Our incredible day watching the Tour de France and meeting Steve Porino
Stage 18 – 2024
The morning started wonderfully after having had such an amazing evening the night before. We couldn’t wait to see what the last day of watching the tour would bring.
The Boys
Flo and Nils were the two cousins we had met the previous night. We have several kids we have ‘adopted’, including our former Vietnamese exchange student. We decided to add the boys to that list as well. The boys only had their van, so I made them a big American breakfast and coffee in the morning. They brought a pastry that was from their region near Lyon.
It was so much fun to talk to them and get to know them. They spoke excellent English. Turns out we were the first people they had ever spoken English to outside of their class in school. I enjoyed teaching them our ‘American’ words. They kindly laughed at my attempt to speak French.
We spent the morning hanging out with them, enjoying the lively atmosphere. Our spot was perfect– many different race vehicles stopped by giving freebies. I was so excited to get a Skoda bag and flag! Flo helped me – the flag was only meant for campervans, and he assured the gentleman in French that we had one.
The boys were just a few years older than our oldest daughter. I had been missing our kids back home, so it was nice to spend time with them and almost get a little taste of home.
(We were also able to get together with them in 2025 too!)
Lunch
Our campervan was positioned so that we had ‘shadow’ (what the French call shade). Everyone brought over their chairs and tables, and we set up lunch under our awning. We had our two French boys, the two brothers (who we also met last night), Natin from the Netherlands and another French couple that we never got the name of! Everyone brought what they had – John Paul made fried potatoes, Flo and Nils brought bread, sausage and pâté. We had plenty of wine and Pastis 51. Again, all the French we have met have been so hospitable. (For the future, we always make sure that we have extra food and drinks to share with the new friends we meet).
Steve Porino & NBC Sports
When we decided to follow the Tour, I emailed any of the NBC Sports broadcasters I could. The email to Steve Porino actually went through, and he replied with the nicest message. He gave us his WhatsApp number to get ahold of him during the race.
At each stage, we sent him our location. For the first two stages, he sent us a message that the race took off, and they couldn’t stop (they have to stay ahead of the race).
During Stage 17, Steve actually mentioned us on-air in his broadcast (at 1:36).
For our final stage (Stage 18), we did the same thing and told him it was the last stage we were watching. At one point in the morning, an American photographer pulled up next to us and asked if he could park there just for the race, then he’d be on his way. We told him we didn’t mind; just that Steve Porino might be showing up. He said, “That’s random.”
We were in the middle of eating lunch when I turned and I saw Steve walking up to our campervan. I screamed and ran up to him. I am not ashamed to say I went total fan girl on him. I asked him if I could give him a hug (he said yes).
Steve and his crew had parked at the bottom of the hill. As he was walking up, the other fans asked if he was looking for the Americans from Michigan. I am still wondering how the word spread that we were there – we only talked to the people parked around us!
We had told him about our plight and being broken into – twice. To help me out, he brought me two NBC Sports shirts.
He interviewed us and we were on NBC Sports.
(We never did get the replacements for our perfume that was stolen and Phil and Bob didn’t replace my clothes. Hint hint). After the interview, they took off, and we got ready for the race to arrive.
(Stay tuned to us seeing Steve again last year in 2025! We didn’t get interviewed again – we just wanted to say hi.)
The Race
It wasn’t long after Steve and his crew left that we had to go up the hill to wait for the race. We were chatting with the photographer, and he told us that the 4 helicopters that we see are not media, they are just rich people who watch the race from the air. CAN YOU IMAGINE?!
We stood around the curve so that we could see the race come around the corner at the bottom of the hill. Before we saw the riders, we saw the media helicopter. As soon as we spotted the vehicles and the riders in the breakaway, we raced up the hill to our spot. I am not a runner and I felt like I was going to die! (I think the air is also thinner too).
We got to the top of the switchback and watched the riders come up. The view was amazing. We saw them at the bottom by our campervan and then as they passed us at the top of the hill. It was so wonderful to extend the viewing of the riders.
And then it was over. Tears start to flow even now just thinking about it. We walked back down to our campervan, packed up and gave Flo and Nils a hug. We pulled away and at that moment I was questioning all our future trip plans. All I wanted to do was to keep following the race. To keep meeting these amazing people. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much the last three days. I haven’t been that sad to have something be over in a long time. We had the most amazing three days, and we were leaving. It felt like nothing could even come close to being as amazing as the last few days have been. (Hint – the next week was amazing, and we did have an awesome time).
We followed the race route until we had to turn north and continue on our journey.
The future
I said when we left that we would be doing this again. And yes, we did it in 2025. I hoped that watching 10 stages would be enough, and I would be sick of it. That didn’t happen – seeing 10 stages was awesome, and I just looked forward to the route for the following year! This year, in 2026, we’ll be watching six stages. It is now tradition, and it is one of those things where I don’t think we’ll ever get enough of it. There is something so special about seeing the France countryside, meeting people from all around the world, and just the overall excitement of the race.
Check out the Youtube video of this stage
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