The Worst Commute in the World

Tour de France 2025

Friday 18 July: Stage 13 Loudenvielle - Peyragudes

By car: 0 km
By bike: 55 km

Tat: It was hat day. An E.Leclerc bush hat, a Jules bucket hat, and a rather natty Hautes Pyrénées straw hat (impossible to ride in, so it’s a little battered now ☹️)

Last night I stayed in a beautiful appartement in Sarrancolin, on the main (only !) road to Loudenvielle, about 20 km away, the base for today’s Contre le Montre. All evening there was an endless procession of XPO Logistics trucks - who do all the Tour’s logistics. The successor to the sadly missed Norbert Dentressangle. If it wasn’t Tour trucks, it was camping cars, having made their way off the slopes of Hautacam, and now aiming for a night on Peyresourde. Fortunately, my appartement, part of the restaurant, is at the back and insulated from the sound. I was thinking of driving further up the valley tomorrow. It will be full. Looks like I’m riding 20 km there instead. 

Yesterday morning I found I was eligible for breakfast at my Ibis Budget. I don’t normally do breakfast, and I’m certainly not paying the 11€ or such that the hotel charges. [Checking back, as I booked in Dec 2024, I was given the B&B rate at no extra charge]. If you do need breakfast, buy a nice fresh viennoiserie at a local boulangerie and eat it on a café terrasse with a cup of coffee, or order ‘tartiné’ at the cafe, and you’ll get a generous helping of fresh baguette and jam. It will be far fresher, enjoyable, and cheaper. I really found my hotel breakfast profoundly miserable, but I’m sure that despite all the overheads it must involve, French hospitality and tradition dictates that even cheap hotel chains have to offer some sort of petit déjeuner - even if you have to pay for it. 

This morning I faffed around a bit as I needed stuff from the car, and had to prepare for today’s ride. By 9:30 the road was already full, not least with all the Caravan traffic. I didn’t finally get on the road until around 10:30, and there was still plenty of traffic. For the first kilometre it was like riding in city traffic. Then the cars and lorries started to slow, and three lines formed - a slower cycling lane on the right, then the vehicles, and then mad cyclists risking the opposing traffic lane - though there was relatively little traffic coming down the valley. By 2 km the traffic had stopped; by 7 km I was passing traffic I saw an hour earlier. 

Then police sirens, and all the accredited Tour traffic got a free ride on the wrong side of the road. We all finally met at a point where the police had held oncoming traffic, in fact all traffic - including cyclists. But there comes a point where a group of cyclists reaches critical mass, and nothing can stop them. There was possibly 50 of us. The gendarmes were slightly distracted by a large coach, we all took our chance and headed off. Cars had to wait. The gendarmes were reduced to helplessly blowing their whistles at us. This was our road now. This happened three times, each one with a bigger peloton. 

Being a small village, the start at Loudenvielle was a little chaotic, but I found a shady spot immediately opposite the verification point where the riders have to have their bikes checked for weight (there’s a Goldilocks weight - not too heavy, not too light) and hidden motors. The local CGT union was serving up subsidised sausages and wine, there were beer and ice cream tents, and the big screen was close by. Les Tri Cycles Air kept us entertained.

It proved to be a good position. Every cyclist had to stop there, though the more experienced knew the drill and quickly vanished from sight. As Pogačar left the start house, we all crowded round the big screen and watch him execute yet another jaw-dropping victory.

The commute back was the same - we soon met up with the teams technical vehicles, overtook them, and took over the roads. Two problems here - the roads were still live, with occasional oncoming traffic, and a fair proportion of our peloton was comprised of utterly mad Spaniards, trying to emulate their heroes. I had been talking to some earlier - they were from Zaragoza, and they said many, many Spaniards had come over the border for this stage.They’re all staying over until Sunday. The popularity of The Tour is astounding.

Likely spot me tomorrow at : Arreau (51 km remaining)

Tomorrow's T-shirt: Blue Tour de Yorkshire

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