As I write this, the Tour de France has reached its halfway point, with the cyclists climbing the Alps. Or, to put it another way, the race has left Armorican continent and entered the folded relics of the Valais Ocean and the Briançonnais microcontinent.
For me, as an academic geologist and cycling enthusiast, this year’s edition of the world’s biggest cycle race is particularly exciting as colleagues and I launched the Geology of the Tour de France blog and the @GeoTdF twitter account.
The project first came about when we noticed how much time the TV commentators had to fill while the riders cycle through interesting landscapes. Though viewers watch for hours in anticipation of the action that will end every stage, for most of that time 150 riders are chasing five or so others with little change to the status quo. In that time, the broadcasters explain everything about almost everything you can see on screen.
