We were spoilt for choice last weekend …. was your choice Wimbledon, the Wembley Final or maybe both, for the Francophiles amongst us there was also the excitement of the ‘Tour’!

The first Tour de France took place in 1903, the year that the Wright Brother enjoyed their first successful flight and Pierre and Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize for their work in radioactivity.

The victor was Maurice Garin who finished the race 2 hours 49 minutes in advance of the next competitor and the last rider, Millocheau finished 64 hours, 47 minutes and 22 seconds later!

Garin still holds the race for winning the race by the greatest margin.

My interest in the Tour de France started several years ago when Gethin, a dear Francophile friend of mine, got me interested.

He used to enjoy watching the French countryside whizzing by, from his comfy armchair.

I am sure he would have agreed that at a time when visiting France is not particularly straight-forward it brings great pleasure for those of us who would like to be there to watch the peloton speed through the glorious Gallic countryside.

My next reminder of the Tour was when we bought our house in the midst of the rural Nievre.

The partner of my estate agent friend Benedicte is the local cycling celebrity Jean-Francois Bernard.

He won the stage at Mont Ventoux in 1987.

I was 22 and working in France, and it was the year Fred Astaire died; the stock market plummeted on Wall Street and Van Gogh’s “Irises” sold for $53,900,000.

The Tour victor in the previous year, 1986, was Greg LeMond.

Sadly, LeMond was unable to defend his Tour title in ‘87 as he was tragically shot in a hunting accident the previous winter.

Other race contenders Hinault and Fignon had retired and were unfit, respectively.  This meant the 74th Tour de France was wide open.

The yellow jersey was a battle between Spain’s Pedro Delgado and Ireland’s Stephen Roche.

Delgado was slightly superior in the mountains, but Roche topped the Spaniard in the time trials and become the first Irishman to win the Tour.

On his retirement, Brittany born Hinault proclaimed that Nivernais Jean-François Bernard would be the heir to his French Tour glory.

Sadly it was not meant to be.  ‘Jeff’s’ chances of an overall win were hampered with a puncture in the Valréas – Villard-de-Lans stage.    Although his performance did warrant him wearing the famous yellow jersey for a day.

He recovered from this early set back to take third place on the final board, racing with his Toshiba-Look team.  Main contributors to this outstanding result included wins at the mountain time trial from Carpentras to Mont Ventoux and the 24 mile Dijon individual time trial.

Sadly, injuries plagued the rest of his career but he has not been idle!  He commentates for TF1 and is involved in many cycling initiatives and his son Julien has taken on his Father’s passion cycling for the Trek-Segafredo team.

The welcome when this year’s Race went through Jeff’s hometown, right past his house was electric!

So what has happened this year 2021, the 108th Tour de France?

The excitements have included a major pile up early on, caused by an over-zealous supporter and Mark Cavendish equalling Eddy Merckx 34 stage wins.

At the moment last year’s winner Slovenian Tadej Pogacar is leading but who knows who will hold the trophy at the end of this iconic race next weekend!

To meet Jean-Francois Bernard and stay in the beautiful Nievre, close to Chatillon-en-Bazois by the canal de Nivernais –  ‘Jeff’ and ‘Nini’s’ Gite contact: