07 Jul Tour de France arrives in the Lot Valley 2022

The famous  ‘Tour de France’  bike race arrives in the captivating and alluring City of Rocamadour on Saturday 23rd July 2022, just 12 kms from our 4* camping, Château de Lacomté. This will be the penultimate stage of the 109th race of The Tour de France and promises to be an absolutely spectacular event.  The beginning of this particular 30 kms stage of the Tour de France is being raced completely in the beautiful Lot Valley, a melting pot of inspirational beauty.  The race begins in Lacappelle Marival and ends in the stunning and  beguiling City of Rocamadour;  for the cyclists it will feel as though they are cycling through an andulating, never ending  beautiful tapestry of exquisite Nature.   Rocamadour, tightly and dramatically clamped to the side of a sheer rock-face of 150 metres high,  revealing surrounding Vistas of  medieval grandeur are phenomenally spectacular, unambiguously breath-taking ! From the Castle Ramparts at the top of Rocamadour, above a sheer drop lay before you more dazzling panoramic views of Rocamadour and the whole surrounding plateau.  Hidden below are caves and the great cross of Jerusalem which was brought to Rocamadour from the Holy Land by pilgrims. The first Tour de France took place in July 1903 and was the mind creation of Henri Desgrange, a French cyclists, Editor  and Journalist of L’Auto and also George Lefèvre, a rugby and cycling reporter.  They devised the first Tour de France cycling race to help publicise and improve sales and circulation of their sports newspaper.  The first ever event was a six-stage race covering 2428kms.   Henri Desgrange’s event hinged on the creation of super cycling heroes managing feats that were created for superhumans, but since the 1980s the race has been gradually pared back in distance to a more comfortable & healthy distance for those competing. Once the norm, stages over 200 kilometres are now the exception; on the other hand, there are now more mountain stages than ever before as the organisers seek to make the race more dynamic and spectacular – both scenically and competitively – with the worldwide television audience specifically in mind.  So with that in mind, the mountainous, meandering twists and turns of the country roads leading up into Rocamadour, coupled, and charmingly enrobed within picturesque colourful countryside, is the perfect place to end a day’s cycling event and for the competitors to simply relax in a gorgeous setting and enjoy a meal with a view. It certainly will be an excellent, but extremely busy weekend in Rocamadour,  superb for businesses after 2 difficult years of Covid.