With the greatest heat France experienced in a long time they followed the route from Montpellier north via beautiful Avignon to Carpentras for a well-deserved second day of rest. The CCO (Chief Cycling Officer) reports they saw 44 degrees Celsius on the thermometer and spent the whole day in the pool next to the bar. They really earned this rest day.
Pyrenees were still bearable, it got really hot on the way to Montpellier and on to CARPENTRAS. Here, drinking was everything. I can remember similar conditions when I ran about 9 liters of water through my body. You then stop again and again and buy 3 bottles of cold water and drink already one while filling the bike bottles. Being experienced riders, they also thought of enough salts and supplied themselves with the other necessary nutrients. Then, on the rest day, no one complained of exhaustion or any pinching in the muscles, which proves prudent and professional approach to proper nutrition. Compliments, everything done right, CCO.
Overall, everyone reported a well-organized tour in terms of accommodation, food, routing. Also, there were no other failures. And as the picture from dinner shows, they are all well, in good spirits and looking forward to the coming stages.
What also makes such a tour, you can eat what and as much as you want. And in the south of France there are truly delicacies that you can not pass by.
Looking forward to what comes next
Already at 7:00 they want to leave, to escape the heat a bit. While the temperatures in the south still remain in the high 30s, it gets a little “cooler” towards the north, towards Gap, with temperatures around 30 degrees. The heat relaxes a bit when it then goes into the big mountains.
16o km over the famous big mountain of Provence, the Mont Ventoux (1909m) and further over the Col de Perty (1302m) to Sisteron.
Hopefully rested after a day in Carpentras and strengthened by new additions to the peloton, we begin our ascent of Mont Ventoux (1909 m), rising impressively from the plains and crowned by a barren moonscape and shaken by the dry mistral (also interesting) reason for the clear air that so inspired the Impressionists in Provence). The “Giant of Provence”, visited 16 times by the Tour, often as a stage finish, has produced more than its share of fascinating Tour moments: the battle of Pantani-Armstrong in 2000 – with one Tour part each, Armstrong resented Pantani giving him the stage on the line; Chris Froome overtook Quintana for the stage win and was almost 2 minutes in Contador in 2013. or running up the mountain after a crash in 2016; Eddy Merckx ‘victory and soon collapse in 1970; and of course the tragic end of Tommy Simpson, who remained Britain’s only world champion until Mark Cavendish 46 years later. In the afternoon we tackle the lesser known Col de Perty (1302m), visited five times by the Tour, and a scenic approach to Sisteron in the French Alps.