Thursday, July 6, 2023

Wine and Food of the Tour de France 2023 Stage 6: Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque

Where are we? Still in the Pyrenees!

Tarbes: Do I talk about the horse farm every time they come here? Yes. Am I going to stop now? No. 
In the 9-hectar large park of the national stud of Tarbes, planted with trees, you can admire: the stables in the Empire style, the Blacksmith's shop, the Saddlery, the reproduction unity and the Maison du Cheval which is an educative and cultural space dedicated to the horses. 
During your visit, you will see stallions: anglo-arabic, Mérens, Arabic pure breeds, English pure breeds, Pyrenean donkeys, ponies from the Landes, carthorses from Bretagne and Franche Comté…
There are two main seasons for the stud: from February to June, during the reproduction season, most of the stallions are in different reproduction areas, and the stud receives mares and colts (call before).

Regional Specialties: foie gras, garbure, haricots tarbais, spit cake

Cauterets-Cambasque: Let's go for a hike at the Pont d’Espagne: 
Located 7km from Cauterets in the Pyrenees National Park, Pont d'Espagne, a Midi-Pyrénées Grand Site, and its unspoilt nature are an ideal playground for hiking. One of the most popular walks leads to the Gaube lake (via the GR10 or a chairlift) or to the famous Vignemale, the highest peak in the French Pyrenees. In the footsteps of Count Henry Russell, you can admire the preserved wildlife, powerful waterfalls and, with a little luck and patience, marmots and isards. Pont d'Espagne is also the starting point for many ski lifts during the ski season.  

Regional Specialties: berlingots, foie gras, garbure, Tarbes beans, spit cake, Bigorre black pig.


Christian Prudhomme says: The Pyrenean challenge continues on a route where those with ambitions of overall success will have to deal with the Aspin and Tourmalet passes. However, the course through the mountains will also pique the interest of other riders. Those puncheurs who are in good form could still take aim at the Yellow Jersey, as the climb to the Plateau du Cambasque isn’t an insurmountable obstacle, its gradient averaging 5.4% over 16km.

The stage: Up we go again to our first summit finish. 
Another break was away with some names you may recognize including van Aert, Alaphilippe and Powless. 
And there we go, Vingegaard and Pogacar again.
Under 50 kilometers to go and we had:
Head of the race: Van Aert group
+ 2:10: Kuss, Vingegaard and Pogačar
+ 2:51: Hindley group that also contained the remainder of GC contenders.

Vingegaard and Pogacar would drop Kuss and make their way through the remnants of the break.
Keep in mind, there was another mountain to come.
Fun to watch van Aert guiding Vingegaard and Pogacar on the descent. 
Group van Aert would reach his former breakmates leaving 8 at the front with 25 kilometers to go: Vingegaard, van Aert, Pogacar, Kwiatkowski, Powless, Shaw, Johannessen and Guerreiro. 
They had 2 minutes over the next group on the road, containing Hindley and others.
In case you have wondered about the speed they race at, Pogačar's maximum speed for the stage was shown on a graphic to have been 103.5km/h.
Ten kilometers to go and the gap was still over 2 minutes. How much longer could Wout go? Every time he reached for the radio, I expected him to be telling the team car that he was done. The first to drop from that group instead was Powless.
And then the surge came with Vingegaard and Pogacar heading forward, with Kwiatkowski getting on, at least briefly.
And then Pogacar attacked, taking a gap. 
Stage win, Pogacar. He would take back 23 seconds, plus the 4 seconds bonus time.  Vingegaard into yellow.

Stage:
GC:



The wine: Le Havre de Paix Cotes de Gascogne 2021
Christy says: a blendy blend, fresh and fruity
Inexpensive and fun, the name translates to safe haven. A blend of  Ugni Blanc/Trebbiano, Colombard, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Gros Manseng.


The food: Much like with the stud farm, I am unable to resist the spit cake. Regular readers have seen it here before.

You can only see spit cake listed so many times before you need to find out more, The BBC tells me that: Made by pouring layers of batter on a rotating conical-shaped mould over an open fire, the cake on a spit, called le gâteau à la broche in French, is a typical Eastern European recipe. But according to legend, when Napoleon's soldiers were withdrawing from their invasion of Russia in 1812, they brought it back with them to France. There, the recipe had been transmitted orally, with no written record of the original version. Although the cake is considered rare, according to Slow Food, the tradition is alive and well in two French regions: Hautes-Pyrénées and Aveyron.

(serves 120 people)

Ingredients:120 eggs3  kg sugar3 kg flour3 kg butter2 litres rum 2 cups Ricard
While the fire is being prepared, mix the egg yolks with half the sugar. Add the rum and Ricard, and then fold in the flour. Stir in the melted butter. Separately, beat the egg whites, adding the remaining sugar once soft peaks form. Continue beating until they look like ‘snow’, and then combine with the yolk-sugar mixture until a deep yellow dough is formed.Cover the big, conical-shaped wooden mould with baking paper and place it on a spit in front of the fire, turning it constantly. After about an hour, begin gently pouring the dough on it. Continue adding the dough and turning the spit for about five hours.
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