We all know Jered and Ashley Gruber shoot some of the world's best bike racing photos. What you mightn't know is that they're just as good at turning their cameras away from the racing, capturing the many interesting individuals found roadside at races like the Tour de France.
Some of the people the Grubers shoot are are simply overjoyed at being able to witness the Tour first-hand. Others are less stoked, having spent long hours in the French sun for the briefest glimpse of the action (plus maybe some free stuff from the publicity caravan). Some of the people in these photos even look like they've stumbled upon the Tour by accident. Whatever the case, each photo you see below tells a story. Reflected in each person's face is their own personal experience of Le Tour.
And so follows a gallery of photos from the first 12 stages of the 2024 Tour de France, with almost no bikes or bike riders in sight. In this gallery, the bike race remains elusively out of shot. Here, the people watching the race are the ones in the spotlight.
If you'd like to learn more about Ashley and Jered's approach to shooting roadside fans, Escape's own Iain Treloar interviewed them last year.
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