Tour de France to pass by Bruniquel

The 17th July will see the competitors in the 2019 Tour de France take a short detour into Tarn and Garonne. Departing from Albi cathedral the cyclists will head towards Bruniquel, before turning from the D115 Aveyron valley road past the foot of the village with its marvellous chateaux. Then following the Vere towards Gaillac the riders will only cover 7 kilometres of T&G roads, but will offer tremendous views to the telespectators of this beautiful area. The stage ends in Toulouse.

Farmers' protest holds up Tour

We are used to local farmers holding demonstrations and blocking roads in their continuing fight to prevent land being declassified as "unfavourable". Such changes could mean loss of  subsidies up to 8000 euros as the EU aims to simplify the common agricultural policy by asking member states to decide locally who should be supported.
Farmers in Ariege affected by these changes claim the Minister of Agriculture has failed to reply to their demands and so decided to demonstrate during Tuesday's stage of the Tour de France as it passed through their area.
But things went wrong when police decided to clear the hay bales and demonstrators with pepper spray. Unfortunately the wind blew the spray back on to the riders, causing a hold up whilst they were treated by medics.
A spokesman  for the farmers said their aim was to disrupt the Tour to highlight their case and the problems caused to the riders and spectators was the fault of the police.
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Tour comes to Occitanie

Yellow jerseys for all. Pic Sophie Pointaire/France 3

Today's stage enters our region, ending in Mende (Aveyron), with Geraint Thomas leading from Chris Froome, after yesterday's thrilling mountain top finish at Alpe D'Huez. But a group of women riders took part yesterday in a ride up the stage to Col de Portet in the Pyrenees to encourage more women to take to the road. Not designed for serious sportives the 65 kilometre ride climbed to over 2000 metres was launched via social media and aimed to encourage women in cycling groups to band together rather than try to keep up pace with men in their clubs. Local ladies group FIFI (Friends in France International) has started a cycling group and many other women could benefit from France's major sporting activity. Whatever, enthousiasts will be keeping an eye on the Tour this week as it passes through our region.
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Tour de France 2018 starts today

The 21 stages of this year's Tour start today (7th July) and are almost entirely within the French borders; no excursions to neighbouring countries, just a brief spin through Spain during the Pyrenean mountain stages. Local enthousiasts will need to wait until much later in the Tour for a chance to see bikes. Sunday 22nd July is a Millau to Carcassonne stage, then from Tuesday 24th there are 4 mountain stages to end the race, plus a time trial around Espelette.
The Tour planning has been overshadowed by the French football team's exploits in the World Cup (semi-final against Belgium on Tuesday 10th July, 20h) and the potential exclusion of Chris Froome, the defending champion and favourite, but no doubt will have its usual following, especially if French hopeful Romain Bardet can challenge.
For full details of the race go to the Tour's web site (in English as well as French).
https://www.letour.fr/en/

Tour de France 2018

Photo Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP

Next year's Tour de France will have six stages in our region, though mainly in the south and Pyrenees. The riders have stages from Millau,  Carcassonne and then four stages in the mountains. The Tour will spend a rest day at Carcassonne as well as ending a stage there and starting there three days later, coinciding with the city's celebration of 20 years inscribed as a world heritage site.
After that four mountain stages to end the Tour before riders fly to Paris for the last stage.

Froome to win Tour today

Barring a serious injury during the 14 laps of the Champs Elysee Chris Froome will be crowned winner of the Tour de France today. In yesterday's contre le montre the Sky team leader extended his lead to 54 seconds over French favourite Romain Bardet. Riding around the streets of Marseille the home crowd demonstrated their support of the home rider and booed the British cyclist. But Froome showed his superiority by almost catching Bardet at the line.
This will be Froome's third consecutive Tour victory and his fourth overall.
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Sad day 50 years ago

July 13th 1967 saw one of the Tour de France's most tragic events, the death of Tommy Simpson. This year's Tour has omitted the mythic Ventoux climb, where a Jim Morrison style shrine has sprung up.
Simpson was favourite  to win the Tour, but he was in poor health and drugs were keeping him going. On a hot day (up to 40 in the shade) when riders were not allowed water and often finished dehydrated, Simpson struggled up the mountain and collapsed in full view of the TV cameras. Doctors tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late. Simpson was a folk hero, son of a miner who moved to France aged 18 and became a firm favourite for his courage. But behind the glamour was a man beset by drugs and debt, whose name is now most famous for dying in the saddle.

Picture : Getty Images

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Book July 15th for TdF passing

The riders in this year's Tour de France will pass through our area on Saturday 15th July, the route taking them from Blagnac to Rodez, via Gaillac and Carmaux.
This is the 14th stage and comes directly after some tough Pyrenean stages. By now we should have a good idea of who is in contention.
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We missed you

Not having time to go to watch the Tour de France passing through our area, we set the TV recorder to watch it later. Imagine our dismay when ITV4 decided that descending the hill into Caylus (one of the most exciting parts of the stage) and the traverse of St Antonin, where many of our friends had gathered, were the ideal moments to have a 2 minute advertising break! So we saw none of you!
At least the French TV managed to show the many beautiful villages and chateaux of the area so viewers at home were reminded of just how lovely it is here.
The chairman of the St Antonin chess club and his partner stole the scene by taking their bikes and a chess board to an apparently inaccessible outcrop above the gorge d'Aveyron to play out a quick game of chess. The TV director was so impressed that he showed the helicopter shot twice.
Just to annoy us further the recording unaccountably ended 6 minutes from end of the stage, so we missed Mark Cavendish's 29th stage win, third this year, putting him second in the all-time list of stage winners, headed only by legendary Belgian Eddie Merckx.
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Big police presence for the Tour in T&G

On Thursday 7th July the Tour de France will enter Tarn and Garonne at Parisot and progress to Montauban. Many roads will be closed from around midday until 5.30pm.
The current state of emergency still in force in France will lead to an enhanced police presence along the route and especially in Montauban, with over 400 officers, including CRS and gendarmes, on duty.
Police have issued advice to spectators, especially parents with children or dog owners. The riders will be reaching speeds of over 60mph on some stretches and pretty well always around 40 kph, and keeping off the road, keeping children back and dogs securely fastened makes good sense.
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It's more than my job's worth

Phillipe Martinez, the union leader of the CGT in the vanguard of the strikes, demonstrations and marches against the government's proposed labour laws, has pledged not to disrupt the Tour de France, which got under way on Saturday (2nd July).

Martinez heading for victory. Same to you monsieur.

It may be OK to damage people's businesses, cause travellers to miss their flights, block city centres or even make France Musique suspend its programmes - but to disrupt the Tour would be a step too far. There are some limits.
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That's why the roads are being re-surfaced

Travelling to and from Caylus recently we have noticed that the D19 is being nicely resurfaced, not just patched up as usual. Now little notices have appeared to say the road will be closed on Thursday July 7th from about 12.30 pm - for the Tour de France. The stage that day passes through Villefranche, Parisot, Caylus, St Antonin and Montricoux to Montauban. Now is the time to get booking the restaurants en route, asking friends with a house on the route to invite you to a Tour de France barbecue, find the best spot to park your camping car - or make sure you are out of town that day. The tour is a great national sporting event and attracts large crowds and media attention. Perhaps you could decorate your house in "bleu, blanc, rouge" or red, white and blue if you are favouring Cavendish - it will be a sprinter's course that day.

Route on Thursday 7th July

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Chilean wine chosen for Tour

The organisers of the Tour de France have signed an agreement with a Chilean wine producer as the "official wine of the Tour". This has angered French vintners who feel that it is disloyal to ignore a prestige local product in France's most prestigious sporting event. In fact advertising restrictions in France mean that no alcoholic drinks can be advertised on TV so the wines will only be seen on screen in the stages which pass through neighbouring countries.
Perhaps the thing the French wine industry has missed is that the Chileans offered more money for the worldwide exposure. The Tour is a commercial sporting event and sponsorship inevitably goes to the highest bidder.
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Pipped at the post

We were struck by a report in the press of Saturday's Tour de France stage from Rodez to Mende. Two French riders were overtaken in the last few hundred metres by a British cyclist, Steve Cummings, representing an African team in its debut tour. But it was the French phrase for pipped at the post which was interesting: "coiffé au poteau". Literally, have one's hair cut on the scaffold. Is it typical that the English version is a sporting reference whereas the Gallic take is rather blacker?
The focus of some media on Chris Froome's  brilliant ride on Tuesday has been on whether such a win could be achieved without drugs of some sort, had a very unsporting result during the stage, when a spectator threw a cup of urine in Froome's face, shouting "dopé" (drugged). The problem of all current athletes and cyclists in particular is that the actions of those in the past throws doubt on all present competitors.
Whatever, watching some of the stage on TV reminded one of how stunning the Tarn gorges are and just a couple of hours from here.
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The Tour de France: is it worth it?

Any sport that takes place in public places can cost much to the local authorities. Imagine what the London Marathon must cost: roads closed; barriers erected; police presence; potholes filled, material hired; overtime paid; etc.
So multiply that by about 30 for towns that welcome the Tour as a point of departure or arrival. About 4500 personnel accompany the Tour, including riders, team support and journalists. The arrival points can be especially difficult, to allow for up to 200 bicycles arriving at speed, with motor bikes and cars in close proximity and hundreds or thousands of spectators lining the roads. Communes bidding to host the Tour must make the roads safe, including improving visibility, removing obstacles, erecting barriers and providing electricity, water and where needed accommodation. Tour organisers are very strict about their needs, the "cahier de charges" running to hundreds of pages (the summary is 40 pages). Some cities refuse to bid as their town centres are too medieval and who wants to finish a stage in a "zone commercial"?
Tour organisers claim that towns with stage finishes, such as Rodez yesterday (Friday 17th July), can recoup costs up to six times, but Pau, a popular and frequent destination, reckons that only about 1.5 times the cost will be covered, and that is for a town well used to welcoming the Tour. Grenoble, almost always a starting point for the Alpine stages, is set to try and spread the cost among its 49 neighbouring communes.
Beaune, on the other hand, never bids for a stage finish, but a spokesman said that its hotels benefitted from the Tour as it hosted the hundreds of workers brought in to prepare the mountain stages.
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The Tour de France arrives in our region

The first of the mountain stages takes pace today (14th July) from Tarbes to Pierre St Martin. The cyclists will climb 2504 metres and it should make a significant difference to the classifications. The "grimpeurs" (climbers) will try to grab glory in the fight for the "maillot a pois" - a jersey with red spots awarded to the King of the Mountains.  French riders will be especially keen to win on Bastille Day. But the teams will be trying to keep their favourites in the hunt. Current tour leader (yellow jersey) is Team Sky's Chris Froome, who won in 2013 and supported Bradley Wiggins in his 2012 win. With a slender lead of 12 seconds after 8 stages, Froome will be hoping that his team mates will keep Nibali (2014 winner), Contador and others contenders at bay.
The racers will pass close to us on Friday on the stage from Muret (Toulouse) to Rodez, going to the east of Albi, through some of the steep hills by the Tarn valley.
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Top cyclists in the region this weekend

The Route du Sud is a 4 day tour starting tomorrow (Thursday 18th) in Lourdes and ending on Sunday in Gaillac. taking part are Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana, both among the favourites for the Tour de France this year. Contador won the recent major tour the Giro d'Italia and Quintana is a recent winner of the Route.
Also taking part are leading racers Ivan Basso and Ryde Hesjedal, promising an exciting spectacle over the region's roads.
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Stage 14, Rodez to Mende

Dear Val,
Cycle enthusiasts are getting excited in advance that the Tour de France is going through Rodez next year for the first time. 
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/stage-14.html
All the best
Sally S
Malc adds: even better, the previous day's stage is from Blagnac to Rodez and will pass by - though exact routes not yet published.
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Tour de France 2015

The 17th July 2015 (seems such a long way off) sees a 200km stage of the Tour de France from Muret (near Toulouse) to Rodez. Can't find the detailed route yet, but the Tour director says riders may remember the 2007 Albi time trial stage, which we think went via Cordes and Carmaux, so it is likely we can get out to see the riders.
The link below to the Telegraph gives info on the overall Tour route and times.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/11177830/Tour-de-France-2015-route-announced-as-it-happened.html
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Tour de France ends today

The final 137.5 km stage will end today with the traditional parade up the Champs Elysees. Barring a catastrophe Sicilian Vincenzo Nibali will be the winner overall (yellow jersey), becoming only the 6th rider to win the three major Tours, France, Spain and Italy.
French fans will be delighted to see that the second and third places on the podium occupied by French riders. It will  be the first time since 1997 that a Frenchman has had a podium finish.
Today will also see a women's race around the streets of Paris for the first time as part of the Tour celebrations.