Grenoble and the Tour de France

Date: July 18, 2018 – July 20, 2018
Location: Grenoble, France

After picking up our rental car in Lyon, France we drove south to the town of Grenoble.

In preparation of the upcoming Tour de France stage through Grenoble, we got caught up on the Tour de France while having wine and cheese. It doesn’t get much more French than this!

Grenoble has a large fortress, Fort de la Bastille, on top of the mountain.

To get to the top, you can either walk or take the cable car, Téléphérique Grenoble-Bastille.

We took the cable car up.

The cable car was built in 1934 and in 1976 bubbles replaced the older cabins. Each bubble can hold six people. On the way up and down we had a whole bubble to ourselves.

Here are the steps up to the lookout.

Here is the view over Grenoble.

On the other side of the below mountains is Alpe d’hHuez, where the Tour de France finished the day we were at the fortress.

Looking out another direction where the Isère and Drac rivers meet.

A couple days before the Tour de France went through Grenoble, there were signs posted about when the roads would be closed.

The day before the Tour de France came through arrows pointing out the route were put up.

There were also signs to let the riders know when they would be crossing tram tracks.

July 20, 2018 Tour de France – Stage 13

The Tour de France went through Grenoble as part of Stage 13. The riders were expected to go by at around 2:40 pm, and by 11:30 am the roads they would ride on were already closed and trucks selling memorabilia starting driving by.

The first vans that drove by played music, and if you wanted to purchase Tour items, you could flag them down and they would stop.

Just before 1:00 pm the caravan came by. It had tons of sponsor vehicles and some of them tossed out small items to the crowd.

Mickey was there too.

The caravan lasted for roughly 30 minutes and then we had another hour or so till the rides came by. After the caravan went through, some people left and them came back before the riders came by.

We were right by the road when the riders came.

Here is the lead group of four that broke away from the peloton but were caught before the end of the stage.

After the lead group there were some team cars.

Here is the peloton.

In the yellow jersey is the race leader, Geraint Thomas. Thomas won the stage the day before that finished at the top of Alpe d’Huez. Thomas also continued to wear the yellow jersey to Paris and won his first Tour de France after 9 starts. 

The crowd wasn’t as large as I expected and we didn’t really need to wait by the road to save our spot. The caravan was fun to watch, but the riders came and went by quickly. If I was to see the Tour de France again I would go to a mountain stage, or maybe near the finish line of a stage.