Sunday, July 15, 2018

Wine and Food of the Tour de France 2018 Stage 9: Arras Citadelle to Roubaix

Where are we?
Arras Citadelle : The local tourist site tells me that; Ideally located less than two hours away from London and Brussels, 50 minutes from Paris by TGV, 30 from Lille and 15 from the Louvre-Lens, Arras is a perfect and charming stopping point for travellers in Northern Europe. The unrivalled atmosphere of its famous squares, the imposing dimensions of its prestigious abbey or the Vauban Citadel, the eclecticism of its heritage, the solemnity of its remembrance sites, the timeless grace of its countryside, its innumerable events...all are a constant invitation to explore a thousand and one visit combinations, skilfully marrying the delights of discovery and of leisure.
Arras was the only town in France to occupy a front-line position for the entire duration of the Great War. Devastated at ground level, the town retreated underground where 24,000 British soldiers, garrisoned in the subterranean tunnels, prepared for the Battle of Arras, one of the most unthinkable surprise attacks in history which in April 1917 placed Arras at the centre of the conflict. The Wellington Tunnels, the Arras British Cemetery, the Canadian Memorial Park in Vimy, the Museum Letaille in Bullecourt, the Necropolis of Notre-Dame de Lorette, the Ring of Remembrance and dozens of places of remembrance of all nationalities weave in the Artois Region the memory of a tactical battlefield of planetary proportions. 
LeTour specialties:  Andouillette d’Arras (tripe sausage), coquelet à la bière (poussin in beer), Coeur d’Arras (cheese), Rats d’Arras (dark chocolate filled with praline)

Roubaix: Hi, Roubaix. It has been a few months since cycling's spring visit. Michelin tells me that:  By the Middle Ages Roubaix had a reputation for specialist craftsmen in the combing and teasing of wool. Following the textile crisis its business activities moved towards all forms of communication. This town, having turned towards the future, does not lack boldness.
Let's visit La Piscine - Musée d'Art et d'Industrie André Diligent. From the local tourism site:  Roubaix, once the capital of the textile industry, has found new uses for its factories. The museum is a wonderful example of this: it used to be a swimming pool,a veritable Art-Deco masterpiece built between 1927 and 1932 by local architect Albert Baert. The vast 11,000 m2 space still seems to echo with the shrieks of swimmers of yore. Visitors flock in to see the exceptional collection of arts applied in industry, including fabrics, decorative artwork, sculptures, paintings and drawings. In the museum's main room, the swimming pool hall, light comes in through stain-glassed windows representing the rising and setting sun. Life-sized statues in single file adorn the pool, still filled with water, and surround the changing rooms, bathrooms and shower cabins. Large-scale temporary exhibitions are put on all through the year. 

LeTour specialties: Mussels and chips, fricadelle (corn dog sausage), pavé de Roubaix (cheese), gateau du ch’ti (egg, cheese, turkey cake) 




The stage:  Been waiting for this one. Waiting as in, when my alarm went off at 3 am today I was already kind of awake. Because: cobbles! Why is this so exciting? Well, besides the simple fact that cobbles are joy to watch, there is the simple fact that many of the Tour riders do not regularly participate in the Spring classics and lack experience on cobbles. Plus, even for those with experience, cobbles frequently equal chaos. So a lot could change on the race today.

Along the way, endive field art! It was really something.

 Meanwhile, on the road and before things even hit the harder sections, a crash. Porte down and looking like he may be out, almost immediately assuming the broken collarbone position. Indeed, race radio would announce his dnf.






Others went down as well, but were back up riding. Among those hurt, Greipel, with some sort of wrist problem. Also, dnf: Rojas.

 Up front, the break of the day had settles in with De Gendt, Fraile, Gaudin, Cousin and Tolhoek. Soon enough, they would be joined by Haga, Edet, Calmejane, van Rensburg, and Le Gac. Twenty five kilometers in and they had 2:20 over the bunch.
Missed this news earlier:

Onto the cobbles and almost immediately, Tolhoek was out of the break with a flat. More to come, I'm sure.
Back in the peloton, Bora was at the front working for Sagan. Unlike many of the riders tasked with protecting their GC riders, he should have the freedom to go for the stage win today.
Bardet puncture and he would get help to chase back. 
He would know:


Related and interesting:


Crash for yesterday's stage winner, Groenewegen. He would very slowly get back on his bike.


Crash in the peloton for Bernal, but he would be up quickly.
There we go again. Another crash. 


Sky continued to push at the front of the peloton, with splits forming. The front split had about thirty, including many of the top riders. Behind, Nibali, Uran and Yates, among others. Sky was pushing hard to keep the gap.
Another crash, this time Terpstra, one of my favorites for the day.
Sixty kilometers to go and there would be a regrouping. The gap to the break remained close to two minutes.
Yikes, just as van Garderen made it back to the peloton, another crash.
At the front of the favorites group, GVA, riding in yellow, to the front. 


 
Another mechanical for Bardet and apparently one for van Garderen as well.  He is having a very tough day.
And again, Froome down this time. He was back up very quickly.
Forty four kilometers to go and the gap to the break was under a minute.Off the front of that small peloton: Gaviria. Forty kilometers to go and Gaviria was caught as Froome and others made it back.
So far, the Movistar gc riders are having a great day.
Ahead, the breakaway riders wold start to attack each other. 
Crash, this time Kwiatkowski.
Gilbert puncture.
Just as we were all discussing the great day for Movistar: Landa crash.
The crashes are coming now to quickly to even mention them all. By all accounts the dust has made the road very slippery.
Perhaps the best stage recap:




Inside twenty kilometers to go and the break would be caught. 
More bonus seconds for GVA. He would go off the front with Lampaert and  Degenkolb. 


That gap would grow to forty kilometers, with ten kilometers to go.
Wow. Another mechanical for Bardet. Quite a day he has had.
Four kilometers to go and one minute for the front group.
Attack by Sagan, with company. Two kilometers to go and 50 seconds for the lead trio.
Degenkolb! Yay! Time to wait for everyone else to trickle in. Rest day tomorrow!

 Stage:


 

 GC:




The alcohol:  Bellerose Biere Blonde
We weren't going to make it through this area without at least one beer. Five stores later, I found one! Thanks, Healthy Spirits on Clement. 

From the producer, with some help from Google Translate: The most awarded French beer internationally. Made with a cocktail of 3 hops. Straw yellow color with golden highlights. Fresh and floral nose with a fruity contribution of lychees. Notes of lychee and orange. Refreshing and slightly bitter beer with sweet notes.



 

Food: Carbonnade, from the regional tourist site


For 6 people

2 - 3 hours +


Ingredients
1.4kg beef (shoulder, chuck, shin, skirt, etc ) ● 70cl brown ale ● 3 onions ● 3 slices of gingerbread ● 3 tablespoons of brown sugar ● 3 tablespoons of flour ● 4 tablespoons of vinegar (balsamic or wine) ● 4 tablespoons of oil ● 50g butter ● Bay leaves, thyme, cloves ● Salt, pepper



Method


  • Cut the meat into large cubes. In a large cooking pot, ideally cast iron, heat the oil and butter at a high temperature, then add the meat and brown it on each side for 3 - 4 minutes.
  • Add the thinly sliced onion, then the flour and mix together rapidly.
  • Deglaze with vinegar and mix again quickly, then add the beer.
  • Lower the heat as much as possible.
  • As soon as it starts to boil, add the brown sugar, the crumbled gingerbread, several cloves.
  • Add salt and pepper, several bay leaves and twigs of thyme.
  • Leave to simmer for at least 2 - 3 hours, regularly stirring so that it remains melting and unctuous. Tip: cook it the day before, it will be even better.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)