It’s hard to imagine the pain and suffering that the Tour de France riders must go through. I only walked about 300 metres (1,000 ft) up from the station to the first hairpin bend on the ascent out of Martigny and I was about to spontaneously combust. With temperatures around 34 degrees C (or 93 F) it was HOT. So I did what any self-respecting person would do in that situation and found the nearest bar to cool off… About an hour later ( 🙂 ) I could just about bear to come out and watch the ‘caravan’ go by.
For anyone unfamiliar with Le Tour, the race is preceded by a cavalcade of advertising floats, dispensing freebies, in the form of hats, sweets, key-rings and all sorts of goodies to the enthusiastic supporters by the side of the road. (How they have enough to cover the whole 180k+ route, I will never know). But it was a wonderful spectacle and great to see these phenomenal athletes in action.
Alittlebitoutoffocus 
Wow, how cool! We used to watch the Tour every year until I turned into a tight wad and got rid of cable! It was super fun to watch, so I’m really enjoying your pictures!!
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Yes, it’s an incredible event, which shows off the countryside, whether in France, Switzerland or even my beloved Yorkshire, to great effect. Check out Maxine’s paintings at Racing Lines, https://maxinedodd.com/, they are simply amazing. She covers the event much better than I do.
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Great photos Mike – what a beautiful place? The vines looked gorgeous soaking up the sun. I thought I saw some tiger stripes on the hill…. 😉
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I watched the race when I got back (as we have a rewind type facility) but there were no Tigers on the loose ! I was lost in the crowd about 80 yards around the left hand bend. I should have gone further up, where there were less people, but then I wouldn’t have got the shots of the bend. It was a great day though. For info, Martigny is an old Roman town, at a strategic bend in the Rhone valley. The road south goes over to either France (Chamonix) or Italy (over the Grand St Bernard pass).
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Well it’s a shame but you took some great shots from your vantage point, so definitely in the right place from that point of view! 😀
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So funny pictures! 🙂
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Yes, it’s quite a circus that follows, or rather precedes, the Tour de France around. I guess they have to make it worthwhile for the people standing by the roadside for all that time waiting for just a glimpse (and it is a fleeting glimpse) of the riders.
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