The man who spent $32,000 to follow the Tour de France
Freddy Parker, an airline mechanic from California, has been a cycling enthusiast since attending his first race in 1987.
A fan of 2010 winner Andy Schleck of the Radioshack Leopard Trek team, he has taken advantage of an unused line of home equity credit to fund the trip of a lifetime.
He is following entire three weeks of the 100th edition of the Tour, including paying for VIP access to the team - at a cost in excess of $32,000.
BBC News spent a day following his experience at Stage 4, the team time trial around Nice, and joined him as he got to explore the team's bus and meet his favourite rider.
05 Jul 2013
- From the section Business