Ineos Grenadiers’ Tom Pidcock decided to jump into a public fountain to cool off after Stage 15 of the Tour de France.
The 202.5km stage was run in 38 degree heat due to a heatwave that is causing forest fires in areas of Europe that do not normally see such heat.
Many riders have been seen wearing ice vests before and after the stages, and many are using ice ‘socks’, ice cubes in pantihose that the riders get from the team cars to put down the back of their jerseys.
French rider Romain Bardet said it was ‘crazy hot’ out on the road.
“Today was not so good with the heat,” he began. “I think it was pretty uncomfortable for everyone. It was about getting us enough drinks and ice.
“It was the kind of day you expect on the Tour. Not super hard but never easy because everyone is trying to drop someone.”
Had he ever experienced this kind of heat before?
“Not at the Tour. Sometimes you could really feel it on the tarmac. At the start I said, yeah, it’s warm, it’s pretty ok.
But when we reached downhill it was like, whoa! Crazy hot!”
Tadej Pogacar questioned whether racing in such heat was actually a good idea.
“It’s the same for everyone. You just have to keep your body cool enough. I don’t think anyone likes to race for five hours in the 40 degrees, I don’t even think it’s healthy for us.”
Which reminds me of a stage I did in the UCI 2.2 Tour of Thailand in 2012, 200km, 42.5km/hr average speed… in 45 degree heat! Now that was hot…
Great!
I remember Tour Thailand in 2010 as the hottest ever and I was just working as mechanic!
Think you’re right, it was 2010! Those fire engines at the finish! 😉
When is the cycling media going to start discussing these extreme heat fluctuations as not some weather aberration but as an ongoing f-ing climate crisis? Here’s the ironic part of my reply. Ineos, petro-chemical douchebags of the highest order, is the sponsor of a team that has to suffer through the climate emergency they helped create FFS.
Very good point there D. Mooves, there’s an article in that for sure, if not many articles…