It is really hot in France at the moment. It might be too hot. This won’t have escaped the attention of anyone watching at home, given how often it is mentioned on TV coverage, but it is probably the defining feature of the Tour de France so far. Last week, stage four was one of the hottest on record, stage nine was similarly close to the line. On stage three, fans were banned from the finish due to wildfires, while stage nine had its route changed to make it shorter amid a red heat warning; Tuesday’s stage 10 has been moved forward by 10 minutes to make things a little cooler.
France has been suffering through a heatwave for weeks now; some parts of the country are reporting a 25% rise in water usage due to temperatures, with 77 départments facing water restrictions at the moment. Wildfires have reached just outside Paris, with some monuments in the city closing early. In the heart of the Massif Central, where the Tour remains on Tuesday, there is still a red weather warning, with temperatures potentially soaring to 36°C.
“Extreme heat events do occur within natural climate variation due to changes in global weather patterns. However, the increase in the frequency, duration, and intensity of these events over recent decades is clearly linked to the observed warming of the planet and can be attributed to human activity,” the UK Met Office said this week, adding “higher temperature extremes mean that there is a bigger risk of regions becoming difficult for humans to live and work in.”
News editor at Cycling Weekly, Adam brings his weekly opinion on the goings on at the upper echelons of our sport. This piece is part of The Leadout, a newsletter series from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. As ever, email adam.becket@futurenet.com – should you wish to add anything, or suggest a topic.
The climate crisis is here, affecting the country, and it is affecting the race too. Stages are being raced differently, riders are suffering more, with certain athletes conspicuous by their absence at the front due to the weather. This isn’t a slightly warm week; this is the Tour and France facing an existential crisis at the same time.
Temperatures are the talk of the paddock at the Tour, with riders and sports directors sharing various theories about what could be done. Some would like the race moved forward to the morning, to avoid the hottest part of the day, while others think that we’re getting to the point where stages need to be cancelled – something local authorities have the power to do this year.
Cutting 30km segments from the route or moving start times does rather feel like moving deckchairs around the Titanic after it has hit the iceberg. The yellow jersey at the Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar, thinks radical change is needed. In his press conference post-stage nine, he said: “In my opinion it’s a big topic to discuss but if I had [the] power to change all, I would change the whole calendar
“I would not race in July and in August in the hot place. That’s something that we need to think through, and in the end it’s not something I can do.”
If you forget the irony of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG riding for a team sponsored by one of the world’s most powerful petro-states, and XRG an energy investment company, then he has a point.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Continuing as normal with the Tour in July, let alone the Vuelta a España in August, feels a little ridiculous. A radical rethink of the calendar is needed, but the power still lies with people who won’t want to budge. Today is 14 July, La Fête Nationale, Bastille Day to you and I, and the Tour always races on Bastille Day. The Tour has been raced in July since its first edition in 1903.
Pogačar went on to say that he had mixed feelings about shifting the times of stages, saying that was “maybe the next step.
“Yesterday there was one proposal to start at 10, but for me that does not change anything because then you’d finish in the big heat.”
This arguably token change would at least prove that the organisers are prepared to be flexible. It might not suit broadcaster schedules, but it would result in less riding in the peak of the day. A calendar shift feels like a more sustainable step, though.
The climate crisis doesn’t particularly care about tradition or broadcasting deals. Whatever the scheduling headache, it’s a far better problem to have than another July where riders needing ice baths and a billion bottles a day is normal.
Part of the Tour’s whole appeal is suffering. That’s the mythology, with riders battling the mountains and the weather, and each other. But there’s a difference between the suffering that makes for a good story and the suffering that ends with an emergency. This suffering is probably getting too much.
Would a June or a September Tour de France really ruin everything? No. Might it extend this travelling circus’s lifespan for a few more decades? Yes. Will it happen? Well, probably not. Still, it’s good it is being discussed. A few more hot days and the needle might turn even further towards radical change.
This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.
If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.
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