Hi,

My plan is to take the train to Bellegarde. There are TGVs and ter trains that run quite often. There will be lots of people there, but if u dont mind that and the fact that Bellegarde is in the middle of the race you will have fun. If you want you could even walk up towards the mountain pass and catch the bikers going up hill a little.

Any idea what time we should be there?

Hi Scott,

I think it depends on how good of a spot you want. If they travel an average speed they should come through at 2pm, but I have a feeling that since all of the previous part of the route is downhill it may be safe to get there a little earlier than that, and a bit earlier if you want a good spot.

There is significant info here:

http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/800/etape_par_etape.html#zone1

Note that the "caravane" times are for the advertising caravan that is in front of the tour, then times are listed for when the cyclists are expected to come through if they traveled at the overall average speeds of 41, 39, and 37 kph. I *think* they include the gradients in the calculations of times, as they would have to travel well over 47 kph to make it from the start to Bellegarde as fast as they are predicting.

Anyway, you can take a look at the information and decide for yourself. Why not head there early though, I've heard it's a very pretty town!

P.S. I said there was a mountain pass a few miles up the road from Bellegarde in my last post, but I don't think that's the case, I think it's just an elevation peak in the route.

Do you know if they will pass close to the station? I want to go but im working in the afternoon so it will be tight

They will pass within a few hundred meters of the Bellegarde station.

If you meant the Geneve station (Gare Cornavin), then no. The Tour unfortunately does not come through Genève this year. 

Along the Swiss border, the route does goes by Annemasse and through St. Julien-en-Genevois.

The map is at the above link.

Thanks i was talking about the Bellegarde station. It will be tight still. Oh well i saw them last year. But its definetely worth it. If you manage to go when the caravane passes then its more fun. You will end up fighting to get some crappy free stuff. I had to fight an old woman to get a hat that hasnt seen the light of day since i got it :P

Last year, I bought a tour package which included a t-shirt and cap and other trinkets, but they ran out of everything in my size. So I bought the t-shirt one size smaller but of course I have worn it only just once as it is too small :-) Now I have to decide whether to throw more money at them this year to get the right size t-shirt, and then have two of all of the other things in the package as pretty much everything is the same as last year :-)

What was in the package? I saw them as well but i was on my "i feel cheap" days :P

It was this for 20 euros (I think I paid 30 CHF)

http://boutique.letour.fr/en_nv_fiche__Official-kit-2010-557807.html