In the final minutes before the hottest stages of the Tour de France, the man in the yellow jersey, Jonas Vingegaard, can be spotted wearing a CryoVest – a fetching waistcoat of ice. Keeping his body temperature low delays the inevitable spike, at least a little, and as soon as the race is done he cools down in front of an industrial-sized fan while a staff member douses his neck with freezing water.
The south of France has been punishingly hot in recent days. Temperatures reached 39C and a weather warning was issued in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, where the Tour is into its third week of hard racing. The road surface a few inches below the riders’ feet reaches 60C, cooking riders like a pizza oven. Cyclists may be anatomical anomalies but they race on their limits, and the inescapable heat can break them.
