Tour de France Part 2 - Paris

The first two days in Paris were pretty much dedicated to the Tour de France….and enjoying our nice room at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe (Thanks to points!). It was really nice to have a big TV, comfy robe, even comfier bed, a bathtub (not just shower) and a nice gym! ☺ Oh and we even had real eggs for the first time in weeks. At this point, its the little things….

Sunday morning of the TDF finale we walked to the Champs Elysees around Noon and saw that all the first row spots were already taken. We weren’t completely surprised but we decided that we really didn’t feel like staking our spot by standing for 5 hours. We probably would have thought otherwise if we hadn’t just seen them in Bordeaux. Anyway, we decided to just chill, walk along the Champs Elysees, and people watch for a bit. Oh and we also had the best chicken kebab for the second time as we ate there the night before too (on Rue Washington just north of the Champs Elysees).

Around 3pm we decided we probably should finally stand amongst the crowd. We ended up closer to the podium, which was pretty crowded but seemed to have more energy. Again, it was hard to know what was going on since the commentators were speaking French but there were definitely more Americans in Paris than Bordeaux….and just more Lance/RadioShack fans in general. I will say I was really happy to see how many people support the LIVESTRONG movement. I saw a TON of LIVESTRONG bands on people from all over the world.

The riders came in around 5pm. The rode up and down the Champs Elysees a few times but you still couldn’t see them clearly as they were going so fast! Well I couldn’t see anything at all because I’m so damn short….but Darsh picked me up a few times so I could see them fly by. When the race ended we made our way closer to the Podium which was blocked off for Priority seating….man I wish I knew some people! ☺ All we could see in person was the back of their heads on the podium so we watched everything via the big screen TV facing us. We saw the winners get presented with their awards. I really was hoping Andy Schleck could pull off a win. I’ll keep it nice and just say that he plays nicer and I like him better….hopefully next year. I was really happy though that RadioShack won the team award and we got to see Lance’s last time on the podium live. They should be really proud of that….especially since it was a completely new team.

After the awards were presented, each team rode a slow lap around the Champs Elysees. I can’t believe we almost missed this part…but we somehow inched our way in and got front row seats….sometimes it does pay to be small! This is when we finally saw Lance and the rest of the RadioShack team up close….although it was still difficult to get a good pic!

I really would have loved to see Lance finish stronger but he’s had an insanely ridiculously ride! ☺ We could only think of 3 other athletes in our opinion (Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Roger Federer) that were single-handedly the best at their sport (meaning few people would question them being the best active player at that time....and for several continuous years). And Lance has done so much for the sport in general. I can say for one, I would never have even become a cycling fan if it weren’t for him. Thanks for the ride Lance – I can’t wait to see what you do next!