26 | living event 2020’s unplanned re-schedule will miss our sunflowers
2007 Stage 18: Sandy Casar, Michael Boogerd, Laurent Lefevre and Axel Merckx sprint through Dignac (16)
The Grand Tour
In September our region will welcome one of the world’s greatest sporting events, so it’s time to celebrate the Tour de France Words: Roger Moss
P
erhaps more than any other nation, France has maintained an enduring love affair with the bicycle, so it’s entirely logical that for well over a century competitive cycling’s toughest challenges should have taken place on French soil. The testosterone-fuelled power struggles between various teams and their star riders would alone be enough to generate worldwide interest, but there’s another key factor which helps
Visit Blandine and Anne-Laure at their family’s domaine. Every day at 10am, 3pm and 5pm. Have a real immersion in the World of Cognac and Pineau des Charentes. Reserve your tour : tel : + 33 6 62 38 37 06 / + 33 6 80 41 87 34 contact@contefilles.com Chez Grimaud - 16480 Chillac www.contefilles.com
www.livingmagazine.fr @VignobleConteFilles
keep millions of people across the globe glued to the their TV screens for hours each day, year after year, for the length of the tour: the French landscape. TV coverage follows the Tour’s progress through a seemingly endless succession of settings, revealing something which those of us who call it home already know, namely that France is more like a continent than a single country. The peloton might be seen beside a stretch of coastline, then riding for miles between
