Wednesday, Saint-Lô
Only two topics up for discussion when 27 years’ worth of acquaintances and friendships are renewed for yet another July and Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish aren’t on the agenda. Explaining English football’s inherent weaknesses and the unique character of Nigel Farage in various languages will be a test, but there are 27 days to work on it. A small prize (one year’s subscription to the Daily Mail maybe) for the first of many Brexit jokes goes to a race organiser who says once the UK has left it is down to Yorkshire – where ASO runs the eponymous three-day Tour – to declare UDI and rejoin the EU. There are meanings to the term Grand Départ that we never imagined.
Thursday, Saint-Lô
A French Grand Départ is to be savoured, for its rarity – it is five years since the last – and because the race is where it truly belongs, for several days by the time you take into account the entire run-in rather than simply passing through. There are posters of Thibaut Pinot in boulangeries and bookies alike and the local press has gone to town with vast glossy supplements. La Manche Libre’s shiny A3-sized book details every Norman who has ridden the Tour and every Norman stage: it is a very, very plump volume.
Friday, Mont-Saint-Michel
The camper vans began clustering on Monday, roadside buvettes are going strong and locals are planning how to get round four hours of road closures on Saturday. Several weeks ago, local police visited our hotel to explain the impact of “an unprecedented security operation” around the race. That, plus a massive logistical plan, will enable the peloton to trundle down the causeway and do a U-turn for images with the historic monastery as a backdrop, to publicise the Mont’s reversion to a tidal island. The last time the Tour started in France it was on a tidal causeway in the Vendée, the Passage du Gois. Before that it was Rotterdam and Monaco, meaning the most recent start on the French mainland proper is 2008.
Saturday, Utah Beach
A quick look down the road. The pre-race talk has concerned a uniquely tough final week: 14 major passes in four mountain stages between Bourg-en-Bresse and Morzine as well as a mountain time trial. Tejay Van Garderen believes Sky will be worn out by then. Chris Froome has stated - quite possibly to worry his rivals - that it is his specific goal, but the best summary comes from the Cannondale manager Jonathan Vaughters: “A slow, nasty slugfest.” Whatever its importance for Cavendish and Marcel Kittel, this is merely day one of a 14-day build-up to that.
