The Tour de France at First Hand

The Tour de France
at First Hand

The world’s most difficult cycling race can do incredible things to the psyche and stamina of athletes, even during a single stage. Read the story of an enthusiast who accepted the challenge to conquer at least one of the Tour de France’s stages.

This year’s famous cycling race across France is coming to a grand and dramatic finale. The racers have been going at it hammer and tongs and at each stage they have been fighting like lions for a lead spot. Do you ever watch it on the telly and wonder how difficult it really is? How you would get on if you were there? Thanks to a blog by Josef Matějovič, who accepted this once-in-a-lifetime challenge and had a crack at the Old Lady, we can now say with authority: it’s HELL!

“I am a sportsman; I even used to be a professional basketball player. But I’m definitely not a cyclist. Standing testimony to this are the fact that I shaved my legs for the first time only a week before the race and the mere one thousand kilometres I’ve cycled this year. I even bought my road bike only three months before the race. Despite all that, my colleagues egged me on and I picked up the gauntlet. I’ve been involved in L’Étape for four years because of my job, but this time it was a whole different story... It was devastating. I couldn’t breathe, I was dizzy and sick, my back was hurting like hell, and every single second I once again begged my legs to keep pushing the pedals.”