Day 1 - Sunday July 9 – Welcome to the Pyrenees!
Our 2006 Tour of France adventure begins at the Toulouse airport between 1:00PM and 2:00PM. We’ll collect you here for the drive to Cauterets, our base for the next 4 nights. Located deep in the Pyrenees, Cauterets provides us with an incredible starting point from which to explore this incredible cycling landscape. Upon arrival at our hotel, Hotel Sacca, we’ll take a couple hours to check into our rooms and assemble our bikes, with a Europeds mechanic and bike stands on hand. Once we’re settled in, we’ll take a spin down the picturesque valley below before a brief climb back to see how the legs feel. After an orientation meeting and welcome drink, we’ll enjoy dinner in town where we’ll toast to the exciting week ahead.

Day 2 - Monday, July 10 – Ride the epic Hautcam!
After our petit dejeuner of croissants and coffee, we will begin our amazing day in the Pyrenees with a casual ride out of town. We’ll head south (and downhill) towards the village of Argeles-Gazost, where you will have an opportunity to fuel up before conquering the steep Hautcam climb. We’ll take our time on this difficult time knowing that atop the climb waits a delicious EUROPEDS picnic. Upon arrival at the summit we will feast in celebration of our serious efforts. The ride down is easier and we should be back at our hotel in Cauterets with time to explore and shop. Dinner tonight will be “on your own” at a restaurant in town. Mileage today is about 40, with one very hard climb.

Day 3 – Tuesday, July 11 – Ride the Tourmalet and much, much more!
If you have come to the 2006 Tour of France to ride your bike, today is your day. There will be two riding options today, and both will include climbing the famous Col du Tourmalet. The shorter option will be an up and down ride, backtracking after having climbed the Tourmalet. The longer option will be a loop riding down the east side of Tourmalet through La Mongie before finally hitting some flat riding in the valley below. We’ll stop in Bagneres de Bigorre to fuel up again before continuing back west towards Argeles and eventually Cauterets. The short option today is 40 miles. The longer option is a very hard 85 miles. Our well-deserved dinner tonight will again be at a restaurant in town.

Day 4 - Wednesday July 12 –TDF Stage 10, Cambo Les Bains to Pau
Let the climbing begin! Today the Tour of France riders will start the grueling climbs of the Pyrenees, and the peleton will no doubt start to expose the new leaders of the post Armstrong era. Stretching 193km today, the TDF route will take the riders over two serious climbs before they come barreling into Pau, at the foot of the Pyrenees. Our plan today is to meet the riders as they crest the last hill of the day, the Col de la Marie- Blanque. We’ll have two riding options today. Those wanting a very serious ride may leave the hotel directly on the bikes this morning and ride the entire distance to the Col de la Marie-Blanque, a total distance of 50 miles one way, which means that if you do the whole ride you’ll ride about 100 miles with some serious hills. For those more sane folks we’ll over a ride in the shuttle vans in the morning to a point along the route. From here you can ride to the prime viewing spots on the Col de la Marie-Blanque and easily ride back to the van in the afternoon. This mileage option will be about 50. At the end of this very exciting day we’ll hoist a glass and toast the beginning of the real action at the Tour. We’ll go out as a group tonight to a restaurant in town for dinner

Day 5 - Thursday July 13 – TDF Stage 11, Transfer to Burlats
Dressed to bike, we’ll have breakfast at the hotel then pack our bags and load the vans for our afternoon transfer to Burlats for the next two nights. The TDF route comes towards us today and we’ll cycle the beautiful road out of the valley once more and intersect the peleton early on before they start their climbing. We’ll be sure to arrive in time for the caravan of sponsors and the free “schwag” that is thrown to us throngs of fans along the way. This, as all TDF veterans know, is a true highlight of the Tour of France viewing experience. If you’re a rookie, we can’t explain it, you’ll have to come see for yourselves. Once the riders have gone by and we have feasted aplenty on the EUROPEDS picnic, we’ll load bikes into the vans and make the 3-4 hour drive to Burlats. We’ll arrive with time to settle into this amazing chateau before meeting together for an aperitif and history lesson from Monsieur Dauphin, the chateau’s owner. He and his wife are our gracious hosts and we have had the pleasure of staying here on past Tour of France tours. You are in for a real experience! We’ll shuttle to dinner tonight for a great meal in a local restaurant and we’ll toast to our discovery of this unique region of France. Mileage for the day is about 10-15.

Day 6 - Friday July 14 - TDF Stage 12, Luchon to Carcassonne
We ride another favorite route today as we pedal through the “Black Mountain” region east of Toulouse, a natural park and a biker’s dream – beautiful scenery with rolling hills. Our destination is the magical and Medieval town of Carcassonne. This stunning city stands as a relic of what is a storied past, and to walk (or ride a bike) within the city’s fortified walls is breathtaking! We’ll arrive in time to explore the town before setting up to view the sprint finish on this flat Tour of France stage. The setting will be incredible as the magic of old and new are combined with the arrival of the 2006 Tour of France into ancient Carcassonne. When the race is over and we have enjoyed the mayhem and festivities as much as possible we’ll hop back on the bikes and head back to Burlats. Time permitting we may be able to ride the entire distance back before dinner. If not, we’ll meet the vans along the way. Tonight’s farewell dinner will be at a great country restaurant near the Chateau. We’ll dink local wines and enjoy copious servings of delicious French fare. Today’s mileage: 40-80, with rolling hills.

Please Note: Two new EUROPEDS Tour Leaders will join the group for the final evening. Because of a scheduling conflict with our TDF Alps trip, your EUROPEDS Tour leaders and Mechanic will need to leave before tonight’s dinner in order to make the Alps trip start the following day.

Day 7 - Friday July 15 – Au Revoir. Transfer to Toulouse

Rendezvous in Grenoble: The city of Grenoble is reached from Paris in three hours by train. There are many departures to choose from throughout the day. At the time this itinerary was written, the exact schedules for trains form Paris to Grenoble in July 2006 were not available. When the summer schedules are released, we will choose a train from Paris on July 15th that arrives in Grenoble in the early afternoon. Please check back with us to confirm the exact time.

Final Day : On July 22, it is unlikely that you will be able to fly back to the west coast of the United States due to our distance from Paris. Most of the major airlines schedule their departures from Paris tot he U.S. west coast around 11:00AM to 12:00PM. If you wish to connect with an early flight from Paris on July 22, we suggest you arrange for a taxi to take you to the Annecy station in the early morning.

Bikes : Most guests on our TDF tours prefer to bring their own bicycles to ride. If you are not going to bring your own bike, and need to rent a bike from EUROPEDS, please let us know as soon as possible.

Bike Boxes : Storage of all bike travel cases will be handled by EUROPEDS and are included in the tour price.

Clothes/Attire : Bring the bike clothes you prefer, as well as some casual/semi dressy clothes for evenings. Generally, shorts are frowned upon at dinner in France. We do our best to respect the local customs.

Packing : Please pack lightly. One big bag per person is permitted. We have limited space and will be a mobile unit traveling together for much of this trip. Keeping the bags to a minimum will make our time in the shuttle vans more comfortable. Please see accompanying packing list for the truly necessary items.

Train/Airfare : We are very happy to consult with you regarding your travel to and around France before and after our Tour. You will need to contact a travel agent, or use the Internet to purchase your air tickets and train tickets. We highly recommend the use of an experienced travel agent. They may save you time and money.

Travel Insurance : Please purchase travel insurance. After booking your EUROPEDS tour, you will be sent a Travelex travel insurance brochure with registration card.

Of Special Note : Any train times listed in this itinerary are based on the best information available at the time of publication and are thus subject to change. Definitive schedules will become available as the trip’s start date nears. We suggest that you check with your travel agent approximately one month prior to your trip’s start date to purchase your train tickets and make any necessary reservations. EUROPEDS reserves the right to modify published routes due to any unforeseen circumstances. In the event that one or another hotel is unable to accept our reservation for a given date (rare that this may be), we assure you that EUROPEDS will endeavor to book another hotel of comparable class and charm.