Through the Ages

Here are pictures of us at the Tour de France, as seen by the TV cameras.

2008

2009

2021

2023

2025

All the other times the camera has missed us, but I think we're getting better at choosing our locations.

Tour de France 2025

Yesterday the Tour de France came through Preuilly-sur-Claise. The town had decorated itself with banners, sculptures and beer tents, and was looking really festive. There was a number of costumed people, including Danes (of course) and Knights (!?). Everyone else but us was wearing free velux hats, as we obviously arrived too late.

We started the day with an early and somewhat hasty lunch at the guinguette with Niall, Antoinette and some of Niall's family. We then headed up to the abbey in time to see the caravan pass and gather some plunder. The caravan wasn't as extensive as previous years, but that means we have less tat to deal with. Having said that, I gained a really useful combination key-ring/supermarket trolley token holder. Hooray for useful tat!

After that excitement we rehydrated and had a sit down, and watched the approaching cyclists on TV. You can either participate these events or take photos. This year we participated, so no photos of caravan or cyclists. Susan had our Australian flag, and I had a message for my Dad.

Susan, flag wrangling with assistance from Olivier's grandson

Beer tents and Danes. Not coincidence, I suspect.

Once the excitement was over we headed home, arriving just in time to watch the race on ITV's +1 service. Just as the bikes reached Preuilly they went to a life long ad break, only returning as the cyclists reached Bossay. Booo!!!!

Luckily, France TV came to the rescue. You should be able to see me, but they missed Susan.

We had an ace - but 34°C - hot day. Not as hot as it was for the cyclists, who averaged over 50km an hour for the 174 km race.

(If you click on the video, then click on the little square box bottom right, you should get the video full screen)

Tour de France Banner

 

Local textile artist Daniele Deletang has produced a 4 metre x 5 metre banner in patchwork to celebrate the passage of the Tour de France through Preuilly sur Claise on 13 July this year. It is hanging from the front of the gallery she and her husband curate. Very conveniently it is situated directly in front of the bridge the riders must cross, before they turn hard right around the Abbaye and head for Bossay sur Claise. 

It's in lovely bright colours and very much in the spirit of the race. I hope it gets lots of air time when the helicopters come through to do their travelogue shots.

Tour de France 2025

On Friday the detailed route for the 2025 Tour de France was made public. We have known for about 6 months that it will be coming through Preuilly on the 13th of July, and we have all been making guesses as to which path through the village it will follow.

We can now stop guessing. The cyclists will arrive on the main road from la Roche Posay, cross the river and turn right at the Abbaye towards Bossay and Martizay. After that they follow the main road to Azay le Ferron, and on to Châteauroux.

Looking towards the Abbaye in the direction the bikes will be travelling

The Youngest Cyclist Ever in the Tour de France

This year, on Sunday 13 July, the Tour de France will be whizzing through Preuilly sur Claise, as it did in 1998 and 2008 [https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2008/07/circus-hits-town.html]. We are very much looking forward to it, as we try to witness a stage every year, and it is nice to have it on one's doorstep (almost literally -- we'll only have to stroll about 50 metres to be in the thick of it). To get us in the mood, here is some history that you probably don't know:

In 1904 a young man named Camille Fily lined up at the start of the second Tour de France, in Montgeron, near Paris. He had just turned 17, and he was born in Preuilly sur Claise. The youngest of five children born to Henri Fily, a cutler, and Marie-Louise Bourin, an umbrella reparer, he was also the youngest competitor there has ever been in the Tour de France. His parents showcased their work at various local markets and Camille helped out. He and his brothers were mechanically minded and very interested in bicycles.

He became a father at a very young age, but nevertheless completed his obligatory military service with the 32nd Infantry Regiment. When the 1914 mobilisation order was issued, Camille, now aged 27, was sent to the Front with the 80th Infantry Regiment. He was attached as a runner to a Colonel's staff, and was regularly cited as having accomplished his mission with a remarkably cool head and was described as a brave, conscientious and energetic soldier. As a messenger he cycled from one trench to another all along the line. He was killed in Belgium, two days before his 31st birthday.

Camille started racing when his parents moved to Loches and he joined the Société vélocipédique. In 1904 he was signed up for the Tour de France, at that point a six stage race over 2428  kilometres. It was a real physical challenge, where competitors raced day and night. There were 80 riders, and they were regularly 'welcomed' with showers of stones, or nails scattered on the road.

In 1905 Camille competed for a second time in the Tour de France, which in that year was 2994 kilometres. The rules had evolved, so there was no more riding at night, and classifications were made on the basis of points, not times. The welcome in the villages had not changed though and the spectators were not happy. Amongst 60 racers Camille finished 14th, and was the first in his team, Guérin Cycles. The same year Camille came 10th in the Bordeaux-Paris. He set off at 2 am and arrived about 14 hours later, having raced the 600 kilometre course virtually non-stop.

The next year his first child was born, and he gave up racing. He was just 19 years old.

 

This post is essentially my translation of an article by Patricia Pillorger for the Centre Généalogique de Touraine. 

Further Reading: The very good entry on Fily in Cyclists in the Great War Wikia (including a photo of the dashing young Camille).

https://cyclists-in-the-great-war.fandom.com/wiki/Camille_Fily

 

Photos in this post are all from 2008, when the Tour last passed through Preuilly, from our archive. They show the peleton passing the end of our street.

More Tour de France

On Saturday Susan wrote about the Tour de France.

Yesterday the route for the 2024 race was announced. Once again it's not coming through Preuilly sur Claise - the last time it did that was in 2008. Any year now...

Next year the closest it's coming to us is on 9 July. Stage 10 is from Orléans to St Armand Montrond, and it looks like the route is via Romorantin and Bourges. We'll decide closer to the date where we'll be.

In the meantime, some screen shots from the TV coverage of this year's race and a Street View shot, focusing on the "lacets" between Lourdes and Cauterets.

This is the driver's eye view as you approach the lacets.

Riding up the main street of Cauterets. The Boulangerie on the right of shot is where we usually buy our breakfast

A Day at the (Cycle) Races

The Caravane was told they could not throw goodies and sound their klaxons in the National Park. This descending Caravane vehicle is the fire brigade's.

Every year in July we try to get to be at one Stage of the Tour de France. This year we were in Cauterets in the Pyrenees when it finished at Cambasque/Cauterets. So thanks to Simon's careful planning we staked a spot right by the finish line and had a wonderful day (except for the final 4 kilometres walking down on the road at the end, which was just a bit too steep and long). To get to our prime spectating spot we packed a picnic lunch and set out after breakfast. 

Poor little Gaspar got separated from his parents. He then got the thrill of being walked up the track holding a police woman's hand and put in the care of the race officials (easy to recognise in their beige trousers and blue shirts).

We took the cable car to the Station de Ski Cauterets-Le Lys. Then just for fun we took the ski lift to the Crete du Lis to see the marvellous view down into the valley with Cauterets below on one side and across to the Lac d'Ilhéou and deep into the mountains. After coming back down on the ski lift we made a quick toilet stop at the ski station, then walked 4 kilometres down the track to Cambasque, stopping along the way to photograph the scenery and wildlife. At Cambasque Simon quickly spotted there was a space under a tree right at the finish line, so we claimed it and ate our picnic lunch. 

The Australian Jai Hindley, in the yellow jersey, crosses the line in 6th place, at 2'39" after the winner Tadej Pogacar.

Then we spread out our full sized Australian flag and settled in to patiently wait the three hours until the (reduced) Caravane came through and then finally the riders. Being at the finish line meant that the race commentators could see us, so the flag got mentioned a couple of times. We could also follow the progress of the race on the giant screens set up in several positions. 

This group of riders came in at 20 minutes after the leaders.

To our surprise, the first flurry of activity on the track was the Presidential cavalcade. Emmanuel Macron was there to hand out prizes. Simon managed to get a photo, but I didn't even get a glimpse, as my view was blocked by a giant television screen. But I did see Tadej Pogacar power across the line, and all the others who came after. 

Team vehicles and media motorbikes kept corralled by the police until the President has whooshed past.

Then we had to hang around while the those with a higher priority were allowed to start descending, and after about an hour, we were also descending, on foot, down the road. Finally, exhausted and footsore, we made it back to Cauterets and our 8pm dinner reservation.

The President, Monsieur Macron, whooshes by.

2023 Holiday: Day 22

Every holiday needs one - the day where you do nothing much at all.

We started late, grazed on saucisson and melon, watched some Tour de France on TV. Susan tried to identify some of the flowers she has taken photos of, and I read a book. We're almost at the end of our holiday and its the first time we haven't been busy.

I did, however, manage to find a bit of TV coverage from Thurdays Tour de France where you can see our flag.

2023 Holiday: Day 20

When we set out from out apartment yesterday morning we discovered that our usual car park had been turned into a huge TV Studio.

We caught the cable car/chairlift combination up to the top of the mountain, had a look around, then returned via charlift to the top of the cablecar and walked down to the Tour de France finish line for a picnic lunch and cyclist watching. We lucked into a spot in the shade of a tree, directly in line with the finish line.

After lunch we moved slightly to have a better view of the actual finish and an enormous TV screen, and hung out our Australian flag (which was mentioned a couple of times by the local announcer). In this photo you can see Linda, Susan, our flag, the finishing line, and the weather.

 

It was an exciting race, and I was able to capture the moment it was won.

It was an excellent (if long) day. We walked over 10 km (all downhill), the weather held, we saw M. le President, and we saw a brilliant day of cycle racing on TV and live

Tour de France 2021

On Thursday Susan and I went to Écueillé, just over the border in Indre, to see the Tour de France on its way. We do this whenever the Tour is within reasonable striking distance of home - quite frankly it would feel churlish not to do so.

We arrived in plenty of time (this year without one of the Old Ladies Célestine or Claudette), parked up, and walked to the centre of town. We secured a good position right on a very tight corner in the middle of town and waited for ages - and then some.

Here are some of our photos of the preamble:

I also took a video of the riders and support teams:

The Modern Tour de France Caravanne 2018

The Tour de France caravan is the reason that fully 48% of people bother turning up to watch (proper statistic I saw somewhere or another, honest). We noticed the crowds thinned after the caravan, so it must be true.

You need guts to ride in the Tour de France

...but if you don't get too tyred

...you return feeling chipper.

Water lot of effort go into these machines.

Blog posts about previous caravannes can be found here.

The Old Caravanne

As we said before, this year we saw the Tour de France again. This year's third stage of the Tour de France at Cholet was graced by a number of véhicules publicitaires de caravane ancienne, which followed the regular caravan of sponsor's vehicles. Most (if not all) of the vehicles belong to a man called Lionel Blanleil, who has been collecting and restoring them for over 30 years.

This first one is a mystery - the only refence online I can find
refers to it as a "mobile yellow jersey podium"

a 1960 Peugoet D4 advertising SPAR supermarkets

Peugeot J7 "Marché de France" of 1974

There were two Renault Butagaz promotional vehicles from 1961

1954 Citroen H-Van of the Midi Libre press unit

1961 Renault 1.400kg advertising Onrev Matresses

1960 Renault press van of la Nouvelle Republique.

There is an article (with photos) of this vehicle here

Renault 1400Kg Type R 2066 of 1953 advertising Byrrh.
Because it's France and 2018 the name of the product has been obscured,

because alcohol advertising is no longer legal

A 1966 Renault advertising Castelvin.
As with the previous vehicle, the branding has been obscured