Vosges Velos

The VéloSport crew will kick off their tour this Friday in the Vosges region. In the meantime, they have been doing what any good Tour team does—preview the routes, sample the local cuisine, and get to know the regional customs.

This area in the northeast corner of France, like all of the regions the Tour de France visits, is unbelievably scenic. There are vast rolling hills of vineyards with majestic chateaux marking the highest points. The houses are painted a vast palette of pastels and have steep shingled roofs. On top of some of those roofs you can see wooden stands that provide support for the huge nests of the local mascot—the stork or “cigogne” in French. You can see these huge birds surveying the world from their nests on high or even hanging out by the roadsides. We managed to take on a certain Al Sace as our mascot for the Tour. Young but well traveled, we found out quickly that Al is a passionate Tour fan.

This region is a cyclist’s dream. The roads are smooth and vast. There are well-marked cycling routes that roll through the vineyards and along small farms. You have fast flats and longer climbs up through the vineyards and surrounding forests. The very first mountain stage of the Tour de France took place in this region in 1905 and went over the Balloon d’Alsace to finish in Mulhouse.

Yesterday we previewed the last part of the stage that goes up the Col de la Schlucht this Saturday and could see that the villages were still putting the finishes touches on roadwork and landscaping projects for the Tour. It is always impressive to see how much the small villages put into welcoming the Tour de France to their roads. We saw the ubiquitous giant bike sculptures in just about every village on the way to the base of the climb. Some sections of road are completely repaved while others are dotted with random patches of tar and gravel. The railing along some sidewalks and bridges were shiny with new paint.

Today we checked out Mulhouse where stage 9 finishes Sunday and what a cluster. It is amazing to think that just five days from now that city will be the site of a Tour stage finish. They are in the middle of putting a new tramway in through the center of town and there's construction every where - including the roads the Tour riders will finish on. But come Sunday, you won't even be able to see the mess. The Tour barricades will be up and plastered with banners and packed with spectators. Even the unfinished “Vive Le Tour” flowered landscaping will look like it has always been there. And we'll be there, in the middle of the madness, unable to recognize the Mulhouse we saw today.


Tour preparations for some of the VéloSport crew started early this morning with some cross-training.