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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jeremy Whittle in Orléans

Dust and drama: my day on the Tour de France gravel in a pink Cadillac

Tom Southam Ben Healy Cadillac Tom Pidcock Tour the Tour de France Charly Wegelius Neilson Powless EF Troyes
The EF Education EasyPost team car, a pink Cadillac Lyriq, navigates one of countless dust clouds
The EF Education EasyPost team car, a pink Cadillac Lyriq, navigates one of countless dust clouds. Photograph: Gruber Images

Tom Southam is getting a sinking feeling. After four hours at the wheel of the EF Education EasyPost team car, guiding the Irishman Ben Healy through 14 sections of narrow, dusty farm tracks east of Troyes, the holy grail – a stage win in the Tour de France – is within touching distance.

I’m sitting in the passenger seat alongside Southam, one of the American team’s three sports directors, for stage nine of the 2024 Tour. It’s like sitting in the dugout at the Euros, dreading penalties, but without the existential angst.

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