Tour de France Pedals Through Carcassonne

Monday, July 21, 2014

     After a day of rest today, the Tour de France picks up again pushing off at Boulevard Barbès, just outside the southern end of La Bastide.  La Bastide was built by King Louis following the defeat of the Cathars at the end of the Albigensian Crusades.  The bastide, a fortified town, was meant to displace La Cité, the medieval fortress on the other side of the river Aude and a Cathar stronghold.

     Tomorrow's cyclists will have to pedal hard should the wind --which is blowing mightily this evening as I write-- be against them.  Their route will take them around Place Gambetta (and past the art museum), north to the street named after André Chenier (the poet who got on the wrong side of the Reign of Terror), briefly on Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, west past the airport and towards Montréal.

     The Tour kicks off at 10:45 a.m., but preparations will be underway shortly: by 3:00 a.m., the route will be cordoned off, open again only at noon.  Flights will land at the airport only between 8:00 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. and from 9:50 a.m. to 10:20 a.m., with normal schedules returning only in the afternoon.

     I would love to see the riders in the Tour go by: the route of the Tour changes every year, so who knows when the race will come through Carcassonne again.  My first thought was that I would not be interested in seeing the start of the race, but catch the riders as they left Carcassonne via Salvaza airport on their way to Montréal.  The signs I saw at the airport last week said that the area would be inaccessible from 8:00 a.m. to noon.  While it would mean rising at a about 6:00 a.m., waiting amidst the other cycling fans, drinking my coffee with Beau at my side did not seem a bad idea if I could find a spot along Avenue Henri Gout, which runs parallel to Salvaza.

     The first hint I got that it would not be as easy as getting up early was when I ran into my neighbor, Élodie, walking her dog past my terrace this evening.

     "Everything's going to be blocked off in the City.  If you are going, you are going to have to get up very early --and I'm not sure that you would even be allowed to stand along the route next to the airport."

     Avenue Henri Gout is, indeed, a highway, albeit a two-lane one.  I'd seen photos of fans standing next to their campers watching the Tour go by, of fans out-of-control getting too close and throwing cyclists off-balance, even injuring some seriously.  It was not out of the realm of possibility that outside of Carcassonne the crowds would be smaller and I would have a chance at a front-row seat to the the spectacle.

     When I looked at the fine print on the brochure though, I realized that to get to that point would mean driving along the northern road, D6113, and parking at Carcassonne Stadium, then walking across the airport grounds (if possible) to reach its southern border, exiting and stationing myself along the border of highway.  When I read,

     Circulation…interdit sur le parcours du tour de France… sur la route de Limoux…de 3H du matin à 12H.

     I knew I was beaten.  La route de Limoux is the route out of Carcassonne past Salvaza and through the village of Limoux on the road to Montréal.  It would be locked down.

     Last year I went to the bullfighting fiesta organized near Carcassonne Stadium.  Coincidentally, I met the police chief of Carcassonne, who was very busy keeping the anti-corrida protesters away from the aficionados of the bullfight.  The police were very efficient --and they were everywhere.

     Tomorrow I would expect nothing less.  My decision is made: I am sure the coverage on television will be great.