The Tour 2023 –– High Profile

Whatever you might be doing this summer, July generally means one thing in the bike racing calendar... All eyes are firmly set on France. The bunting is up, the sun cream is out, and three weeks of peloton prime time is ready to be devoured. Of course, we’ve always been here in the spiritual home (and key training location) of road racing, but that doesn’t stop the excitement fizzing about our corner of the Riviera like an unattended fire hose come July.

As well as stunning scenery and very fast humans on bicycles, the Tour (pour hommes et pour femmes) tells you a lot about the diversity and culture of France; its regionality and eccentricities. And with Bastille Day falling in the middle of the race, the Tour is more than just a cacophonous bike race invading towns and villages. For many bike riders and lovers of the sport this time of year is the peak of the season.

This year marks 120 years of this grandest of all the stage races and takes in five distinct mountain ranges: the Vosges, Jura, Massif Central and the Alps and Pyrenees of course. And as with every July, the anticipation for the mountain stages gets most people feeling highly effervescent. It’s the pinnacle of bike racing, and to see who can be first (and last) to the top of some of the world’s most storied and mythical mountain passes will never lose its appeal. Pulsating uphill battles and hazardous downhill hijinks abound when the gradient rises.

The Big Cheese of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, is certainly making a name for himself in terms of the difficulty and demeanour of the world’s greatest bike race in the 21st century. And as cycling is possibly more popular than ever, this should be admired… bums on saddles and all that. Not sure how some of the riders feel but alas it’s not supposed to be a holiday for them now, is it. Route planning doesn’t really get more high-profile (get it?) than this.

Prudhomme’s relentless approach to creating punishing roadmaps is a testament to the rich terrain the country offers and also the origins of the Tour. Henri Desgrange, the creator of the race in 1903 envisioned a Herculean Odyssey through his native land that was so difficult only one rider would finish… Mystic pieces of history that still have relevance today. Whatever Desgrange might have thought of this route there is plenty for the professional teams competing as well as those watching at home and along the route to get nervous and elated about. So, let’s take a bird’s eye view of this year’s itinerary via each of the five mountain ranges.

Pyrenees

Departing from Bilbao and the Basque Country will ensure the race kicks off with a bang. Two hilly and lengthy stages to begin proceedings then take us to Stages 5 and 6 in the brooding peaks and troughs of the Pyrenees. The wilder more unpredictable cousin to the Alps, the Pyrenees, which demarcates France and the Basque Country/Spain is darker, more rugged and has some incredible riding for the hungry amateur and long-suffering professional alike. The Col du Tourmalet and Aspin feature on a fire-starter of a first week.

Jura

An unknown territory for the casual observer (and not to be confused with the Scottish island known for its whisky), bike riding and racing in the Jura is probably not as well-known as some of the more edible things you can find in the region such as Morbier cheese made with Comtè cows’ milk. This sub-alpine range of mountains runs along the border between France and Switzerland and the region is densely populated by evergreens (as well as cows). The region is also close to the vineyards that produce Beaujolais, so the stage here will be expected to produce a vintage day of racing with a very tasty finish.

Alps

What to say about the Alps and the Tour that’s not a cliché. If cheese is the food of cycling, then the Alps is a giant plate of tartiflette you won’t be able to finish after climbing for 30 kilometres. There are altogether five days of racing in the Alps this year including an uphill time-trial and a very undulating stage 15 in the Haute-Savoie region that will send the peloton up the Col de la Forclaz de Montmin, Croix Fry, Aravis and the Cote des Amerands. By the end of this second weekend the rider’s legs will certainly be feeling the heat.

Massif Central

Stage 9 finishes on top of the Puy de Dome, which was immortalised by an image from the 1964 race, where Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor locked shoulders riding up this volcano’s back. What the French public and media would give for a rivalry like that again. We may have to settle for the great Dane and the superhuman Slovenian to battle it out, but maybe not in the second week. We shall see.

Vosges

The first ever Tour stage over a mountain pass took place in the Vosges in 1905 up the Ballon d’Alsace and the final mountain stage of this year’s race could be just as historically significant. The profile reads like a cheese-lover’s cardiogram first travelling up the Ballon d’Alsace, and then onto to five other climbs… According to Prudhomme it may cause a bit of ‘indigestion’. Whatever that means, it will make for a very entertaining showdown. Let battle commence.

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