On Yer Bike for Le Tour de France 2025

I can’t remember when I first got addicted to watching the Tour de France. Every year, I search out which tv station shows this amazing event and settle down, with the map book of France open on my lap, to watch the riders race through la belle France. 

On my bike to Amiens

So imagine my reaction when my friend Françoise who lives in Amiens sent me a message “Je te propose d’assister au depart d’une étape du Tour de France.”  Of course – I’m on my way! The race was due to set off from the centre of Amiens with a ‘départ fictif’ which meant the riders would be riding at a slower pace until they reached the outskirts of the city for ‘le depart réel’.

And so it was that on 8 July, I found myself alongside Françoise behind the barricades on Avenue de la Republique and Rue Du Méril, watching Christian Prudhomme in the lead car followed by the peleton. What an experience – J’y etais!

Le Grand Depart 2014

 It brought back memories of my time as a Tourmaker when Le Grand Depart Tour de France came to Yorkshire in 2014 and we showed off our wonderful Yorkshire scenery to an audience of 3.5 billion across 188 countries. I’d made Grandma Abson’s Lemon Sandwich Cake topped with Tour de France decorations for my Tourmaker team.

 

My French friends laugh as I’m no cyclist and never owned a bike, unless you count a second-hand tricycle when I was about 4 years old. I just explain it away that ‘C’est le paysage!’ I love the scenery and watching the riders. This is a shorter version of a piece I wrote for Yorkshire Bylines. Now the women cyclists are racing through France – Bonne route!