85 k in really hot conditions to reach Revel, a bastide town overlooking the broad valley that links Toulouse and the Med ( DN - what is the proper name for this? )
Its a handsome medieval town with a lovely market hall right in the centre and a 1930s public baths.
Our route followed that by a recent Tour, as we saw Vive le Tour marked on the road.
We also passed a lovely memento to one of the great figures of the Tour, though he never won it. Raymond Poulidor was the housewives' favourite and came second many times. Generally I think he came second to the legendary Jacques Anquetil, who I think won the Tour 5 times.
Anquetil was a hard man, uncompromising and unsentimental. The antithesis of Poulidor in fact. And when challenged on drugs he darkly said " you don't win the Tour de France on mineral water"!
Anyway, in 1968 Poulidor lost his chance to win when a car strayed onto the course. And there is a little monument marking the spot.
We are doing the Tour on coffee and orangina and, for me, the occasional cigar! If we could get anything stronger then we probably would!
And if we had raced some of the hills we did today (one went on for 6 k) in high summer too, only to find your hopes dashed by a bloody driver .....
the monument would be to a dead motorist and not the lost opportunity.
Vive le Tour and vive Poulidor.
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