<\/a><\/p>\n Things are hotting up at the Four de France. It\u2019s going to be a warm day but there\u2019s the trend of rising temperatures to consider.<\/p>\n Hot days are the Tour aren\u2019t new but there are more of them. The Tour organisers keep a log of the temperatures each day on the course and they\u2019ve been rising, this century their measured air temperature is up 1.7\u00b0C and the road temperature is up 10\u00b0C. A wealth of research and public data only backs this up of course.<\/p>\n The sport is trying to adapt. The UCI governing body now has a dedicated High Temperature protocol to build on its Extreme Weather protocol that uses a wet bulb measurement<\/a> to account for temperature, humidity, windspeed and solar radiation, they also factor in rider acclimation. Once the threshold of 28\u00b0C (again wet bulb, not the air temperature) is surpassed then officials can meet to discuss a range of options from allowing more feed zones all the way to cancelling the race. Today\u2019s stage to Pau won\u2019t be as hot in terms of absolute temperature but elevated humidity raises the wet bulb measurement.<\/p>\n Teams also have their own procedures to mitigate. Heat training has become standard, it helps with adaptation but also elevates blood levels, a boost to Vo2Max. In recent years riders have been trying hot baths, saunas and indoor training sessions with their winter kit on to provoke a controlled form of heat stress (don\u2019t try this at home).<\/p>\n Teams have a lot of work on hot days with the logistics of ice packs to chilled energy gels. Each squad can get through 150-200 bidons<\/em> a stage, most of which is water for pouring rather than drinking, and more is handed up from the neutral service and the moto fraicheur<\/em>. The TotalEnergies team doctor says his team can use 80-100kg of ice a day at the moment, an industrial ice maker has become essential kit for pro teams. Behind the scenes there are calls to have an extra car per team so that they can cover their riders better.<\/p>\n France had a moderate heatwave in May, a severe one in June and is now facing a third episode as the graphic from M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France above shows. Which brings us from weather to climate. Warming is a process, not an event. What is hot today could well be hotter in the future.<\/p>\n Faced with this infernal problem, what to do? One suggestion is to move the race to a cooler month. Only a huge factor\u00a0behind the race\u2019s success is it coincides with summer holidays in France, it\u2019s a bike race for some but a socio-cultural phenomenon for millions too. If the Tour ever moves dates it\u2019ll be because schools and factories have changed their patterns too. Besides climatologists say May or September won\u2019t be immune from heatwaves either.<\/p>\n Rather than change month, how the hour? The race could start and finish earlier rather than taking place during the hottest hours of day. But an hour or two won\u2019t make a big difference, we\u2019re talking about starting at 8.00am to be done by lunchtime. But the Tour is cherished for its massive audiences and the further away goes from prime time, the lower and less valuable the audience, something the organisers and the teams probably don\u2019t want; Visma boss Richard Plugge said words to this effect this week.<\/p>\n There are other potential measures, more stages could be held in Brittany which is cooler; but the spectacle would not be as good on the flatter roads. The organisers now rate climbs for their shade but this is marginal.\u00a0The race is caught in its own commercial trap and these trade-offs won\u2019t be confronted yet.<\/p>\n The wider issue here is a society trying to adapt to climate change and the Tour is just a tiny reflection of this. At the Tour and beyond there are arguments over what to do but few decisions. The problem is known but seems unable to be confronted.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/831e8bc7ea7e4d72bf58d1d36fed8a13\/f1a8f99c5dec040d-e8\/s1280x1920\/c27705d996654eaa53a2261e0ec57b2c847d469e.jpg\")
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