Where are we? Riding 22 kilometers from Granville in La Manche to to Angers in Maine-et-Loire.
Granville: The home, apparently of Christian Dior. From the tourist website: Granville owes its name to its first occupiers after the Vikings: the Grant family.
William
the Conqueror asked for their help in 1066 and, in return for their
loyalty during the conquest of Great Britain, granted them lands.
What to visit? Notre Dame is situated on the top of a promotory, beyond the rempart
wall of "La Haute Ville". It is a witness to the long history of the
city and the fishing port.
Christian Dior was baptized in this church built between the 15th and the 17th century. It was listed as a "Monument Historique" thanks to Christian Dior's uncle, mayor of Granville in 1930.Its
remarkable group of stained glass windows was created by Jacques le
Chevallier, great artist of the 50's inspired by cubism and by artists
such as Picasso. The great organ, furniture, statues and paintings are also listed and are worth a visit.
Specialities: Granville pancake with scallops and
cream, salt-crusted sea bream with sauce vierge, Granville sole with
mussels and prawns, scallops with cream, whelks
Angers: The tourist website tells me that the must-see spots include The Château d'Angers and its spectacular tapestry of the Apocalypse; the
tallest château in the whole of France located at Brissac Quincé and a
visit to la Maison de Loire en Anjou at Saint-Mathurin-sur-Loire, where
you can learn all about one of Europe’s greatest and most majestic
rivers. Also on the list, the Cointreau distillery
LeTour Specialities: Rillauds d'Anjou (pork belly), quernons
d'ardoise and caramandes (artisan chocolates), Cointreau,
Menthe-Pastille (liqueur), Anjou wines
From Christian Prudhomme: There will be revenges to be taken for the beaten riders of the first days and hard work for their teams to make sure that after 220 km, the peloton makes it bunched to the finish for a well organised sprint by the City Hall. For the finishers, winning after the likes of Freddy Maertens, Jan Raas or Tom Boonen deserves quite some efforts.
The stage: A solo breakaway today and he was given quite a long leash. With 25 kilometers ridden, he had eleven minutes!.With 140 kilometers to go it was down to seven.
120 kilometers to go and the gap was under four minutes. The riders were about 20 minutes slower than the predicted schedule and they continued at that pace. This is the kind of stage that I feel for the tv commentators--a lot of air to fill with very little action.
Perhaps a good time to watch the packing secrets of Adam Hansen?
Ninety-three kilometers to go and the gap was 4:30.
87 kilometers to go and an attack by Voeckler. Perhaps in search of some tv time? Sure enough, he would catch Fonseca rather quickly. At just that moment, the main bunch seemed to wake up and start riding. Sixty kilometers to go and the gap was around two minutes. Coming soon: the intermediate sprint. Kittel would take the win from the field. 35 kilometers to go and the gap was under a minute. It looked like things were setting up for the expected sprint finish.
Painted cows:
Finally, as news of Kevin Durant to the Warriors dominated Twitter, they would catch the two. Yikes, as they got close to the sprint, things started to get a bit sketchy. And after that very dull day, why not a photo finish?
Stage: Mark Cavendish
GC:
The wine: Cointreau!
I had plans for more cider, but since Cointreau is a listed Tour specialty.
Cointreau Distillery was set up in 1849 by Adolphe Cointreau and his brother Edouard-Jean Cointreau. Their first success was with the cherry liqueur guignolet, but they found success when they blended sweet and bitter orange peels and pure alcohol from sugar beets.
The first bottles of Cointreau were sold in 1875. An estimated 13
million bottles are sold each year, in more than 150 countries. Ninety
percent of production is exported.
Food: Normandy butter from Isigny.
It benefits from an exceptional terroir, which
extends from one end of the Cotentin peninsula to the Bessin area. A
warm, temperate climate by the sea favours rich pastures in which the
grass is full of mineral salts and trace elements. This natural
abundance can be found in the milk, which gives a distinctive butter
that has a unique perfume, suppleness and colour.
Where are we? Still in La Manche, Normandy traveling 182 kilometers from
Saint-Lô to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin.
Capital of the horse, Saint-Lô gives a place of honor to this animal
known as “man’s best friend”: the State stud farm offers many visits,
and every year in August, meetings such asthe “Normandy Horse Show” are
organised.
Saint-Lô boasts a strong cultural identity: library, arts museum, Norman
Bocage Museum, arts and music schools, theatre, multiscreen cinema. The
town supports music festivals such as “ Rendez-vous Soniques”, a song
festival…Spearhead for rock in la Manche, Saint-Lô is also home to the
arts workshop “Ateliers Arts Plume”.
Specialities: Antan hams, Chevaliers d'Argouges (chocolate), Asinerie
Lisane (products manufactured using donkey's milk), Lehodey Vanibois
(basketry)
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin From the local tourism site:
Cherbourg, gateway to America. A favourite port of call for
cruise-liners, the city welcomed visitors in the transatlantic harbour
station, built in 1933 in the art-deco style.Cherbourg saw, during half a
century, thousands of immigrants boarding for the New World. Stars
also embarked here for New-York: Charlie Chaplin, Elisabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton, Salvador Dali... From art to nature, you will find in
Cherbourg multiple
opportunities to enlighten your stay: the Thomas Henry Museum, the
former Royal mirror-glass factory, the heights of the Roule mountain
(117 metres), the sea views from the “Hauts de Capel” park.
Specialities: Demoiselles de Cherbourg (small lobsters cooked in broth),
salmon, seafood. Le Véritable Cherbourg umbrellas
Christian
Prudhomme's comment: On the menu from Saint-Lô, the chef-lieu
of the Manche area and a journey through the west coast all the way to
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. That's where the race will get harder with a
first ever finish at the summit of the Côte de La Glacerie. A 3-km climb
with a passage at 14%, therefore meaning seconds to be gained for the
stage contenders and the
favorites of the Tour.
The stage: Rain and Cav in yellow. Cycling News reports that Cav thinks he will keep the jersey: “There’s 20 days left and you can’t burn the candle at both ends. We
have to get back to business. For me and the team it’s an honour to wear
the yellow jersey and we’ll defend it with honour. Once upon a time I would have been quite up for this stage
but there’s more puncheurs around and it’s a stage for Edvald [Boasson
Hagen] who did a great ride yesterday. He’s a bit banged up but he did a
fantastic job for us yesterday. We’ll do what we can for him and try
and put him in the best position. I want to do the jersey justice, it’s a
big day for the team and for Africa.”
The breakaway riders of the day are Voss, Stuyven, Benedetti and Breen. With 130 kilometers remaining in the stage and live pictures on my television they had about 4:35 over the peloton.
Crash in the pelton and Contador was held up. He was two minutes down but with the help of almost all of his teammates, would make it back to the bunch.
Approaching 100 kilometers to go and the gap was at 6:50. Also, sunshine.
Seventy kilometers to go and the gap was down to five minutes, thanks to the field's acceleration at the sprint point. Greipel took the "win" from the field. Sixty kilometers to go and the gap was back to six minutes.
In honor of the work of Cavendish's team, the LeTour twitter decided to run a poll:
Fifty kilometers to go anf the gap was still over five minutes. Time for the peloton to wake up. Thrity five kilometrs to go and it had dropped to four minutes. NBCSN reported a tailwind, which would help. Meanwhile Jens Voigt was still holding out hope for the break.
Twenty five kilometers to go and the gap was still over three minutes. Ahead, Benedetti had been dropped from the break. Twenty kilometers to go and three minutes.
LeTour had confidence in the break:
As the break climbed, Stuyven attacked and rode away solo. Behind, a flat for Richie Porte and a very slow wheel change. He will lose time. Ahead, the gap to Stuyven was dropping. Two kilometers and fifty one seconds. And then they could see him. Caught and there came the stage favorites. Sagan!
The stage: Peter Sagan
GC: Peter Sagan
The wine: La Pere Jules Pommeau
From the producer: This product is the result of the subtle marriage of freshly pressed
apple cider and Calvados that has been aged for one year. Afterward, it
is aged in oak barrels for several years, where the flavor will be
transformed to result in a finished product with a smooth harmonious
taste filled with aromas. It’s the “aperitif,”
or before dinner drink, par excellence from Normandy.All of our products are made from apple and pear varieties that are
carefully selected from traditional orchards of tall trees in a
protected area of controlled production (AOC).
I say: The last two years of Tour pommeaus have taught me that I am a
fan. Plus, the pear cider from this producer was a hit. Lovely, pear,
delicate, smooth and round.
The food: Pont-L'Evêque cheese Originally manufactured in the area around the commune of
Pont-l'Évêque, between Deauville and Lisieux in the Calvados département
of Basse-Normandie. It is probably the oldest Norman cheese still in
production. It is a cow's milk cheese, with a washed rind. You can learn a lot more here. Creamy, but also full bodied. Savory.
Where are we? In the la Manche department of Normandy traveling 188 kilometers from Mont-Saint Michel to Utah Beach, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.
Mont St. Michel, from the local tourist site: UNESCO has classed the Mont Saint-Michel as a world heritage in 1979 and
this mecca of tourism welcomes more than 2.5 million visitors a year. Aubert, Bishop of Avranches built and consecrated a small church on the 16th October 709. In 966 a community of Benedictines
settled on the rock at the request of the Duke of Normandy and the pre-Romanesque church was built before the year one thousand. In the 11th century, the Romanesque abbey church was founded over a set
of crypts where the rock comes to an apex, and the first monastery buildings were built up against its north wall. In the 12th century, the Romanesque monastery buildings were extended to the west and south. In the 13th century, a donation by the king of France, Philip Augustus,in the wake of his conquest of Normandy, enabled a start to be made on the Gothic section of the "Merveille ": two three-storey buildings, crowned by the cloister and the refectory. In the 14th century, the Hundred Years War made it necessary to protect the abbey behind a set of military constructions, enabling it to hold
out against a siege lasting 30 years. In the 15th century, the Romanesque chancel of the abbey church, broken down in 1421 was replaced by the Gothic Flamboyant chancel. The Abbey was turned into a prison during the days of the French Revolution and Empire, and needed to be restored before the end of the 19th century. With the celebration of the monastic's 1000th anniversary, in the year 1966 a religious community moved back to what used to be the abbatial dwellings. Friars and sisters from "Les Fraternités Monastiques de Jerusalem" have been ensuring a spiritual presence since the year 2001.
LeTour Specialities: Salt meadow lamb, calvados, cider, seafood, Mère Poulard omelette, Louise Bonne d'Avranches (type of pear).
Utah Beach, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont Utah Beach was, of course, one of the D-Day landing sites. From Dday.org: Overlord was
the largest air, land, and sea operation undertaken before or since June 6, 1944. The landing included over 5,000 ships, 11,000 airplanes, and over 150,000 service men.
After years of meticulous planning and seemingly endless training, for the Allied Forces, it all came down to this: The boat ramp goes down, then jump, swim, run, and crawl to the cliffs. Many of the first young men (most not yet 20 years old) entered the surf carrying eighty pounds of equipment. They faced over 200 yards of beach before reaching the first natural feature offering any protection. Blanketed by small-arms fire and bracketed by artillery, they found themselves in hell.
When it was over, the Allied Forces had
suffered nearly 10,000 casualties; more than 4,000 were dead. More at UtahBeach.com.
LeTourSpecialities: Seafood, shellfish (famous oyster farms and farmed mussels), part of the AOC Isigny Sainte-Mère geographical area (butter, cheese, cream), cider, apple juice, Dupont d'Isigny
caramels at Carentan
From LeTour.com: Christian Prudhomme, the Tour general director says:
The Mont-Saint-Michel! Who could have dreamt of a more spectacular GrandDépart to a Tour de France under the sign of aesthetics? From there, it'll be a rather smooth start: flat terrain on all the stage. At the
finish, the riders will have a meeting with history, arriving at Utah Beach, one of the beaches chosen on the 6th of June 1944 for the D-Day Landing operations. The sprinters should have the final word.
The stage: 198 riders are off and on their way. Our first break of the tour features Voss, Howard, Howes, Barta and Delalplace. Forty kilometers in and they had over 3 minutes. It would be surprising if that lead were to balloon, as a sprint finish is likely in the cards today and their teams won't want to let the break go to far up the road.
With more than 100 kilometers to go, it has been a quiet day so far, which is exactly what the sprinters would like. Suddenly, crosswinds and some action, with a small group off the back. All of the expected gc riders and sprinters were in the main bunch. Contador crash! Back up quickly, but it looked like he fell hard on his shoulder. Geraint Thomas wheel change as well. Ahead, the peloton appeared to slow and they would make it back, though Contador would both change his shoe and spend a lot of time at the medical car.
Sixty kilometers to go and the gap to the break was holding under one minute with Howes and Delaplace together out front.
Cow field art!
Thirty kilometers to go and the gap to the two ahead was only ten seconds. Twenty five kilometers to go and the gap was back up to twenty five seconds.
Ahead, the two breakaway riders were taking turns attacking each other. Fifteen kilometers and still twenty five seconds. Ten kilometers and nineteen seconds. Is this a good time to mention the Greipel tour video?
And there was the expected crash followed by the finish I was hoping for. Cav!!!!!!
Stage and Yellow: Mark Cavendish
Wine: Domaine de la Minotiere Brut Cidre
From the importer: Domaine de la Minotiere is a small 15-hectare single domaine of cidre orchards cultivated under 100% organic certification. The specialty is traditional farmhouse cidre produced both in a dry (Brut) and sweet (Doux) style. The Domaine de la Minotiere owns a long tradition and elaboration of farmhouse cider coming from the fruit of its orchards, in a place called the "Golden Triangle" - known to be the best area to
produce cider.
The orchards contains a variety of apple trees (Binet rouge, Bisquet, Noeldes champs, Clos renaux, Petit jaune, Peau de chien) producing multiple kinds of fruit flavors such as sweet, bitter or acidulous. The cidery follows the Organic chart for all operations. Manually sorting out apples and pressing at a very slow process called “presseà paquet” which is the traditional way in Normandy.
I say: Crisp and slightly funky. Some ciders make me think of wine, some of beer. This falls in the beer camp. Apple and lemon peel.
Food: Teurguole Rice pudding! The name apparently comes from the Norman language and means twist mouth, a reference to the faces supposedly pulled by someone tasting it due to the spiciness of the dish. There is even a regional brotherhood dedicated to the dish, with an annual contest. It is a very simple dish: rice, milk, cream, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, baked in an a relatively low oven for many hours. We used this recipe. The crust darkens, while the interior remains creamy.
