I’m Yoshi, and I can hardly believe it’s already been more than three months since we opened in March, and that we’re halfway through June.
Of course, time has been flying by just as quickly for everyone else, too. It feels like only yesterday that Tadej Pogačar took the maglia rosa on the second day of last month’s Giro d’Italia and went on to win by nearly ten minutes without ever giving it up—a stunning performance that also reminded us the Grand Tour season had begun.
And now that we’re halfway through June, the next race on the calendar is the Tour de France. But what exactly is a Grand Tour? Here’s a quick explanation for anyone who isn’t familiar with the term.
The collective name for the three major European professional road cycling races: the Tour de France in France, the Giro d’Italia in Italy, and the Vuelta a España in Spain. They are also known as the three Grand Tours.
https://morecadence.jp/roadrace/40795
The term comes from French: “grand” means big, and “tour” means a circuit or journey.
Each race lasts a little over three weeks and covers more than 3,000 kilometers. During the event, riders compete day after day in grueling stage races that include not only flat roads but also mountain passes. The overall individual winner is determined by the combined time across all stages.
Stages can be up to 260 kilometers long, with one stage held each day. In addition to the overall individual title, the Grand Tours also award special classifications, including the points, mountains, combativity, best young rider, and team classifications. One of the attractions of stage races such as the Grand Tours is that the leaders in these classifications can change from day to day. Traditionally, each classification leader wears a distinctive jersey during the following day’s race.
For reference, the 2024 Tour de France covers 3,492 km, with 52,230 meters of elevation gain. In other words, over the course of three weeks, the riders will cover a distance far greater than the length of Japan while cycling up Mount Fuji more than 13 times (even writing that out, it’s hard to wrap my head around the scale of it all).
As an aside, road racing has its own unique appeal, with all sorts of drama unfolding behind the scenes: the work of domestiques, unwritten rules, each team’s strategy, and the ambitions of individual riders hoping to achieve glory—all behind the leaders in the spotlight and the podium celebrations. I highly recommend watching “Tour de France: Unchained,” whose second season started streaming on NETFLIX this week, before tuning in to this year’s Tour de France. I think it’ll change the way you watch road racing, so be sure to check it out!
We don’t yet know whether Vingegaard will recover from his injury in time, but will Visma–Lease a Bike, who swept the Grand Tours last year, make it two years in a row? Will UAE, led by Pogačar—now the strongest rider by reputation as well as results after winning the Giro—take the Tour, too? Or will another star emerge? It’s all so exciting!
Naturally, such grueling races burn an incredible number of calories. It depends on the stage, but riders average6,000 kcal, and on tough mountain stages such as the queen stage, they can burn as many as 8,000 kcal.
While looking into all this, I got a message saying that Asai-chan, a.k.a. the man blessed with far too much good food, would be coming from Nagoya to Circles Tokyo from this week through the end of the month! So we’ve planned an event called “Our Tour de France: The High-Calorie Ride”! Why not join us for a ride where we’ll burn calories on the bike while aiming to consume 6,000 kcal?
Our Tour de France: The High-Calorie Ride
Date: Sunday, June 23
Meeting place: In front of the bicycle parking area at Toranomon Hills Station Tower (please check the map below for the B3 bicycle parking area!)
Meeting time: 9:30 a.m.
Capacity: 4 people (first come, first served)
How to sign up: Please send a message via the Circles Tokyo Instagram account.
What to bring: A helmet, a clear conscience that will keep you following traffic rules, and an empty stomach
Details: We’ll ride about 70 km, passing through areas such as the Arakawa River and making an almost complete loop of central Tokyo, while sampling delicious food along the way. We plan to wrap up around 7 p.m., but please get in touch if you’d like to join late or leave early due to scheduling constraints.
Cost: Free (please bring money for food)
The route starts at Toranomon Hills and loops around Tokyo counterclockwise for about 70 km. We plan to stick to paved roads throughout! Let’s eat our way through as much of Tokyo’s delicious food as we can. We hope you’ll join us!