Today I’m sharing a post written by Jacqueline Brown from The French Village Diaries on the day that the 100th Tour de France is in Nice, just half an hour away from us. Jacqueline explains the Tour clearly and comprehensively, so I thought, why should I do it myself, when it’s already been done so well?
The Tour de France
by Jacqueline from The French Village Diaries, a Brit who moved to France in 2004 with her family to live her dream of a simpler life in rural France. Passionate about everything French, she writes about life in France, food, village life, education, travel and books.
We are not a sports mad family. We do enjoy an active and outdoor lifestyle, but none of us could explain the ‘off-side rule’ and we conveniently manage to miss football and rugby on TV even if it is World or European cup games. The tennis also passes every year without us feeling the need to watch a single match. However, last year Ade and I found ourselves tuning into ITV4 every evening to watch the Tour de France coverage and we are counting down the days (seven) until the start of the 100th Tour begins in Corsica on June 29th.
Last year the terminology and the rules were a bit of a mystery to us and while we are still not experts we have grasped the basics and here is our little summery in case it is all a bit confusing to you too. Full information can be found on le Tour website and don’t forget whether you understand it all or not, if you do tune in you will get to see some lovely areas of La Belle France. Read more
Do click through and read all about how this amazing sporting event works. I’ll be getting back to you in a few days with pictures of it as it passes just five minutes away from us, in Valbonne. Have you ever seen the Tour? I’d love to hear about your experiences.
What a lovely story Thomas! 🙂
Thanks for commenting Nicki, I’m glad you found my post useful!! 🙂
I’m so glad I inspired you to watch. The thing is it’s an amazing thing that the cyclists do if you can get past the doping scandals of the last few years. It’s the toughest sporting event in the world, so it’s pretty impressive and yes, it goes through gorgeous scenery along the way. Thanks for commenting.
When the Tour de France went through our town in England one of our grandchildren said”. I can’t see grandpa, another said “they don’t have trailer wheels. It was a great success and much enjoyed by all.t
Stopping by on Day 2 of UBC. I’m not a huge sports fan but I appreciate easy to digest summaries – great for conversations at social events.
Your post has made me curious. Being from the USA, I concur with the other comment-er that Lance Armstrong has turned it into a ‘circus’ here. I’ll watch a bit to see the beauty next time!
I’m so with you Peta. That’s just how I feel. Thanks for commenting.
Thanks Brook! Yes it’s a crazy sport. I’ve never seen it in the mountains, that must be pretty good.
I’m not a sports fan at all 🙁 I don’t enjoy playing it or watching it but I do enjoy cheering for big sporting events like the Olympics, State of Origin (NSW) and Tour De France. Weird I know.
I guess I can take it all in small doses, too much gets boring and I’d rather a good book (or blog) to read.
Hey Phoebe, I think we are on the same schedule. Yes I saw the Tour and it was insane. They rode from Barcelona up here to the ski mountain Arcalis. Nice post:)
It’s a media circus here too and yes Armstrong managed to do lots of damage, but I still love it. Funnily enough you can still see “Go Lance, go” written on the road in our town when he rode through on his last ever tour in 2009. How wrong that seems now!
Hi Peggy, thanks for taking the time to comment. I must admit that I really do love the Tour, and I can’t wait to see it tomorrow.
Hi Francene, the British riders are some of the greatest, it’s such a shame Bradley Wiggins isn’t competing again this year. 🙁
Stopping by from UBC, Day 2.
As an American I find the Tour de France similar to NASCAR. I don’t watch either. I suppose if the cyclists were zooming through my town, I’d come out and watch though…
In the states the Tour has become quite the media… circus? All Armstrong’s fault of course. Thanks for sharing.
In England, everyone follows this great sporting event on the television. The UK sends many bike riders to compete. Thanks for sharing.