Yellow Jersey Cycling

Welcome to France! We will be meeting in the lobby of our group hotel in the early afternoon. Our 4-star hotel has a great location outside the city of Avignon in Provence.

Your guides will help fit your bike and the group will take a ride to the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. You’ll check the fit of your bike and our “practice” ride will help shake off the dust from traveling. The ride will be approximately 40 kms with just under 100m of elevation gain.

Tonight we’ll enjoy our welcome dinner in the hotel restaurant. In addition to meeting our fellow travel guests at dinner, we’ll go over the itinerary for our trip. Each cycling guest will receive a cycling jersey and water bottle. All guests will receive a gift from Custom Getaways and from the Tour de France and also a discount card to be used when purchasing le Tour official merchandise.

After breakfast we will drive to the Start Village of today’s stage, located in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux. You will love the energy of the start of this year’s Tour de France. 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.

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 change into our kits to ride through the Vallon-Pont-d’Arc/Gorges de l’Ardeche region. This unusual region is where the Ardèche River has carved a dramatic canyon through a limestone plateau. The longer ride will be about 60 kms and the shorter ride about 45 kilometers. Elevation gain will be about 800m.

The non-cyclists in the group will have the opportunity to visit and have a tasting at a winery in the Chateauneuf du Pape area. You’ll learn why Chateauneuf du Pape produces some of the most appealing wines in France and the World.

Dinner is not included tonight, so it is a perfect opportunity to explore Avignon and find a cool place for local cuisine.

This morning we start with a ride up the famous Mont Ventoux climb!  Since there is close to 1,900m of elevation gain, this will be a shorter ride with the longer ride at about 50km and the shorter ride around 35km. After the ride, we will have a quick lunch and make our drive to Nice.

The spectators in the group will have time in the walled city of Avignon before transfering to Nice.

Our hotel in Nice faces the Mediterranean sea and was built in a former 19th century theological seminary which has recently been renovated. This unique location offers the best of a quiet area and is within walking distance of the heart of Nice. We will call this hotel home for the next four nights.

Tonight’s group dinner will be at the hotel restaurant where we will enjoy a local, seasonal dinner. We will be sure to toast the victory we enjoyed reaching the Mont Ventoux summit.

Today’s ride and race viewing are unique. We’ll ride on the race course with the local fans cheering us on. This ride will be about 65 kms and 50 kms with several hundred meters of elevation gain. We will ride on part of the official course on our way to the Relais Etape venue.

Our VIP venue today 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. The caravan parade will also 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.

You’ll have many local options to choose from tonight as you’ll be on your own for dinner. We recommend the fresh seafood.

Today’s ride is another treat as we will ride on the race course once again. With the elevation gain today, we will have one distance of approximately 50km. There will be roughly 1,600m of elevation gain. We will ride on the official course and ride across the finish line of today’s stage.

Once across the finish line, we’ll tour the official podium and have pictures taken individually and as a group.  Today’s stage viewing will be in the Izoard VIP venue, located down the mountain from the finish line. TV’s are located within the Izoard venue where we will watch the racers battle as early as the climb to the Col de Braus. There will then be no respite on the climbs of the Cols de Turini, de la Colmiane and finally de la Couillole, the final ascent extending for 15.7km at an average gradient of 7.1%. We will watch as the race passes us on the way to the finish line. This venue is a great way to see the race with snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee, water, TVs and private restrooms. Champagne will be served to toast the stage winner.

After the stage ends, we will transfer back to Nice where we’ll enjoy a farewell dinner with our new friends and views of the Mediterranean.

You will finally have some free time this morning to enjoy the city of Nice. The hotel is ideally located close to the Old Town and also the Port of Nice. In the afternoon, we will meet as a group and walk to our VIP venue to view the final stage of this year’s Tour de France. This day is a very rare final stage time trial from Monaco to Nice, so the winner will likely be determined today!

The Izoard VIP venue has snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks and water to enjoy while watching the race on TV’s before the racers arrive in Nice and pass in front of us. There is also ice cream, photos and private restrooms for your comfort. Champagne will be served to toast the stage winner.

This promises to be the most exciting stage 21 in many years and you will see all the riders compete before walking back to the hotel and enjoying the sights and sounds of Nice.

Check out of your hotel by noon or extend your stay in Nissa la Bella/Nice the Beautiful. You are responsible for your transfer from the hotel.

Custom Getaways hopes you have amazing memories of this unique experience.

We hope to see you again soon. Au revoir!