The riders of the Tour de France do not get much choice when it comes to hotels. You might think, given they race for hours each day over gruelling terrain, that they would lay their heads in the best accommodation rural France has to offer. The reality is very different. More often than not, the riders will stay not in palaces, but in whichever budget chain has space for them along the race route.
To paint a picture, these could be a motel-style stop-over on the edge of an autoroute, or a six-floor complex in an industrial estate, next to the petrol stations and fast food outlets just outside a town. Sometimes, sure, they might stay in a country estate, or a boutique hotel in the middle of a city, but it’s very much a lottery. Tadej Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, for all the team’s multi-million euro budget, don’t get to stay at endless Malmaisons. Most riders share rooms, too. It’s not a life of luxury.
