21 Étapes

Yesterday, in Paris, ASO released the full routes of next year’s Tour de France Femmes and Tour de France. We already knew that the first three days were in the Lille area, and educated guesses were that it was heading along the northern French coast. It does indeed head west - as far as the Mûr-de-Bretagne, before heading for the Pyrénées via Clermont-Ferrand and Toulouse. Then it’s along the Mediterranean coast, past Carcassonne, Montpellier, Mont Ventoux and the Alps before the final day back in Paris. That’s 3320km of racing; I anticipate I’ll be doing considerably more driving. So for me, the hard work starts now. I’ve already booked my accommodation for both the Lille and Paris areas, but once the provisional route is available, I’ll be able to do detailed planning of where to watch and where to stay. I’m just hoping there isn’t an even more dedicated band of Tour followers who book up all the accommodation this week.

In my last post I wrote praising my Brompton C Line. And now Brompton have announced the bike that I really wanted. Doh! In late September Brompton announced the G Line - its first 20” folding bike. Although it has larger wheels, it folds into a space not much larger than the original Brompton. Link that with disc brakes and beefier tyres, you get a Brompton that is suitable for a range of surfaces, including gravel - hence the G in G Line. Ho hum