If you hang out in the main race area (by the start/finish line) you can still see a lot of the race on the large screen monitors that are on display in this area.
It is possible to cross the track, even at the start/finish line, when there are no riders coming. The people with the flags help people to cross when there are no riders on the track and keep people off the track when the cyclists are coming through.
Here's the beginning of the final stage (3) of the international men's pro race on Sunday. We were in the median between the 2 lanes on Elk Grove Blvd at this point. It was still a little hard to get some of these photos since there were other people hanging over the barricades (like the guy shown on the right here).
A view of the Tour of Elk Grove banner and officials station at the start/finish line.
I don't know exactly where this crash was but you can see on the large screen that there was a crash out there. Bike racing can be dangerous. I actually witnessed a pretty bad crash myself later in the day on Sunday (see photo page 7 for the crash photos). I just happened to be right there and was taking photos with my camera on continuous release mode so I caught the crash but not the exact instant that the cyclist went over the handlebars. I really felt bad for that guy.
As I mentioned the Tour of Elk Grove is recorded by Comcast at various points along the course. I was standing behind one of the Comcast cameramen here. The Comcast people were really helpful after the race too. I could not find a schedule of when the race would be broadcast so I called Comcast and they gave me the complete schedule (which I posted on my blog here).
As I was taking photos behind the cameraman he was out there doing his job too as you can see here.
After a while we headed to the turns at the intersection of Elk Grove Blvd and Tonne Road. My friend, Steve, is taking a photo on his phone as the cyclists are racing east on Elk Grove Blvd.
The photo tour below includes photos from all 3 days along with additional first hand information on the events. We captured the action at the start/finish line as well as scenes from other race locations.
The Tour of Elk Grove Photo Page 1
The Tour of Elk Grove Photo Page 2
The Tour of Elk Grove Photo Page 3
The Tour of Elk Grove Photo Page 4
The Tour of Elk Grove Photo Page 5
The Tour of Elk Grove Photo Page 6 < you are here
The Tour of Elk Grove Photo Page 7
The Tour of Elk Grove Photo Page 8
The photos below are from the 2013 Tour, Prologis Pro Men Road Race (Stage 2) which was held on Saturday, August 3rd, 2013.
2013 Tour of Elk Grove Photos 1
2013 Tour of Elk Grove Photos 2
I also captured a few short videos of the last race on Sunday. Here's a video with a few brief scenes (73 seconds) from the 2012 Tour of Elk Grove.
Scenes from the 2012 Tour of Elk Grove
Photos © Copyright Rob Chapman, about-bicycles.com. Photos with * Copyright Dale Kiffel.