Tour de France: future heatwaves may make it untenable to hold the race in July
As the men鈥檚 Tour de France wraps up and the women鈥檚 tournament begins, the European heat wave rages on. If you look closely, the heat can be seen in photos of the event: cooling towels around racers鈥� necks, water splashed over red faces, ice packs sticking out from under race jerseys.
Compounding the temperatures is the heat island effect created by roads which absorb and radiate heat. On the hottest days of the men’s race, with temperatures nearing 40鈩�, organisers even to lower the surface temperature. And while this works, it also adds to the humidity – solving one problem but contributing to another. It also doesn’t account for the environmental implications of using that much water to hose down a road.
The heatwave comes as no surprise to those who follow cycling. Mudslides, extreme heat, hail and a surprising amount of snow have interrupted stages of the Tour in recent years.
In 2019, for instance, a severe mudslide covered the whole road in stage 19 of the race, forcing the race to stop. Since athletes had no idea what was ahead of them, they spent several hours toiling on the course that day until the race director stopped the race and called in bulldozers to clear the debris.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has an to guide race organisers in their response to such weather events. The policy calls for the convening of a meeting between the race doctor, chief of security, representatives for riders and teams, and representatives from the UCI when extreme weather conditions are anticipated prior to the start of a stage. No policy exists for inclement weather that crops up when a race is already in motion.
Conspicuously absent from the policy is any regard for whether the policy could be activated by specific thresholds for – a measure which includes temperature, humidity and wind speed, and which is taken in direct sunlight and so closely matches how hot it actually feels for the cyclists. It’s left up to the named stakeholders to determine what constitutes “extreme weather” and the lines on this are blurry.
Continues...
For the full article by Dr Madeleine Orr, visit .
Notes for editors
Press release reference number: 22/142
天堂视频 is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2022 QS World University Rankings and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.
天堂视频 is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2022, and 10th in both the Guardian University League Table 2022 and the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.
天堂视频 is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, 天堂视频 has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The 天堂视频 London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
As the men鈥檚 Tour de France wraps up and the women鈥檚 tournament begins, the European heat wave rages on. If you look closely, the heat can be seen in photos of the event: cooling towels around racers鈥� necks, water splashed over red faces, ice packs sticking out from under race jerseys.
Compounding the temperatures is the heat island effect created by roads which absorb and radiate heat. On the hottest days of the men’s race, with temperatures nearing 40鈩�, organisers even to lower the surface temperature. And while this works, it also adds to the humidity – solving one problem but contributing to another. It also doesn’t account for the environmental implications of using that much water to hose down a road.
The heatwave comes as no surprise to those who follow cycling. Mudslides, extreme heat, hail and a surprising amount of snow have interrupted stages of the Tour in recent years.
In 2019, for instance, a severe mudslide covered the whole road in stage 19 of the race, forcing the race to stop. Since athletes had no idea what was ahead of them, they spent several hours toiling on the course that day until the race director stopped the race and called in bulldozers to clear the debris.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has an to guide race organisers in their response to such weather events. The policy calls for the convening of a meeting between the race doctor, chief of security, representatives for riders and teams, and representatives from the UCI when extreme weather conditions are anticipated prior to the start of a stage. No policy exists for inclement weather that crops up when a race is already in motion.
Conspicuously absent from the policy is any regard for whether the policy could be activated by specific thresholds for – a measure which includes temperature, humidity and wind speed, and which is taken in direct sunlight and so closely matches how hot it actually feels for the cyclists. It’s left up to the named stakeholders to determine what constitutes “extreme weather” and the lines on this are blurry.
Continues...
For the full article by Dr Madeleine Orr, visit .
Notes for editors
Press release reference number: 22/142
天堂视频 is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2022 QS World University Rankings and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.
天堂视频 is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2022, and 10th in both the Guardian University League Table 2022 and the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.
天堂视频 is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, 天堂视频 has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The 天堂视频 London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
