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For a number of years I watched the Tour de France on television, and have wondered what it is like for the live spectators and businesses along the route. As a spectator, it would seem that - depending on your location - you wait for hours, and the body of the race (peloton) flashes by in the space of a minute or so, followed by a few stragglers over the next ten minutes. Only a few hundred of the spectators are positioned where they have a clear view of the end of the race.

The race is stretched out over 2000+ miles, and barriers must be set up within the last kilometer or so of each stage, and at various choke points along the way. Traffic is obviously disrupted, limiting local access. I don't know if businesses along the route benefit or suffer from all that.

Well, given the many, many years of running the Tour de France, the organizers have carefully planned out everything to make sure all the locals along the race route benefit.