A tour to the Tour

Daniel Blessing, channel manager of GMM Euro Sport, recently led a group of Thais to Paris to experience the final sprint in the Tour de France 2013 and enjoy the many tourist attractions the French capital has to offer.

Blessing admitted it was also the first time he was attending the world’s best-known cycling event. The group headed out to Versailles for the 21st stage of the race and joined spectators from all over the world in cheering on the competitors.

Twenty-two teams participated in this year’s race, the 100th Tour, which was made up of 21 stages and covered a total distance of 3,404 kilometres, among them Britain’s Chris Froome from team Sky, Spain’s Alberto Contador Velasco from team Saxo-Tinkoff, and Luxembourg’s Andy Raymond Schleck from team RadioShack.

“We watched the cyclists from the start of the 21st stage as they left for the Champs Elysees, a distance of 133.5 kilometres,” says Blessing. “The German racing cyclist Marcel Kittel but Chris Froome was the overall champion with a final margin of victory over Colombia’s Nairo Quintana of 4.20 minutes.

“After the race, we visited several tourist destinations including the Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile, which is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle at the western end of the Champs-Elysees. We also went to the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles. We are all amazed at the beauty both of the palace and the gardens.

“We also spent time at Place de la Concorde, which is the largest square in the French capital and window-shopped along the Champs-Elysees,” says Blessing.

The group also spent time at the Louvre and the Sacre-Coeur Basilica before taking one of the city’s famed excursion Bateau Mouche for a view of the city from along the river Seine.

 

Two wheels on the telly

_ The 2013 Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) is being screened from August 24 to September 15 on Channel 393 on GMM Z.