During the first few weeks that I was in Karlsruhe I was lucky enough to watch the end of one of the stages of the 2005 Tour de France. In spite of le Tour being a French affair, it occasionally finishes or starts in non-French areas. Several hours of anticipation brought the entire city out into the streets to watch as the advertising cars rolled through followed by the police escorts followed by the team cars and finally followed by the actual racers. For only a couple seconds of blurry spandex riding by there certainly is a lot of buildup.
Big screen TVs were setup around the city along the route.
The route through the middle of town. The streets and trains were shut down for the day.
Some sort of promotional event had people riding stationary bicycles in full spandex.
Close to the finish line near the city convention center.
The finish line was underneath the advertisement.
A helicopter came in for a landing in the field near the finish line.
One of the first sponsor vehicles to roll by.
Most of the sponsor cars stopped to pass out free things.
They even passed out free beer.
Things started to speed up as the peloton neared.
This French advertiser really knows how to party!
Some people found clever vantage points to watch the race.
The course was just about cleared and ready for the riders.
The racers blew through so fast that they were just a blur. Somewhere in the pack was Lance Armstrong.
The finish line after the fact.
Buses with the riders going to the hotel for the night.
That is a very expensive bike.
Inside the convention center where a great many vendors had booths setup.
Who needs a seat when you are a downhiller?
Strange semi truck.
Quite a mess was left on the highway.
