Tour de France 2024, Saturday 13 July, Stage 14 Pau - Pla D’Adet
By car: 0 km
By bike: 17 km
Tat: three hats (finally !), a sleep mask, a scarf and info of Béarn Region, two mini-screwdriver key rings, two bags of biscuit snacks, two bananas, some saucisson, and a cup of coffee.
So what’s all this about?
For many years now, and especially since living in France I’ve been visiting stages of the Tour de France. Sometimes staying overnight and taking in a couple of stages, sometimes cycling in, sometimes just one stage, but I’ve never been to the final stage on the Champs Élysée.
So a crazy plan bubbled away - why not go to Paris ? Why not take in more stages ? Why not see ALL the stages in one year ? It took my stepson David to point out to me that there’s no reason why I shouldn’t do that. I’m retired, I live in France - there’s nothing to stop me. Thankfully, my wonderful wife agreed too, and so 21 Étapes was born. A plan to see every stage of one Tour de France live. It’s grown slightly to include the Team Presentations beforehand - so truly a complete Tour de France.
2024 wasn’t possible because a start outside France complicates travel - I will have to travel the same distances that the whole circus around the riders travel. But far more importantly, for the first time ever, the 2024 Tour finishes outside Paris - because of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and a Champs Élysée finish really was a prerequisite.
So 2024 gave me the opportunity to shake things out, and take in three stages of the Tour to see how things work out. The story starts here…
