Professional Cycling - Anyone Done a TdF riding tour?

I'm thinking of doing one of those tours where you get to ride some of the mountain stages, and watch some stages of the Tour.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience doing this, what companies they used etc. I'm willing to pay a penalty for not wanting to organize the ride myself. I want a nice vacation where I can ride and not worry about anything else.

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, it's hard to search here for 'tour' and get the results I want!

David.

I'd recommend sportingtours.co.uk. Although UK based they've plenty of experience of looking after visitors from the US/Canada/Aus etc.
Basically they pick you up with your bike from somewhere in the UK and take you out to Le Tour, allowing you to ride some stages or taking your to stage starts / finishes.
Your bike goes on a bike carrying coach with you and they book hotels etc in advance.
I traveled with them a lot in the 90s but not for a few years now (work etc getting in the way) and I can say it was always totally brilliant. Go for the trips into the mountains as you get to ride the great climbs of le Tour and then see the riders race up them :)

Bike East & West has a terrific touring vacation on the central Adriatic coast of Italia if you are interested in less hectic European ride.

www.bicitreregioni.com

Bike East & West has a terrific touring vacation on the central Adriatic coast of Italia if you are interested in less hectic European ride.

www.bicitreregioni.com

Thanks for the advertisement to your company. I specifically asked for France riding.

I did such a tour in '03, with an Australian company called Bikestyle (http://www.bikestyletours.com/index.php). It was an excellent experience. They took care of all the logistics while we got to ride, some days up to 120 kms, often on the same roads the racers would be on later in the afternoon (nothing cooler than being urged up Luz Ardiden by crazy, drunken Basque cycling fans!).

The size of our group did give you a feeling of being herded from time to time, but it also meant you could always find someone to ride with; the tour company offered a number of riding options on any given day, each accompanied by a guide. Some of the bus transfers were arduous, though. The hotels ranged from quite nice to functional.

There's plenty of tour companies out there, at all price levels and range of experience. Do your research. And do it soon; a lot of them are already taking deposits for this summer. Try to find one that meets your riding desires as well as your budget. Google those companies to find customer reviews. Have fun!

Thanks for the suggestion!

I'm planning a TDF ride this year with some friends- except we're trying to plan all the logistics ourselves.. aargh, much more effort, but I guessmore flexible.

We're trying to do the entire 2003 Tour de France route, because it's based on the original 1903 route and starts and finishes in Paris. Unfortunately we're having a little difficulty getting a copy of the exact route for each stage or the "itineraire" as they say in French.

I've been able to track some of them down on the web eg: http://www.ville-st-girons.fr/bienvenue/actualites/tour_2003/profil.htm

But I haven't had much luck with most of the stages.

If anyone has access to this information or knows how we might access it, we would be extremely grateful.

Many thanks

Jimmy
New Zealand

Has anybody done a guided tour with Alp Cycles (http://www.alpcycles.com/)? They seem to have the best package for what I'm looking for, but I haven't seen many reference to them elsewhere.

Thanks

Mike

We did Backroads and it was very good. To our tastes and budget it was the right balance of riding, accomodations and price. If you want go higher end Trek Tours. Whoever you end up going with I would highly reccomend it.

Also if you want to be a little more competitive, consider doin L'Etape De tour. We did that through custom getaways.