Bicycling may be the most ecologically sound mode of transportation, but great bicycle racing is anything but. While there have been several attempts in recent years to offset the event's carbon footprint, there is no escaping the sad fact that the Tour de France was not entirely inappropriate as a target for peaceful environmental protests such as those witnessed during the 10th stage to Megève.

The logistics of transporting a rolling village of about 4,000 people around France made it so. As of last year, ASO claims to have offset 100% of the carbon dioxide emitted by the Tour organization itself, but this calculation does not include the carbon dioxide emitted by the team staff, journalists, sponsors, corporate guests, fans, and various other stakeholders who follow the race over the three weeks. This does not include the carbon dioxide emitted by team staff, journalists, sponsors, corporate guests, fans, and various other stakeholders who follow the race over the three weeks.

In 2021, when Quick Step announced that they had become the first carbon neutral team on the World Tour, they published a rigorous calculation of the emissions they needed to offset during the season. The team's estimated CO2 emissions for the year are 1,288 tons, which is the equivalent of driving 179 times around the world in a car or making 539 round trips between Brussels and New York.

These numbers were far from the minds of the riders chasing a stage win from a breakaway group on the road to Megève on Tuesday afternoon, and when they spoke to reporters shortly after the finish, the riders involved in the move were more concerned with the stop itself than the message behind it It is understandable that they were more concerned with the stop itself than the message behind it.

Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-Easypost) was leading the race alone with 37 km to go when he encountered protesters from the climate action group Dernières Renovation, which had staged a similar demonstration at the French Open Tennis earlier this year. eight protesters sat on the road and set off flares as the race approached, some wearing T-shirts that read "We have 989 days left," calling for urgent action on the climate crisis.

The Italian was able to pass by the demonstrators, as was the pursuing group behind him, but it was clear that the main body of the peloton, as well as the convoy of cars behind them, could not safely get through. The commissaire immediately decided to suspend the race until the police could clear the demonstrators from the road; after a 12-minute interruption, first Betiol and then the pursuers were allowed to depart, leaving the buffer covering the peloton intact.

"I saw them from a distance and knew there was something there. I could pass through, but I knew the group would not. After all, we are working, they could do things differently."

Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) was in the group chasing Bettiol, and like the Italian, his first instinct was to continue racing through the gap. Wright said, "My instant reaction is, 'Okay, let's get through as fast as we can,' but I forget that there are a lot of cars that have to go through."

Wright was looking for a win over teammate Luis Leon Sanchez, who rode strongly on the final climb to Megeve. However, Bettiol explained

that the restart, reminiscent of a training ride break, was difficult to handle.

"It felt like when you stop at a cafe," Wright said. 'I thought it was some sort of climate protest. They are protesting a good thing, but it is not a good thing to be at the front of the Tour de France.

Wright's calm recognition and understanding of the larger issue was in contrast to the lamentably blind view presented in France Télévision's post-stage analysis program, Vélo Club, in which the very cause the protesters were highlighting was - intentionally - not even mentioned.

"There is no question of talking about it. We are here to talk about cycling," Laurent Jalabert said. Then again, the Frenchman is no stranger to reticence when faced with uncomfortable questions. He continued, "There are 10,000 possible causes that could affect the race."

Tour director Christian Prudhomme only answered vague questions from presenter Laurent Ruyat, and there was no discussion of the reasons for the cancellation.

"It was unexpected and the timing was bad. It can be a big soapbox on the Tour de France roads. But it's not every day you get blocked for a few minutes like that, and fortunately we were able to restart the race." It happened at Roland Garros, it happened in Formula 1 at Silverstone, it happened in the German soccer league.

There was a time when there seemed to be a tacit understanding between the Tour organization and the protesters who used the race to appeal to the spectators for their cause. Race director Jacques Godet was president of France in July. As the Tour toured Lexagone, the country's acting prime minister met with striking workers and protesting farmers, and there was always a quid pro quo.

This unspoken social contract seems to have broken down 40 years ago, as journalist Dan Perez outlined in L'Équipe before the current Tour: in 1982, when steelworkers in Ussinor protested the impending closure of their plant in Donan, their blockade led to the The Tour stage was canceled for the first time. In the 40 years since then, the Tour's ears of social protest have been closed like fists. Take, for example, the tear gas used by police to quell farmers' protests in the Aude region in 2018.

"It was as if this episode marked the first division of the long intertwined workers' and cyclists' paths," Perez wrote of the 1982 cancellation.

"While the Tour certainly remained free and accessible to the proletarians, the riders who raced along the roads on their bicycles were beginning to belong to them no longer.

But contrary to what the Velo Club would have us believe, the Tour, with France itself as its canvas, cannot pretend to exist in a vacuum. The television cameras that are happy to show us the picturesque chateaus and vineyards of France should not automatically turn away when confronted with civic concerns. On the other hand, with automakers and oil companies among the team sponsors, it is clear that considerable effort will be required to offset the carbon footprint of the Tour and the sport as a whole.

"I don't know the exact numbers of what's going on, but hopefully we can offset some of it by encouraging people to ride bikes and promote a healthy lifestyle," Nielson Powles said upon arriving on the EF Education-Easy Post bus after the stage I hope to offset some of that," he said upon arriving at the EF Education-EasyPost bus. Fortunately, Jalabert's sand-bound approach is not shared by everyone in the modern peloton.

"I don't think it's possible to quantify anything, but I'm all for trying to clean up the environment and do my part to offset our carbon footprint. Hopefully, things will get better in the next few years."

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