Lionel Birnie spoke to former teammates Chris Froome and Richie Porte about the race. Froome led Team Sky for the first time having been runner-up to Bradley Wiggins the previous year. Wiggins was somewhat controversially – although perhaps not surprisingly – left out of the line-up a few weeks before the start.
There was drama from the start. On day one Froome crashed in the neutralised zone before the race had even started, then the Orica-GreenEdge team bus got stuck under the finish line gantry, almost bringing the entire Tour to a standstill. Froome laid down the gauntlet in the Pyrenees when, for 24 hours, everything looked to be going Sky’s way. Then there was a date with Mont Ventoux, a double-ascent of Alpe d’Huez and some nervous moments in the final few days.
The rest of the series The 100th Tour, 10 years On is the story of that 2013 race as told by The Cycling Podcast. We’ve delved into our archive to revisit the first Tour the podcast covered. The remaining six episodes will be released for Friends of the Podcast subscribers from Tuesday to Thursday.
Our Kilometre 0 series for the 2023 Tour de France will be available to Friends of the Podcast subscribers. Sign up at thecyclingpodcast.com. The Friends of the Podcast feed can be added to most major podcast apps in a few easy clicks after signing up.
Click Here to Listen the Podcast from The Cycling Podcast…