Un Accueil Très Chaleureux

Tour de France 2025

Monday 7 July: Stage 3 Valenciennes - Dunkerque
By car: 202 km
By bike: 38 km

Tat: Loads of Haribo and E.Leclerc snacks. I gave them all to the schoolkids.

In many senses, my Tour starts today. Since last Wednesday evening I’ve been living in the same hotel, being able to unpack, having the car just 10 m away, being able to eat at a great little restaurant around the corner (big hi! to local chain Crocodile). Today it all changes. After watching today’s stage it’s a dash down to Rouen, minimal unpack, leave the hotel room next morning NOT FORGETTING ANYTHING, and then start over again for nearly three weeks. I do have some double night stays coming up, but it ceases to feel like a holiday now.

Having said that, it’s a late start this morning. Yesterday afternoon I got back to the hotel before the stage finished, and had the luxury of watching the finish on the soon-to-be-greatly-lamented ITV4 coverage, plus the highlights show this morning. These have been part of my life for nearly forty years and will leave a big hole. They certainly stimulated my interest in professional cycling, and a big nod to Ned Boulting and David Millar for rejuvenating it over the last 10 years - whilst acknowledging the coverage is absolutely a team effort. They will all be hugely missed.

I’ve talked before about the village of Couzou in Lot-et-Garonne. A village deep in the countryside with a population of 199, that in 2022 hosted over 1,000 people for a three-course lunch free of charge when the Tour passed through. That joyful day has stayed with me, and so I looked for a similar opportunity this year. Lens-Liévin was a great location for me for the start of the Tour, the plan for the last two days being to cycle to places on the route (weather depending !).

The Monday plan was to cycle to the town of Douvin, about 12km away. In the last couple weeks immediately before the start, it’s worth scanning the local municipal websites to see if anything is laid on. Now here’s the thing. The Tour de France doesn’t just roll up to a town or city and ask to start or finish there, those places bid for the privilege. A Grand Départ such as this year’s, organised by the region Hauts-de-France, will costs millions so your region gets showcased on TV all over the world for a few  days. To start from a town will cost over 75,000€, to be a finish town it’s approaching 150,000€. It never ceases to amaze me that some places pay all this money and don’’t maximise the benefits. I’ve just checked, and the only information I can find about tomorrow’s finish in Rouen is a load of information on traffic diversions. I’ve no idea if the city have laid on any spectator activities.

Small towns on route have no such worries - or costs. Because of the size and needs of the peloton, and the access routes for whole entourage, there are only certain roads they can use, and to a large extent, together with local knowledge, the route dictates itself. And for the towns and villages on route that can mean great celebrations. And so it proved today. Douvin listed nothing on its website, but Billy-Berclau, just up the road was organising an ‘Auberge Espagnole’ - what in Britain we would call a Fuddle or Pot Luck. That looked the place to be. It would be very difficult for me to bring food - but I could take a speciality from our region - Charente-Maritime Pineau, an aperitif drink. 

So defying the threatening black clouds, I finally set off to ride to a stage. About 10 minutes in the threats turned to actual rain, and the decision to take the sunglasses and not raincoat looked a bit stupid. I pressed on and the rain stopped. When I arrived at Billy-Berclau, the celebrations were already in full swing. Škoda had been along well in advance of The Caravan, and there were Škoda bags, hats, and even the coveted T-shirts everywhere. It soon looked like each one of the 5,000 population had turned out. All the schoolkids had cycled from school. I was chatting with one woman who said they had been partying since Friday night for this. For the French, the Tour passing through your village is huge. Someone asked me what I was doing, I said I was here for the Auberge Espagnole. Slightly disbelieving, they asked how I found out, why our town? I took out the Pineau, and was then treated like a honoured guest, taken to meet the mayor, people came up and spoke to me - for some an opportunity to practice their English. I was offered food, I was offered drink, and generally treated as a privileged guest. I can’t say much else. The photos below convey it better. France is such a warm and welcoming country and I love it.

  

 

 

   

 

  

Likely spot me tomorrow at : Côté de Bonsecours (Cat 4 climb) 19.8 km remaining

Tomorrow's T-shirt: Let’s go for Stockport County 22/23 away shirt [looks like Argentina] again. Third time lucky ?

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