Le Tour VIP style

The “grass is greener” cliché is often just that. A cliché. Except when you’re at Le Tour de France and that grass is a VIP area. Then it is not only green, it is spacious, air-conditioned and comes with free food and drinks.

The first day of the 2012 Le Tour couldn’t be more spectator friendly. The prologue is an individual time trial through the Belgium city of Liege. (Le Tour de France often touches into other countries.) The city itself is easy to reach by train, the course big enough to find a decent vantage point and the action continuous for about 3.5 hours.

I left the hostel fully prepared for the day: Aussie flag, sunscreen, permanent marker, food, water etc. The first item became the most valuable of the lot.

At 10am – two hours before the caravan was due – people were already claiming their spot, looking pretty comfortable in their camping chairs on the edge of the course. When the time came, I found a spot under a tree to wait for the caravan.

The Tour de France publicity caravan preceeds the riders for the entire event. Every road the cyclists ride along, the caravan was there two hours before. It’s a 45-minute parade of floats and freebies. T-shirts, hats, bags, lollies, cakes, water etc. My haul was rather poor compared to last year. But it’s difficult on your own. Some freebies were handed out right on the fence (where I was), others were thrown over my head. It really is a team sport.

After the caravan I checked out the team buses. I stopped at the Orica Green Edge bus for a while, watching the crew prepare. Green Edge is the Australian team – the first at Le Tour. The riders are mostly Australian, with a couple of exceptions. Matt Goss, a Tassie boy, is the team leader. I was chatting to another Aussie, Chris, who was also decked out in appropriate supporter attire, when Dan, the Green Edge cameraman offered us VIP passes in exchange for us doing a quick cheer on camera. Best. Deal. Ever.

The VIP area was 250 metres from the finish line, and when we arrived, practically empty. We pulled up a chair right on the fence, grabbed a free beer and enjoyed some sushi. We didn’t have to battle crowds, stand for hours to claim a spot, or risk losing it if we went for food or drink. In short, it rocked.

The best feature was the live coverage on the TV. It meant we knew what was going on. We saw rider after rider whizz by, but without the TV we would have had no idea how everyone was standing.

Green Edge sent a few more decorated Aussies into the VIP area, including three guys from Sydney. Nick, Dave and Luke are following most of the tour, including the mountain stages, which I think are the most fun.

After the last rider, Aussie favourite Cadel Evans, crossed the line, we enjoyed champagne and macaroons as the crowd disappeared. The boys got talking to a Belgium guy, Mark, they’d met earlier, who was walking by. He invited us for beers so off we went. Mark was a little odd, but gave us a good introduction to Belgium beers. One of them had a alcohol percentage of 11.3%. I didn’t finish that.

Noticed my lack of pictures? The day was slightly dampened by having my bag stolen in the evening, with my camera in it. This is why travel insurance is never a waste of money.