morning at the Le Mans train station (Gare du Mans).

Au Revoir!