Sunday
Foix likes the press and the press really likes Foix. This is largely because for every visit of the Tour the locals lay on a seemingly never-ending rustic barbecue, free-flowing with sausages, cheeses and red wine on the banks of the fast-flowing Ariège, at the foot of the Pyrenees. In the mountains above, Thibaut Pinot is giving it some welly as Egan Bernal struggles to hold on and Geraint Thomas looks vulnerable. For the first time in two decades, the French are getting really excited about their chances in the Tour.
Egan Bernal set for Tour de France title after retaining yellow for ride to Paris
Read more
Monday
The tar is melting outside the Team Ineos hotel in Nîmes. After the team’s rest day press conference, held thankfully in air-conditioned splendour, I walk back to the car only to find the gates of the hotel car park I’d hurriedly parked in, firmly locked. Luckily, a resident is drying his smalls on the windowsill and, after some begging, yells down the code for the gate. I punch in the digits, dash to the car and then yelp in pain as I burn my hands on the steering wheel.
Tuesday
My hotel has a pool, and after six hours working in a sweltering gymnasium on the Nîmes Peripherique, the cool, blue waters beckon. But it also has a significant crew of the chiselled kids from the race’s publicity caravan camped out in the loungers and dive-bombing each other, making it look like the Tour’s equivalent of Love Island. After a moment’s hesitation, I reluctantly turn on my heel and opt for iced rosé instead.
Wednesday
The sun hammers down on the start village at Pont du Gard, a stone’s throw from the village renowned as the hottest place in France. A digital display at a local chemist reads 43 degrees and the mountain of drained single-use plastic rolling around on the back seat of the car grows by the hour. At the finish line in Gap, there’s a welcome breath of fresh air, but as the peloton wilts on the hills of the Vaucluse and Drome, tempers fray and Luke Rowe and Tony Martin are given straight reds.
Matteo Trentin rolls over the finish line in Gap to win stage 17.
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Matteo Trentin rolls over the finish line in Gap to win Stage 17. Photograph: Zac Williams/SWpix.com/Rex/Shutterstock
Thursday
Advertisement
The weather is changing and so, it seems, is the race. Julian Alaphilippe is finally reaching his limits near the top of the Galibier climb, as Bernal and Thomas lead the accelerations over the summit. Perhaps this is where the dream ends and French cycling resumes its normal status as also-rans. But non – ‘Super’ Julian flies down the mountain, narrowly avoiding ending up in the kitchenettes of camper vans and motorhomes, and then reels his rivals in, as if they’re overladen cyclo-tourists pootling their way to a camp site.
Friday
D-Day for the Tour de France’s crowded overall classification. Finally, Bernal shows his true colours, leaving the other contenders for dead on the huge ascent of the Iseran. But as soon as he crests the summit, the race is over as landslides flow across the route, making it impassable.
Saturday
Thibaut Pinot is back at home and Alaphilippe is no longer in yellow. The peloton race on to Val Thorens, more out of duty than expectation. What happened to the sky-scraping, cliffhanging finale of the ‘highest Tour in history’?
0 Comments
Post a Comment