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Our Tour de France Experience
the podcast
by Sarah Heath | Our Tour de France
http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TDF2019.mp3
We’re feeling just ever-so-slightly famous today in our little bit of the French countryside. The Tour de France passed through less than 3km from our front door. In fact, on one stretch it would have been possible to see the peloton from our house. Admittedly, with some very strong binoculars and some spectacularly precise timing and we didn’t make it back in time….but still!
All those men in lycra gets the heart rate going before the thought of riding a bicycle is even mentioned, although I’m not generally into cycling unless it involves a coffee and a croissant at the end of the journey. Where we live has gently undulating hills but not really gentle enough for lazy pedalling while admiring the views all around and chatting as we go.
But this year, the world’s toughest cycling race has been intriguing – and near – enough for closer inspection on who the likes of current leader, Julian Alaphilippe is and to check out the exact route for today’s 11th stage.
The Tour has some pretty mind-boggling facts and stats: the first race was in 1903; it has 21 stages to cover over 23 days and the race always ends in Paris. This year’s race is 3,460 km, with today’s stage from Albi to Toulouse being 167 km. There are 22 teams with 8 riders in each team and if they all finish the entire route, they’ll each burn off 118,000 calories!
Each day, the rider who has the fastest overall time from the very first stage of the race wears the yellow jersey or maillot jaune. I accidentally called it the gilet jaune at an evening out with friends last night – I was confusing world-class cyclists with world-class political protestors for a moment there! Apparently this year, there are 20 different yellow jerseys for each of the different stages, each one depicting something different for that particular stage such as the geography, history or a famous local person.
The sartorial side to cycling doesn’t stop there: the rider who tackles the mountain stages the most quickly gets to wear the polka dot jersey and the green jersey is given to the fastest sprinter. The youngest rider with the best times, wears the white jersey. To be honest, trying to spot these jerseys as the riders whizz by is almost impossible but I did manage to get a flukey shot of Peter Sagan is his green get-up - he’s one of the favourites apparently.
As a starter to the main race, there is the tour caravan which is a bit slower, a bit less serious and there are loads of freebies chucked into the crowd. It passes by about two hours before the riders. La Caravane du Tour is almost as popular as the race itself and is a giant parade made up of hundreds of different vehicles. Some of these are crazy floats with giant cyclists or the likes of cartoon character Asterix sitting on top of them, there were a dozen or so old 2CVs, an orange Lambourghini, and a whole mash-mash of other cars mixed up with police outriders and a LOT of advertising slogans on jazzed up Skodas, all pootling along to some questionable Euro pop.
The freebies were an exciting mix of Haribos, keyrings, a headband and the one item I was allowed by my children to keep – a sachet of washing powder!
The idea behind the caravan was to try and raise money to help fund the race. And it’s a pretty good event to advertise – with the estimated 15 million spectators who are expected to line the route his year.
View all episodes
the podcast
by Sarah Heath | Our Tour de France
http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TDF2019.mp3
We’re feeling just ever-so-slightly famous today in our little bit of the French countryside. The Tour de France passed through less than 3km from our front door. In fact, on one stretch it would have been possible to see the peloton from our house. Admittedly, with some very strong binoculars and some spectacularly precise timing and we didn’t make it back in time….but still!
All those men in lycra gets the heart rate going before the thought of riding a bicycle is even mentioned, although I’m not generally into cycling unless it involves a coffee and a croissant at the end of the journey. Where we live has gently undulating hills but not really gentle enough for lazy pedalling while admiring the views all around and chatting as we go.
But this year, the world’s toughest cycling race has been intriguing – and near – enough for closer inspection on who the likes of current leader, Julian Alaphilippe is and to check out the exact route for today’s 11th stage.
The Tour has some pretty mind-boggling facts and stats: the first race was in 1903; it has 21 stages to cover over 23 days and the race always ends in Paris. This year’s race is 3,460 km, with today’s stage from Albi to Toulouse being 167 km. There are 22 teams with 8 riders in each team and if they all finish the entire route, they’ll each burn off 118,000 calories!
Each day, the rider who has the fastest overall time from the very first stage of the race wears the yellow jersey or maillot jaune. I accidentally called it the gilet jaune at an evening out with friends last night – I was confusing world-class cyclists with world-class political protestors for a moment there! Apparently this year, there are 20 different yellow jerseys for each of the different stages, each one depicting something different for that particular stage such as the geography, history or a famous local person.
The sartorial side to cycling doesn’t stop there: the rider who tackles the mountain stages the most quickly gets to wear the polka dot jersey and the green jersey is given to the fastest sprinter. The youngest rider with the best times, wears the white jersey. To be honest, trying to spot these jerseys as the riders whizz by is almost impossible but I did manage to get a flukey shot of Peter Sagan is his green get-up - he’s one of the favourites apparently.
As a starter to the main race, there is the tour caravan which is a bit slower, a bit less serious and there are loads of freebies chucked into the crowd. It passes by about two hours before the riders. La Caravane du Tour is almost as popular as the race itself and is a giant parade made up of hundreds of different vehicles. Some of these are crazy floats with giant cyclists or the likes of cartoon character Asterix sitting on top of them, there were a dozen or so old 2CVs, an orange Lambourghini, and a whole mash-mash of other cars mixed up with police outriders and a LOT of advertising slogans on jazzed up Skodas, all pootling along to some questionable Euro pop.
The freebies were an exciting mix of Haribos, keyrings, a headband and the one item I was allowed by my children to keep – a sachet of washing powder!
The idea behind the caravan was to try and raise money to help fund the race. And it’s a pretty good event to advertise – with the estimated 15 million spectators who are expected to line the route his year.