Going to Liege for TdF, Advice?

My eyes are green with envy.

If you're watching the prologue try and get somewhere in the last kilometer. A grassy knoll (minus rifle) or up against the barriers. For the start of the first road stage - hang around the team buses/caravan area rather than at the actual start. More stuff to see around the buses. Liege - drink where the locals drink, not the tourists. Same deal with the food.

Thanks for the advice swampy. I wandered into the bus area during the last day of the Giro. It was pretty cool, got to talk to some of the riders. Hopefully I can do the same in Liege.

I like the advice of going where the locals are rather than hang out with the tourists... The food and drink is always better when you're away from the tourists. Cheaper to! We couldn't find a hotel in Liege, so we staying in Maastricht, Netherlands about 30 minutes away. Other than flying into Brussels, I've never spent any time in Belguim or the Netherlands, so this should be an amazing trip.

The Tour is many times bigger than the Giro - more people, more police, more press, more blaggers, sellers, etc etc etc... So don't expect a casual wander around like you might have had in Italy. On top of that it's the first day of the race so the riders may not be as willing to chat - even if they're not being asked to talk to the press. That the race starts from there the following day means that you might be better off hitting the busses up after the prologue.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by JARoss [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Thanks for the advice swampy. I wandered into the bus area during the last day of the Giro. It was pretty cool, got to talk to some of the riders. Hopefully I can do the same in Liege.

I like the advice of going where the locals are rather than hang out with the tourists... The food and drink is always better when you're away from the tourists. Cheaper to! We couldn't find a hotel in Liege, so we staying in Maastricht, Netherlands about 30 minutes away. Other than flying into Brussels, I've never spent any time in Belguim or the Netherlands, so this should be an amazing trip.

Maastricht is a lovely little town - it almost borders France/Germany (the European treaty bring the Euro in to existence was named after Maastricht).

I'd go with the advice of eating and drinking where the locals go. The locals will also tell you that the Tour of Flanders is more important than LeTour!
But don't let that put you off : they're genuine cycling fans and will probably have a lot of good insight to the sport.

Our trip to the tour was awesome! Liege and Maastricht were great towns. Made it to the team introductions where we managed to literally bump into Cancellara and Chris Horner. Saw the prologue, stage 1 start and a couple parts of stage 3. The fans we met were great; super friendly. An older couple from France shared some homemade pastries with us (my kids couldn't stop talking about that). The wife and I are already planning for next year... The 100th edition should be a wild ride! 😉