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RACY LANGUAGE: SEE FOOD
Tim Maloney-European Editor
July 7, 2008
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The bounty of the sea! Treats from the deep…that’s what awaited the corps de presse du Tour De France this year in Saint-Brieuc. As we entered the press center, we spied a fabulous feast that awaited us once we had gotten set-up. Usually we Tour journos are at the mercy of the four winds for chow at LeTDF.
Have you ever heard the old saw that an army marches on it’s stomach? Well at Le Tour it’s true. After the usual petit dejeuner or breakfast of café au lait, bread, croissants and some ham, cheese and / or yoghurt if
you are lucky, on the way to the Village Depart, there is an obligatory stop for le sandwich, a new but widespread traditon in France. With a couple of “jambon-gruyere”
sarnies and Brad’s inevitable pain au chocolat we hit the village depart. Plenty of bottom feeders use the VD for their daily commissary, but we usually avoid this chow.
Once on the parcours on the way to the sale de presse, we bring out the sarnies during the two hour drive to tide us over. The paradise of working at Le Tour uses up as many kilojoules as Alejandro Valverde burns in ten pedal strokes so we don’t want to bonk!
Once at the Salle de Presse, there is usually a buffet laid on, but not always. Sometimes it’s a sumptuous spread, sometimes rien du tous. Nada. nuttin, nix, nyet…and as most times, le Centre du Press is in a sweltering, stuffy sports center several kilometers away from the stage finish in some tiny bourg in le bocage of le France profonde. In the past, the coffee sponsor of Le Tour would send some nice folks around at the end of the stage to pour some joe for the journos, but that deal seems to have ended. You mighta thunk that the TDF could spring for a coffee machine and a can of Chock Fulla Frogs coffee since ASO,
the Tour’s owner reportedly makes 20 million euros a year in net profit!
Once out of the salle de presse at about 8pm, it’s off to the hotel for the nite. If you are lucky it can be close but usually is at least a 30 minute drive after extricating your press car from the traffic hell that happens in most stage finish towns. Then the other Tour De France begins; Le Tour De France Gastronomique! That would be eating in a restaurant / brasserie / bistro other than that of the funky hotel you are paying $150 / nite for. (At least the hotel usually has wee-fee [French for wi-fi] so you can stay up extra late and file more reports). LeTDFG varys from a famous Scottish restaurant (MacDo) to an unusual stop in a Michelin starred restaurant that can head north of a grand if you are not careful when reading the wine list.
Still such experiences are quite a welcome release from the gruelling grind of Le Tour, as enjoyed by yours truly while in Brittany during a visit to Olivier Bellin’s Auberge des Glaziks in Plomodiern. Bellin is considered one of France’s best young chefs and his cuisine certainly was up to the level of Le Tour De France itself!
Oh, and chapeau (or as Jimmy Hatlo used to say “thanks and a hat tip” to the local organizing committee of Saint-Brieuc for the yummy victuals.
Bon App!
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