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As Europe's heat wave melts roads, Tour de France races into an uncertain future
I watched yesterday's time trial in Rocamadour on TV. Today's broadcast is just about to start.
EXTREME SUMMER
As Europe’s heat wave melts roads, Tour de France races into an uncertain future
By Rick Noack
Updated July 23, 2022 at 4:10 p.m. EDT | Published July 23, 2022 at 2:28 p.m. EDT
Tour de France cyclists climb through Ayros-Arbouix in the Pyrenees mountains on July 21. (Laurence Geai/MYOP/FTWP)
AYROS-ARBOUIX, France — The Tour de France has always been a test of human endurance. ... The cyclists cover epic distances over the course of three weeks, speeding past fields of sunflowers, bouncing along cobblestone roads and climbing dizzyingly steep mountains with frightening corkscrew descents.
But as the peloton makes its way down the Champs-Élysées toward the finish line Sunday — on a day forecast to reach 93 degrees Fahrenheit, 20 degrees higher than the average July high for Paris — there are questions about whether the world’s most prestigious cycling race is pushing up against its own limits, whether increasingly intense European summers are making the competition dangerously extreme.
The race has long been a point of pride for the French, highlighting some of their most stunning landscapes. And yet over the past few weeks it has also showcased some of the most alarming impacts of climate change, taking cyclists through farmland parched by drought, past melting glaciers, in proximity to raging wildfires and in direct collision with a historic heat wave that saw temperatures approach 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
{snip graphic showing the route of the Tour and the temperatures along the way.
Source: Terre-Net, Weather Channel, Copernicus
JANICE KAI CHEN/THE WASHINGTON POST}
It’s probably safe to say that’s hotter than most early Tour riders could have even imagined. Consider: the original yellow jersey, introduced in the more temperate climate of 1919, was made of wool. ... At times the temperatures were so high during this year’s Tour that organizers sprayed water to keep the roads from “melting.” Officials agreed to ease rules that usually prevent riders from rehydrating in the first miles of the race. But they stuck to the schedule, conducting each stage in the oppressive heat of the afternoon.
{snip}
Anthony Faiola in Miami contributed to this report.
By Rick Noack
Rick Noack is a Paris-based correspondent covering France for The Washington Post. Previously, he was a foreign affairs reporter for The Post based in Berlin. He also worked for The Post from Washington, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Twitter https://twitter.com/rick_n
As Europe’s heat wave melts roads, Tour de France races into an uncertain future
By Rick Noack
Updated July 23, 2022 at 4:10 p.m. EDT | Published July 23, 2022 at 2:28 p.m. EDT
Tour de France cyclists climb through Ayros-Arbouix in the Pyrenees mountains on July 21. (Laurence Geai/MYOP/FTWP)
AYROS-ARBOUIX, France — The Tour de France has always been a test of human endurance. ... The cyclists cover epic distances over the course of three weeks, speeding past fields of sunflowers, bouncing along cobblestone roads and climbing dizzyingly steep mountains with frightening corkscrew descents.
But as the peloton makes its way down the Champs-Élysées toward the finish line Sunday — on a day forecast to reach 93 degrees Fahrenheit, 20 degrees higher than the average July high for Paris — there are questions about whether the world’s most prestigious cycling race is pushing up against its own limits, whether increasingly intense European summers are making the competition dangerously extreme.
The race has long been a point of pride for the French, highlighting some of their most stunning landscapes. And yet over the past few weeks it has also showcased some of the most alarming impacts of climate change, taking cyclists through farmland parched by drought, past melting glaciers, in proximity to raging wildfires and in direct collision with a historic heat wave that saw temperatures approach 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
{snip graphic showing the route of the Tour and the temperatures along the way.
Source: Terre-Net, Weather Channel, Copernicus
JANICE KAI CHEN/THE WASHINGTON POST}
It’s probably safe to say that’s hotter than most early Tour riders could have even imagined. Consider: the original yellow jersey, introduced in the more temperate climate of 1919, was made of wool. ... At times the temperatures were so high during this year’s Tour that organizers sprayed water to keep the roads from “melting.” Officials agreed to ease rules that usually prevent riders from rehydrating in the first miles of the race. But they stuck to the schedule, conducting each stage in the oppressive heat of the afternoon.
{snip}
Anthony Faiola in Miami contributed to this report.
By Rick Noack
Rick Noack is a Paris-based correspondent covering France for The Washington Post. Previously, he was a foreign affairs reporter for The Post based in Berlin. He also worked for The Post from Washington, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Twitter https://twitter.com/rick_n
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Climate change sadly lays waste to another tradition.
