You’re reading about a past BikeStyle Tours trip to the Tour de France. You can also view photos from this trip, see preliminary details of our 2008 trips, and register to receive full details of the 2008 Tour de France when they are released.
TRIP DETAILS:
Duration: 7 days(6 Nights)
Dates: Friday 20 July 2007 to Thursday 26 July2007
Start-Finish: Toulouse
Accommodation: 3 and 4 Star Premium Hotels
Group Size: Maximum 20 people
Cost: USD* $5532
Our Pyrenees VIP trip will include:
- Ride a stage of the Tour de France (fully supported) from start to finish prior to the pros!
- Official Tour de France outfit.
- A photo on Podium after completion of the stage.
- VIP viewing afterwards in one of the most exclusive areas, the “Izoard”.
- Access to the VIP Zones where you have the opportunity to meet Tour Sponsors, Riders and Legends of past Tours in the Start Village.
- Access to VIP Grandstands for chosen stages.
- Access to the Technical Zone and Press Room for chosen stages.
- A TdF welcome package (Backpack, T shirt and cap) for each participant.
- A discount in the TdF store for each VIP participant (20%).
- Official road book, Tourist guide and
- Accommodation guide for each participant.
- Tour de France celebrity meetings (with the help of A.S.O officials) at the village.
Friday 20 July 2007. Stage 12: Montpellier - Castres, 179km
There will be someone to meet you at Toulouse Airport and assist you to your transport which will transfer you to our 3 star hotel in the centre of Carcassonne. We recommend an early afternoon arrival to prevent the possibility of having to wait for your room to be made ready.
We have found from experience that the first thing most cyclists want to do is to have a short ride to shake out the cobwebs after the plane trip.
As a result of tighter luggage restrictions and the difficulties of travelling with a bicycle, Bikestyle Tours has a range of hire bikes available for rental. They are equipped with either Shimano or Campagnolo and we have a variety of sizes on hand. For more info see our Bicycle Hire Page.
The area around Carcassonne provides a good base for this with its beautiful back roads through vineyards and rolling countryside.
The first job will be to assemble your bike and Bikestyle staff will be available to assist if you have any problems. Alternatively you may have chosen to rent a Bikestyle Tours bike to save the hassle of transport and assembly.
If you’re not too tired (and you have arrived in time) it may also be possible for us to go and see the race at Castre in the afternoon.
Tonight there is a welcome dinner where you can meet the staff who will be looking after you on the trip and of course your fellow travellers with whom you will be spending the next few days.
Saturday 21 July 2007. Stage 13: Albi - Albi, 54 km
Today is the first Time Trial of the 2007 Tour de France! Amazing with only seven proper days of racing left…
Sim Green who works for Bikestyle Tours is a resident of the Albi area and Sim tells me the course will be quite hilly and difficult. So who will win this TT? Mick Rogers maybe, it should suit him. Whatever happens, it will be a great day.
This morning we will have the unique privilege of visiting the Start Village as a VIP guest of the Tour de France!
With our special vehicle accreditation we will be able to park close to the start village.
Inside the village there are many displays and exhibitions of sponsors. You can collect a few souvenirs, have your photo taken with famouspeople and riders, try some of the snacks they have available, enjoy a drink and relax in this special environment that few get to enjoy.
An Official of the Tour de France will then take you on a visit of the rider’s enclosure where you will get close up with all the riders and get to take many photos that will be the envy of your friends back home.
The Tour Village is a special place on Time Trial day as it is open most of the day and the riders wander through at different times during the day. You will also be able to access the riders area for the whole duration of the start,so from about 11am to 4pm you will be able to stay in the area.
For a cyclist this is Heaven on Earth!
After our day at the race we will have a ride on the way home to loosen our legs in preparation for tomorrow.
Sunday 22 July 2007. Stage 14: Mazamet -Plateau-de-Beille, 197 km
Today is a special day for Bikestyle Tours. The Tour de France is coming to our European base, the town of Mazamet. Mazamet is steeped in cycling history as it is the birth place of Laurent Jalabert, one of the most famous cyclists of recent history and certainly the best French cyclist for many years. In fact there is a Jalabert square in the middle of the town and his brother Nicolas and his parents still live here. Laurent doesn’t live far away in Montauban.
This is one of the reasons we chose this stage, the other being the first dayin the Pyrenees and the beginning of the final showdown over a classic course with a mountain top finish!
This morning it’s up bright and early, today is the day… Your Day…
The day you get your chance to feel what it’s like to be a Pro in the Tour de France.
We will leave the hotel early and begin our stage from the Start Line in Mazamet. We will have an Officially accredited Bikestyle Tours lead vehicle and a following vehicle and an ex professional riding with you to guide and advise you throughout the day. After a photo on the start line you will head off looking (and feeling) like a Pro Tour Team in your Bikestyle Tours outfit along the Tour de France route.
Your stage will travel out of the Tarn region, descending through the famous Cathar country with it’s forests and ruins and into the Pyrenees and then onto the mighty Pyrenees and your first appointment with pain, the Port de Pailhères(17 km at 7.2%) and then the climb up towards the Plateau de Beille (16 km at7.9%). You will have a wonderful day, the crowds will be huge, the Basques willbe out in their orange. The Pyrenees are loved by the riders because of the enthusiastic crowds.
Our Bikestyle Tours vehicles will be available to help you through the day inany way you need including a little helping hand if needed although the closer you get to the finish the larger the crowds will get and the bigger the lift.You will feel like someone has their hand on your back pushing you along.
An Official Tour de France vehicle will meet us for the last part of the route to escort us into the finish, the crowds will be huge now, cheering you on, one kilometre to go, 500 metres, 200 metres you pass under the Finish Banner where in just a few hours the Winner of the Stage will raise his hands in victory. You will then get to mount the same podium the winner will mount and have your photo taken by an Official Photographer.
A Very Special Experience - one you will never forget!
After we freshen up and have a celebratory drink we will watch the finish ofthe stage.
Stage Analysis:
Gilles Maignan, pilot for Christian Prudhomme, two-time French time trial champion, 4 Tours de France: “A small incline to welcome the riders first thing, then a relatively calm route via Carcassonne, Limoux and Quillan before taking on the Port de Pailhères (17 km at 7.2%) and the climb up towards the Plateau de Beille (16 km at 7.9%). The end of the stage will be very difficult and should only leave room for the very fittest riders in the peloton.”
After the stage we will return to Carcassonne and our hotel to celebrate your great day!
Monday 23 July 2007. Stage 15: Foix - Loudenvielle -Le Louron, 196 km
Today completes the picture for your experience as a Tour de France VIP.
You are invited to be the guest of the Tour de France at the exclusive VIP finish area called the Izoard and a tour of the Technical Zone to see how it all comes together behind the scenes.
Today you may be feeling like a ride so in the morning we will organise a ride from the hotel before heading to the finish for our rendezvous at 3pm totour the Technical Zone. During your tour it’s quite possible you will see some of those famous faces from television so have your camera ready! We will bedriving the final climb of the race on our way to the finish giving you an insight into what the teams have to deal with every day.
After our Tour we will go to our exclusive Izoard Hospitality Area just near the finish line where we can do what VIPs do: Enjoy a drink, have a snack served by the Tour hostesses, see the race on television and then get a view of the race finish from a very privileged position. Being a difficult mountains stage you will be able to soak up the atmosphere for a lot longer than you might on a flat stage, as the riders will be still coming in half an hour after the winner.
Our hostess will serve champagne after the winner has crossed the line so we can toast the occasion. Hey, you deserve it after yesterday!
The Izoard is one of the top VIP areas at the Tour de France so who knows who you may meet.
After our VIP experience we will go to our 4 Star Hotel in Lourdes where we will spend the next 3 nights.
Dinner will be provided tonight at the hotel.
Tuesday, 24 July 2007, Rest Day: Pau
Today is a rest day on the Tour but not for us. We will offer a range of options today.
The first two options are to ride one or two of the classic climbs of the Tour, the Col D’Áspin and the Col du Tourmalet. Whilst neither are included int his year’s Tour they are have been featured many times in past years. It is a“lumpy” 35km to the village of St Marie de Campan which is at the base of the two climbs. From here you have the choice of climbing the Col d’ Aspin and returning to the village before climbing the Col du Tourmalet or going directly to the Tourmalet. From the top of the Tourmalet it is 50km back to the hotel in Lourdes.Whilst this is mostly downhill there is often a headwind up the final valley. It will be 130km if you do both climbs or 100km for the Tourmalet.
Details of the two climbs are:
Col d’Aspin, 12.6km, Average gradient 6.2%
Col duTourmalet, 17.2km, average gradient 7.4%
A third option will be to visit the Cauterets National Park. Cauterets is a ski resort is located in a narrow valley deep in the Pyrenees, a short distance south of Lourdes. One of the best snow locations during the winter months and during the warmer parts of the year visitors can enjoy walking and cycling amongst the magnificent scenery of the Parc National des Pyrenees. There are several spectacular waterfalls between Cauterets and Pont d’Espagne, notably the ones at Cascades de Lutour.
The village of Cauterets is 30km from Lourdes and it’s a further 10km to the entrance to the National Park at Pont d’Espagne. The first 20km are a pleasant ride down the bike track which follows the river valley. Once we leave the valley it is all climbing, the next 10km to Cauterets is good climbing but fairly steady. The last 8km to Pont d’Espagne are serious climbing with some parts with a gradient of more than 10%.
Our vehicles will be travelling the same route so it should be possible to pick up riders at Cauterets or at a spot at the end of the bike path for those who want a leisurely ride.
The Parc National des Pyrenees is a magnificent spot to discover the forests, meadows, lakes and streams of the National Park.Upon arrival we will board a cable car and chair lift before enjoying a short walk to reach Lake Gaube.
After the visit to the National Park you can either ride back to Lourdes or travel on the bus. It’s mostly downhill. We will be back in Lourdes in time for an afternoon Tour of this famous town which will include the famous Massabielle Cave and the Healing Pools.
After dinner it should be possible to catch the famous torchlight procession from the Massabielle Grotto.
Dinner will be provided tonight at the hotel.
Wednesday 25 July 2007. Stage 16: Orthez - Gourette -Col d’Aubisque, 218 km
After a day off, the battle for the Maillot Jaune will continue today.
It’s also the last day in the mountains for this edition of the Tour de France and it’s not going out with a whimper with four climbs culminating with a mountain top finish on the Col d’Aubisque.
We have two options today with the long option being a 110km round trip including the climb of the Aubisque where we will see the race near the finish at Gourette. After the race finish we will continue over the summit of the Aubisque before the short (3km) climb to the Col du Soulor. From here it is a welcome 20km downhill to the village of Argeles Gazost. From Argeles Gazost back to Lourdes is an easy ride on a well surfaced bike track built over an old railway line.
The second option is a ride of 85km. It leaves the hotel and travels down the bike track to Argeles Gazost which is apretty tourist village at the centre of many of the climbs in the Pyrenees. Leaving Argeles it’s straight into the climb of the Col du Soulor and the Cold’Aubisque from the opposite side to the race route. The first 12km are relatively easy but the last 7.5km average more than 8%. From the top of the Soulor there is a short drop (3km) and then it’s a further 8km and a further 310metres of climbing to the top of the Col d’Aubisque. We continue to the finish at Gourette and after the race we retrace our route back to Lourdes.
Dinner will be provided tonight at the hotel with a few farewell drinks afterwards.
Thursday 26 July 2007. Stage 17: Pau -Castelsarrasin, 188 km
This morning we will transfer you back to Toulouse airport or it is also possible to leave from Lourdes by TGV if you wish.
We sincerely hope we have made your experience a special one that will live long in your memory.
You’re reading about a past BikeStyle Tours trip to the Tour de France. You can also view photos from this trip, see preliminary details of our 2008 trips, and register to receive full details of the 2008 Tour de France when they are released.
