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.