Saturday, July 10, 2021

Wine & Food of Le Tour 2021, Stage 14: Carcassone to Quillan

Where are we? Hanging out in the Aude and heading to a first time stage town.

Quillian: Hi, Pyrenees. We've been waiting for you. Le Tour suggests that we visit a castle: Located on the right bank of the river, it has dominated the lower town of Quillan since the 14th century. With a square plan, flanked by four watchtowers, it was entered through a majestic tower-gate several storeys high. It was the seat of the administration of the Archbishops of Narbonne and could, on occasion, serve as their residence. Destroyed for the first time during the Franco-Aragonese wars, it was levelled and transformed into an artillery battery.
After being used as a stone quarry for the construction of buildings, it was the subject of three excavation campaigns and the beginning of a restoration project.From the top of the castle you can enjoy a beautiful view of the town and the surrounding mountains.

Le Tour specialties:
Quillan: blanquette of Limoux, cassoulet, foie gras.

Christian Prudhomme says: Rather calm until Lavelanet, the journey into the Pyrenees rapidly becomes a roller-coaster ride as of Montségur: the citadel of vertigo and its rough climbs, then the Col de la Croix des Morts and Col de Saint-Louis that the riders will reach by riding on the spectacular Viaduc de l'Escargot, will sharpen the appetite of the hungriest climbers.

The stage: We have spent the race watching Tim Declercq at the front of the peloton day after day. Today it would be a question of whether"The Tractor" could make it through after yesterday's injuries. With one hundred and ten kilometers to go on the stage, the break had still not been firmly established, but riders had already dropped from the peloton. With the sprint point coming up, the teams in search of points had kept things close. 
One hundred kilometers to go and there was still no break, despite repeated attempts. With eighty kilometers to go, Cattaneo came across to Poels and Woods. They were 40'' ahead of  Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Omar Fraile (Astana), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Esteban Chaves (BikeExchange), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo). Peloton was at 1'40''. 
Those groups would merge, leaving ten at the front with four chasers between them and the main peloton. With just under sixty kilometers to go, the quartet of Madouas, Gesbert, Rolland and Pacher would reach the front group.Meanwhile, I was checking on Declerq. He had made it to the green jersey group!
Yikes, Woods slid out, but would be back riding soon. As Woods got back to the group, an attack by Mollema.
Also of note, Martin was in virtual second on the road! Sure enough, we saw Uran's team move to the front of the peloton to try and reduce the gap.  Attacking from the chase group was Higuita, with company. At the top of the climb, he had one minute. Ten kilometers to go and it was still over one minute. As he closed in, the peloton was at six minutes, leaving Martin in the chase, still in virtual yellow. The Cavendish group was twenty minutes behind.
Well done. Stage:

GC:


The wine: Le Petit Domaine des Gimios Muscat d'Octobre Pet-Nat 2019
Christy says: Muscat love. This is delicately floral, dry, gently sparkling and pretty much irresistible. It's not inexpensive, but when you consider the care and attention that goes into growing these very low-yielding grape vines, it's a relative bargain. It's the liquid version of beguiling. Let's keep the alliteration flowing... give this bottle a try and you'll be bewitched, bothered and bewildered in all the best ways!

The food:  Ah, yes, the Pyrenees. Time to pull out your favorite cassoulet recipe and dig in.

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1 comment:

  1. Dr. PablitoJuly 10, 2021 at 12:29 PM

    Ugh, too hot for cassoulet.
    We tried a much lesser Muscat last week from El Dorado hills. Muscat-y, for sure, but poorly vinified.
    Good shakeup for GC today and a good ride for Bauke.

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