>>reporter: this is the small southern french commuter town of cugnaux. and this is what it looked like the day the tour de france came to town. the mayor paid the tour de france around 80 thousand dollars for the right to have one of the legs of the gruelling cycling competition start in his community. >>towns like his can wait up to 20 years for the right to host the tour de france. >>it's not surprising - the windfall from tourism and media exposure can be huge. cugnaux's population more than tripled to 50,000 overnight >>all these people need to drink, to eat and sometimes spend money in shops and they have to stay. they have to go to restaurants, to pubs bars and they are looking for hotel rooms and many people of cugnaux ask their family all around france to come spend two or three days here. so in terms of economic impact its a very good return. >>reporter: unlike most mass spectator sports, fans of the tour de france will see real action for just a few seconds. in the mountains where the pace is slower it can be longer as the cyclists are spread o