VeloNews Tour de France Guide 2021

You spoke, and we listened. In 2020 we polled you, our dedicated print reader, about the upcoming Tour de France guide, and asked you what you wanted to see in the issue. Did you crave more feature stories about racing strategies, or did you want more in-depth interviews with star riders? Were you interested in the Tour’s 118-year history? What stories and information would best serve your Tour de France fandom? Your response was overwhelming and consistent. You wanted to see those detailed maps and altitude profiles for every day’s stage, as well as the team rosters showing the riders for every squad. And you wanted to see photographs of each team jersey and every team bikes, to help you follow along with the race. We listened, and in 2020 produced a Tour…

Our VeloNews community continues to expand in meaningful, enriching ways. As cyclists, getting outside is a major part of our lives. It’s how we exercise, explore, blow off steam, and compete. Perhaps more importantly, it’s often how we connect with others, to socialize, to support one another, to learn, and to laugh. When we first got into riding, community was how we learned. Group-ride etiquette, bike maintenance, the best routes, and how to time a sprint. These things all had to be learned. Years on, community is still how we learn. A fundamental part of what we do at VeloNews is reach out to riders, coaches, brands, and other experts around the world to find fascinating stories, understand them better, and relay them to you. VeloNews is now part of Outside, the world’s…

In a valley of the mountainous Vercors region stands an incredible old estate that dates from the 15th century. I’ve ridden past its impressive stone buildings sitting on a hillside a couple of times and was intrigued by the sign outside: the Distillerie du Vercors. How come that whisky is being produced at the foot of the Alps? After some research, I discovered that the project is quite recent, at least relative to whisky-aging cycles, and that it’s led by some new actors—part of a small cast of French whisky producers who mostly share a fascination with new, distinctive modern whiskies, At the same time, they feel the timeless need to take root in a country setting like their Scottish, Irish or Americans counterparts. At what looks like a typical mid-life…

For some, vintage cycling caps are the symbol of a bygone era. For others, they represent the ultimate statement in vintage cool. Then there is Spike Lee, whose vintage Brooklyn cycling cap has always been beyond cool. And for one Frenchman, the classic cycling cap is nothing short of a lifelong passion. Gianni Marcarini has been collecting and selling cycling caps for as long as he can remember. For anybody who has visited the Tour de France, or virtually any big bike race in France, it is likely that you have come across his father, also Gianni, whose small truck selling vintage cycling kits is an institution on the French cycling scene. And it is here where Marcarini got his start. “My father, an Italian immigrant to France, was a long-time professional.…

France is home to the ultimate bike race on earth—Le Tour—and what a showcase it is! Not just of the most talented cyclists on the planet but also of a country steeped in tradition, bursting with culture, and blessed with landscapes as beautiful as they are diverse. No region typifies this more so than the dramatic eruption of mountains from the Mediterranean coastline along the glamorous Côte d’Azur, the French Riviera, that’s famed for, well, the rich and famous. Bathed in year-round sunshine, it’s hardly surprising that the likes of Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo (part of Monaco, its own microstate) are as well-known globally as their celebrity residents. Cycling is no exception, of course. In particular, Nice and Monte Carlo are home to many of the sport’s biggest names—the…

There were a lot of firsts at the 1986 Tour de France. Greg LeMond was the first American winner; 7-Eleven was the first American team to compete; and Niki Rüttimann was the first rider to finish top 10 and win a stage with a broken ankle. Well, sort of…. Rüttimann, a third-year pro from Untereggen, Switzerland, was riding for the powerful La Vie Claire team of LeMond and Bernard Hinault when he crashed during stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse on a descent from Crans-Montana. It was only 17 days before the start of the Tour and the prognosis looked grim. Swiss doctors said Niki had a broken right ankle, which they encased in plaster. It was a huge blow for a team that was in the process of celebrating…