‘The world is warming up’ – How Tour de France teams tackled the Italian heatwave

The opening weekend of racing at the Tour de France has been fiery in more ways than one. On the bikes, riders haven’t failed to put on a show, but the biggest battle many riders faced was one with Mother Nature, rather than each other. As the race began in Florence, a high-summer heatwave blasted Italy, turning it into an oven.

Mark Cavendish was the highest profile rider to suffer, vomiting en route and, at the finish, being given an iced towel by a waiting press officer. It was already going to be a tough day for the British sprinter with 3600m of climbing on the road to Rimini, but the 36°C heat didn’t help.