You don’t have to look like Lance Armstrong to pretend you’re racing through France to win the maillot jaune, the yellow jersey worn by the race’s leader. Still, bicycle trips on the same roads used by the Tour de France are really only for serious riders who want to test their legs and grit on some of cycling’s storied battlegrounds.
“Challenging is a poor choice of words” to describe some routes, says Bruno Toutain, whose tour company, Cyclomundo of Gaillard, France, will take riders up two major climbs in the Pyrenees early on July 23, just ahead of Stage 15 in the 2,206-mile race.
Part of the thrill comes from being in the middle of a moving circus. Mr. Prince, the cyclist who seven years ago shared an Alpine pass with Mr. Armstrong, recalls taking a similar trip to Italy with the same company, Steve Bauer Bike Tours Inc., St. Catharines, Ontario. Mr. Bauer, 48, is a retired professional cyclist who wore the maillot jaune for 14 days altogether — five days in the 1988 Tour, and nine in 1990.
Mr. Prince was in the Italian Alps, he says, hopping back on his bicycle after watching riders in the Giro d’Italia pass by, when suddenly helicopters started buzzing overhead.
“The rest of the race wasn’t by us yet,” says Mr. Prince. “We realized we were in the Giro.”
His group zipped down a steep descent, veering off the race course right before the finish line.
–Mr. Brooks is deputy bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal in Atlanta. He can be reached at encore@wsj.com.
