Category: Cycling

Living close to the Pyrenneas is a huge asset to those of us who enjoy cycling, sometimes the route of the Tour de France comes very close to us and we have had the start of a stage here in Limoux twice in the last 5 years. However, this historic year in the wake of the Wiggins and Froome years, the Tour starts in my home town of Leeds, Yorkshire on the 5th July. Unfortunately I dont think we will be able to go over to watch but we will look forward to seeing all the wonderful footage on the annual DVD of the entire event.
This year the Tour will pass quite close to us on Stage 16 which is July 22nd as they start the stage in Carcassonne & ride the D119 through Fanjeaux & Mirepoix on their way to a punishing day in the mountains finishing at Bagnieres de Luchon. We will obviously go to watch them, probably at Mirepoix, which is probably our favorite french market town, and is only 20 mins by car from our door or even a bike ride away (we often ride out to Mirepoix and back).

Every summer there is a Criterium Cycle Race round & round one of our local towns called Quillan. This race is credited as being the first ever of its type so apart from being interesting as an event it is also a re-run of an historic event. This year is the first time we have managed to find time to go and we were very pleased that we had done so. We were able to mingle with the competitors who represented major teams from all over the world – the race had a sprinkling of established stars but the majority were youngsters starting out on their international careers. Some of them will obviously feature in future major events and it will have been interesting and exciting to see them in such an intimate fashion. They were all, established stars too, very willing to talk to fans and sign autographs in an informal and easy setting.