Since the Tour de France ended yesterday (July 27, 2025), allow me some therapeutic space to extend my observations from Stage 2’s rollout at Lauwin-Planque, a tiny suburb of Douai. (I think I read population ~1600.) The village was incredibly charming in that specific French way: boulangeries, jerseys hanging on the grade school that were obviously painted by the students, narrow streets. The team buses had to park in a field near the start.
The intimacy of the Tour is incredible. They manage to make the start and finish feel as much like a local club race as the launchpad for a global sporting event. It was raining, of course—because we found nothing says “welcome to northern France” quite like a steady drizzle—but we made the short drive from Lille undeterred.
We parked outside an Aldi a kilometer or so from the start and found a good spot by the road to cheer. An unleashed dog ran into the road ahead of the team cars, which caused a brief kerfuffle. And my French was just good enough to understand the family in the house across the road making fun of Grandma (smoking, naturally) for being in the street. They were warning her that a velo was going to mow her down. I think the rain kept the crowds down, so we got a good look at Quinn Simmons and his Joe Dirt ensemble. In rain gear, some of the other Americans were harder to pick out. We did see Matieu van der Poel, eventual stage winner, bringing up the rear in the rollout.
The plan was to have a picnic after the départ, which sounded delightful in theory. But it turns out Aldi closes at 12:30 on Sundays (French hours are truly bananas from an American point of view). Missed lunch again. Add it to the growing list of lessons learned via mild starvation. Salvation came in the form of the golden arches of McDonald’s in a nearby city.
One other observation from this stage is just how seriously the French take road closures for the Tour. Not only is every street cleared of cars and obstacles ahead of time (and signage put up to warn folks of the closure), but every exit onto and off the street/road is blocked not only by barriers and signage, but usually by a truck, tractor, trailer, or even concrete blocks. The logistics of the event are amazing. It’s incredibly well run.
Pro Tip: Use Google Maps. The route is obvious from the road closures on Google Maps, and you can pretty easily navigate to the route (and a potential parking spot) just by watching the screen.