Tour de France

Some say the Tour de France begins today. We’ll finally discover which of the pretenders for the overall win are really on form, you can’t bluff on a 10km mountain pass. In that sense the Tour de France will end for several riders today.

The route leaves the capital of the European aerospace industry for the Pyrenees, a strange land that’s rural and relaxing but where time seems to have stood still, as if the clock broke in about 1984. By my reckoning that’s a year back in time every 8km.

Look at the profile and it’s broadly flat until the intermediate sprint, you’d expect a breakaway to go early but the roads don’t give an obvious launchpad and many will want to try their luck. So a fast first hour is on the cards. The sprint point itself should be interesting as it’s the finish line for many sprinters who have no chance for winning anything else on the day. Here the approach into the village of Sarrancolin is wide and ever so slightly uphill.

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Today’s start and finish are not far from each other but the organisers have chosen a big S-shaped route instead of a straight line. Even so it’s 167.5km, one of the shorter stages of the Tour. With two small hills along the way there’s every chance this ends in a bunch sprint, especially as tomorrow sees the high mountains, it’s the last chance for the sprinters for a while.

The terrain isn’t hard, the race will pass farmland and a few vineyards and roll through sleepy towns built of pink bricks where normally the only visible life in the afternoon are a few dogs trotting about. Expect photos of the bunch rolling past sunflowers.

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Yesterday was a chance for many riders to catch up with the families, do some reading and maybe update their fan websites. German sprinter André Greipel’s website includes a daily postcard to his fans to describe “My first French holiday“. Like many a postcard the weather gets a mention but he’s yet to write home about his team mates ignoring him, for example “Philippe keeps chasing me down” or “I’m homesick“. The one above is from Saturday, it reads

Fast Phil today had Super-Better legs. Tomorrow we climb further up to the sky. Until next time, André.

If Greipel is writing to his fans, you can also write to him, in fact you can send a postcard to anyone on the race for free. Thanks to the French post office, your letter will be delivered whoever you like on the race, from riders to team staff and others.

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A short stage and coming after the rest day it could prove a shock for some as some riders emerge rested whilst others need a day or two to get back into things although given some recent events everyone will welcome a return to the racing.

It’s a scenic route through the Lot area of France, a peaceful area of France where a lot of foie gras and truffles come from the causse although it ends up in a town famous for coal mining instead of rustic traditions. Cycling-wise the curiosity is the lack of roads in the area, there are very few junctions along the way, yet alone villages and towns.

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The mainstream French press might have headlines about the woes of the Euro currency this morning but nobody’s going to turn down a truckload of money, whether they’re Greek citizens or Belgian cyclists.

Below is a list of prizes earned so far during the race. As you can see, Omega-Pharma Lotto have struck the jackpot thanks to Philippe Gilbert’s consistent riding, and Garmin-Cervélo’s efforts with Thor Hushovd have had a similar effect.

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There’s no racing today. Instead the riders have a so-called rest day. It’s a chance to recover from the first week but it’s hard to escape the race. Most riders will aim to do at least an hour on the bike if not two, even those with injuries will try to go for a spin or maybe sit on a stationery bike.

The riders will sleep for longer than usual and emerge for breakfast a bit more slowly. The normal race routine is broken twice, first because there’s no need to wolf down pasta and rice for breakfast and again because when riders go back to their hotel room they don’t have to pack because they’ve got another night in the same hotel.

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Many fans were distressed to see the video of Chris Horner from Friday. He crashed late in the stage, the same move that took out FDJ’s Rémi Pauriol and Sky’s Bradley Wiggins but whilst these two were holding their arms in the tell-tale sign of a broken collarbone, the Radioshack rider was apparently unconcious in the roadside ditch. He came to and finished the stage but crossed the finish line unaware of where he was and what was going on around him, seemingly riding the last part of the race on instinct alone.

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