Which race
shall I visit, which experiences did you make during your
visits?
In a few words - the big ones
like the giro d'italia, vuelta or the tour de france offer
a big variety of stars but you will probably have
difficulties to see them close as security measures during
these races are higher than in the smaller ones.
mountain stages e.g. during tour de france usually require
an arrival 2-3 days before the riders will come. this may
be explained by police regulations to avoid a traffic jam
on the mountain roads.
after watching a lot of bike races I would like to describe
my passion and why we are at the smaller one's:
- more familiar - the races are usually started in smaller
towns where parking your car is quite easy and you may
easily reach the start, which of course is not to crowded
and the riders are usually accessible for e.g. autographs,
photos, interviews or just a few words.
- more sport - the smaller races do not close the roads so
early as e.g. tour de france or world cup races, that means
that you are still able to go to interesting points on the
track and you manage to see the riders several times
- more fun - those races are more fun finally as you have a
more intense contact to the race. forget about the usual
phrase "20 seconds and then it is over and the riders are
gone!". in my opinion this is false. as you manage to see
them at the start, 3-5 times during the race and at the
finish you will get -after some time- a good feeling on how
the leading group is going, the strength of several "stars"
and you also get so many times the rush when the leading
motorbikes arrive until the last team car passes by and
then your race begins to reach the next exciting spot on
the race track...
- more possibilities - if you want to take photos you are
better at the smaller races as the organization usually is
less strict (but still you should have a professional
camera and even better a press card) in allowing you to
take photos e.g. some meters behind the finish line or just
before the start. we have started like that,
which races should you visit - well, it depends of course
of your location - check out the photos on the websites and
then decide if it looks interesting to you or not. I can
not give any clues like "tour of flanders is better
than...", every race has its own style and you will get a
feeling to the different styles and your
preferences.