Grand Depart Spectator

Benvenuto! We will be meeting in the lobby of our group hotel in the late afternoon. Our hotel is ideally located in the heart of the old city in Florence….close to the busy energy of le Tour and some of the most interesting art and history in the world.

Tonight we’ll enjoy our welcome dinner where we’ll taste local cuisine. In addition to meeting our fellow travel guests at dinner, we’ll go over the itinerary for our Grand Depart trip. Each guest will receive a gift from Custom Getaways and from the Tour de France. You will also receive a discount card for official le Tour merchandise.

Good morning. After breakfast, we will embark on a leisurely stroll to the Start Village of today’s stage. Italy makes its first appearance on the race map for le Tour and is known to be one of cycling’s founding nations.

At the Grand Depart, you will 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 their three week journey through Italy and France.

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, we will grab a light lunch and do a walking tour of Florence. Your lead guide, Thomas speaks seven languages and has a masters degree in European history. Florence is the cradle of art, literature and architecture, the birthplace of the Renaissance and the Italian language. Florence is universally recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful cities, thanks to its many monuments and museums. With an abundance of sights to see, you’re sure to get your steps in today.

Dinner is not included tonight, so it is a perfect opportunity to continue to explore Florence and find a cool place for dinner.

Today we will drive north toward the capital of the Émilie-Romagne region and today’s stage finish city, Bologna.

After a morning of sightseeing around Bologna and having lunch, we will head to our private viewing venue. We will have a home base in a restaurant with drinks, and you will be free to find a place to watch the race along the course as the racers head to the finish area. The “punchers” are in for a real treat as four difficulties stand between the riders and the finish line, including two ascents to San Luca (1.9km at 10.6%) along the 666 arches of the staircase leading to the Sanctuary.

Following the viewing, we will transfer back to Florence and we’ll enjoy another Tuscan, group dinner tonight.

We’ll say goodbye to Florence as we head northwest towards Turin.

Our first stop will be in a town, famous for it’s Leaning Tower. You’ll have time to explore the Pisa area before we continue our trek west.

Italy produces a huge amount of table wine, Vermouth, and cooking wines. Lucky for us, we will be driving through one of the three highest wine producing regions. We’ll stop in the Piedmont region for a winery tour and tasting.

Tonight’s modern hotel is in the city of Turin. We’ll check-in and enjoy another group dinner.

After a hearty breakfast, we’ll say goodbye to Italy and set our sights on France as we transfer to the French Alps to see today’s stage finish in Valloire. We will 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.

Today the riders will tackle the 2,642-metre Galibier. This will be the first opportunity for the favorites to test themselves in the high mountains. We’ll be able to follow the action on the venue tv’s before the racers pass right in front of us on the way to the finish line.

After the finish of the stage, we’ll transfer to our next hotel. You’ll be on your own for dinner tonight in the mountain town of Chambery.

You’ll have a little bit of free time this morning before boarding the bus and transferring to our next VIP location.

This venue, known as Relais Etape, is located along the course and serves an excellent 4-course meal with beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee and water. Champagne will be served at the end to toast the stage winner. Another nice feature of this venue is that the caravan passes right in front and throws gifts to the crowds. After the caravan passes, you will be have a great view of the racers as they pass. Upon departing the venue, le Tour provides gifts to all the guests.

After the finish of the stage, we will drive to the third largest city in France, Lyon. Our hotel is located beside the Parc de la Tête d’or and is one of the largest urban parks in Lyon. Tonight we will have our farewell dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

Your guides will drop you at the Lyon Part Dieu train station in the morning.

We hope to see you again soon!