The ‘glamorous’ life of a Tour de France cyclist: Horrible hotels, mouldy walls, foul smells, and peeing in bottles + more on the live blog

July 12, 2024

Despite what you may expect for elite athletes participating in one of the biggest sporting events in the world, it’s fair to say that the Tour’s traditional range of, shall we say interesting, hotels – booked by organisers ASO for all the teams – has hardly inspired confidence over the years.

Last July, Intermarché’s sprinter Mike Teunissen complained about the cramped, humid accommodation(link is external) his team had constantly been booked into during the Tour (“Tennis players at Wimbledon or soccer players in the Champions League: if they ever end up in these places, they’ll turn around immediately,” the Belgian grumbled), while Cort himself poked fun at the quality of the race’s hotels last month, as he joked about sleeping in his suitcase to prepare for Tour’s “rough” hotels. road.cc