The Tour's first week is not quite over...
Intense racing for ten days straight at the Tour de France
by Lionel Birnie
Usually the second Monday of the Tour de France means a slightly later start, a leisurely breakfast, a chance to do some laundry and catch up on what we’ve missed while we’ve been in the race bubble – which is almost everything going on in the world that doesn’t relate to the race.
Today, though, is Bastille Day, the French national holiday, and so the race goes on for one more day before the riders and everyone else working on the race gets a well-earned rest. We had a delightful, but all too brief, breakfast in the shaded courtyard of our guesthouse surrounded by pleasant greenery and an array of locally-made jams before it was time to get on the road. (It’s called Au Lys Blanc and it’s in the centre of Châteauroux, if you’re interested.)
We’re beginning the day with a lengthy transfer to the start in Ennezat before a brutal stage takes the riders into the heart of the Massif Central. Just a glance at the race profile in the roadbook this morning causes the calf muscles to involuntarily tighten.
As I write this, from the passenger seat in The Cycling Podcar with Graham – the Willing Goose – at the wheel beside me, we’re following the Intermarché-Wanty bus and team cars to the start. It’s a reminder that many of the riders will be preparing for the hardest stage of the Tour so far with a two-hour bus transfer from the hotel on twisty rural roads. The Tour de France has never been just about the racing – the whole event is a test of physical endurance and mental resilience. The riders who excel are the ones who cope best with everything that’s demanded of them on and off the bike.
It’s been an intense first week with barely a moment to catch our breath. Perhaps it’s because I missed the race last year but even two years ago the Tour didn’t feel as big, as busy and as chaotic as this. But there have been so many highlights already, from Graham’s morning spent with the happy, enthusiastic members of the publicity caravan, our visits to see the Bayeux Tapestry and the Louison Bobet museum in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, and Graham’s efforts to park the car being mocked by Adri van der Poel, former Tour of Flanders winner and father of Mathieu, of course.
Graham and I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for listening, and for your comments, which we’ve read but have not had time to respond to. Perhaps there’ll be time at the laundrette tomorrow…
A big thank you to Van Rysel
Our coverage of the Tour de France has been sponsored by Van Rysel, the company which supplies the bikes and kit for the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team.
The company was founded in Lille in 2019 and so the Grand Départ was a special weekend for them. In fact, in Flemish the name translates as ‘From Lille’.
Graham, François and I recorded our stage one episode at Van Rysel House, a pop-up that attracted thousands of cycling fans to mix, watch the race on TV and enjoy the party atmosphere over the weekend.
Then came the news that Decathlon, the chain of sports equipment stores, would be taking sole ownership of the team at the end of the year, reportedly increasing the budget to make it one of the best-backed teams in the World Tour.
Van Rysel is part of the same family of companies as Decathlon and will continue to supply the team with bikes and equipment, including helmets, shoes and clothing.
The vision is an ambitious one – Van Rysel wants to become one of the top five bike brands in the world. I spoke to Maxime Delabre, the company’s chief marketing officer, about the challenges of creating a bike company that taps into the region’s rich cycling heritage while still representing the most cutting–edge ideas in design and aerodynamics. He explained that early on in their journey they realised that many other bike companies were travelling to the pavé of Paris-Roubaix and the bergs of Flemish Flanders to test their bikes and photograph them for promotional material. At that point Van Rysel realised that they had something that many other bike brands wanted – a deep connection to the cycling culture and an innate sense of the history, drama and excitement of Flanders.
We’d like to say a big thank you to Van Rysel for supporting The Cycling Podcast’s coverage of the 2025 Tour de France.
Your chance to ask Ian Boswell anything
When the race resumes in Toulouse after the rest day, we will be putting your questions to Ian Boswell, the former Team Sky and Katusha rider who finished the Tour in 2018. You can ask Ian anything about the Tour de France or cycling in general by emailing us at contact@thecyclingpodcast.com and we’ll select the best questions for him to answer next week.
KM0 episodes from the first week of the Tour
Monday: Le Tour en Angleterre
The story of the Tour’s two-day trip to England in 1994 to mark the opening of the Channel Tunnel, as told by two journalists who were there – Simon Brotherton of BBC Radio 5 Live and William Fotheringham of The Guardian.
Tuesday: Introducing Graham Willgoss
Graham joined The Cycling Podcast team for last year’s Tour de France and is back on the road again so needs no introduction to our listeners but this episode tells the story of how he discovered cycling and his route into journalism.
Wednesday: Maître Jacques
As the Tour visited his home town, Rouen, we found out about Jacques Anquetil, the first man to win the Tour de France five times. This episode features the French author and poet Paul Fournel on what drew him to Anquetil, why the public respected him but didn’t love him the same way they loved Poulidor, his controversial views on performance-enhancing substances, and his tangled private life.
Thursday: Join the Caravan of Love (released on the free feed)
The publicity caravan has been a Tour de France institution since 1930. Now, a vast train of vehicles travels ahead of the race, representing more than 30 companies who pay to be part of the travelling show, entertaining the crowd. Graham spent a day on one of the Basic Fit floats and he fitted right in.
Friday: Reduce the Risks, Not the Thrills: How to Make the Tour Safer
Former two-time Tour de France stage winner Dan Martin has been retired a few years now but at the start of this season he started working as an analyst for the UCI’s SafeR group. They watch and log accidents and incidents in the races and suggest measures or rule changes that could make the sport safer. In this episode he discusses with Lionel how increasingly intense racing, higher stakes and the road furniture designed to slow down motor traffic are creating challenges for race organisers.
KM0 episodes are available for Friends of the Podcast subscribers. We make the occasional episode free for all to hear, but can only do so with the support of our Friends. We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has subscribed, past and present.
Toast the Tour with DVineCellars
The case of six wines telling the story of the 2025 Tour de France, curated by Greg Andrews and the team at DVineCellars, is on sale to listeners in the UK now. It includes the excellent Tom and the Peloton Ventoux Rouge.
The peloton in Arras, by François Thomazeau
A week ago, we were in the Grand Place in Arras, sheltering from the rain, waiting for the Tour de France to pass by. François has been home in Marseille for a few days and, while he enjoys his summer afternoons with the Tour on in the background, he painted this in watercolour and ink. He’s used a bit of artistic licence because the three figures in black in the middle of the square, missing all the action, are Lionel, Graham and François himself. Actually, we were watching from just behind the barriers but, as a metaphor for life on the road covering the Tour, it works perfectly.
A tribute to a pioneer, a mentor and a legend of cycling journalism, Sam Abt
I was sitting in the shade at the top of Mûr-de-Bretagne on Friday when my phone pinged with a message from James Startt to say that his dear friend and colleague Sam Abt had died. We arranged to meet up so James could record his tribute, which we included at the end of Friday’s stage seven episode.
Sam was a legend of cycling journalism and covered the Tour de France more than 30 times between the 1970s and 2007, when he followed the race as a reporter for the final time. He wrote for the New York Times and later the International Herald Tribune, where he worked the rest of the year as an editor – a serious journalism job which included selecting the stories for page one. Cycling, though, was his passion and he used his annual leave to cover the Tour de France for the newspaper.
As James said in his tribute, Sam’s writing was so efficient with never a wasted word or a complicated one when a simple one would do. He was a supreme communicator and his work introduced generations of readers in America, and the rest of the English-speaking world, to the Tour de France. His writing, like his personality, was also witty.
I was lucky enough to meet Sam during several of my early Tours and I was in awe of his ability to distil the complex, nuanced, chaotic nature of the race into such beautiful, clear prose without over-simplifying or dumbing down in the slightest. It was an honour when he agreed to write for The Cycling Anthology, a book series I co-edited with Ellis Bacon. I remember when the email arrived with his piece, which was somewhat on the short side and I initially thought there’d been a mistake. That was until I started reading and realised that he’d packed more insight, colour and wit into his piece than most of us manage in twice as many words.
Our condolences to all Sam’s friends and family and a huge thank you to James for his moving tribute.
Fantastic coverage of the Tour as usual - I'm a big fan of Graham and it is nice to see Lionel back for the whole race. Keep up the great work, you make my morning commute so much more tolerable than it would otherwise be!
The pods have been brilliant and I eagerly await each new episode after the completed stages. The KM0 pods too have been excellent and you guys really are unparalleled in terms of balancing the history of the sport and the culture that surrounds it. Phenomenal stuff.