ANALYSIS
Avoid physical efforts. That is what the government is advocating in the event of a heat wave like the one that France will experience from Tuesday to Thursday. But, for the Tour de France riders, this advice will obviously remain unfulfilled. It remains to know how best to apprehend these hot weather, while the thermometer will exceed 35 ° C in the Gard, that runners will survey Tuesday at the 16th stage.
"On days with such heat, there is a lot of preparation upstream," says our consultant Thomas Voeckler. "The sports assistants, who prepare the cans, put them at the last moment on the bike so they do not take the ambient temperature too quickly.There are also ice cubes that are put in stockings, tights and runners put on the neck at the start or during the race.They are stored in the coolers of the following cars to have very fresh water, with which the runners will also be able to splash the neck and the shoulders. "
Heard on europe1:
It takes big stocks of water in cars
In fact, we need water (fresh) in larger quantities than usual, which is what teams are preparing (filling coolers to the brim with cans and ice cubes) but also runners, who ensure that you always have two cans on your bike. "There is plenty of water during the race," says Voeckler. "So you need big stocks of water in cars because you have to pump up to lower your body temperature." When body temperature exceeds 39 degrees, performance may be affected. "We can also take paracetamol before the start like everyone who risks a blow of hot", also indicates the old Yellow Jersey of the Tour. "And then, it's vogue anger because it's really terrible as conditions ..."