During today’s seventh stage from Mont-de-Masan to Bordeaux, locals waited for hours by the roadside in 37-degree heat to see the peloton pass. They picnicked in the shade of the vines, drinking rosé and pastis over ice, wearing the polka-dot t-shirts and red-checked bucket hats they’d been thrown from the publicity caravan with old friends and new ones. There were street parties in every town and village with singing and dancing and banging on barriers. Barbecue smoke wafted through the hot summer air. If you asked the local people what was special about the Tour de France, they were as likely to mention conviviality and coming together with their neighbours to celebrate the region where they live as the race. It was no matter that the first few hours of stage seven were a parade. They cheered just as loudly for the lonely attacker and they did for the peloton when it whooshed by. Everyone knew that the race was going to end in a sprint. It’s still not lost on the French that the Tour de France is a tour of France.

And France is a vast country. Around the Pyrénées and Alps lie huge tracts of farmland for the race to cross. The Tour is 3,500-kilometers long. Its fans don’t only come to see action; they come to see the athletes who take on their country’s greatest journey. They shout their names when they pass and hope that at some point in the next weeks, they will attack.

Today’s stage heated up in the end. The final 40 kilometers were raced at a blistering pace. A hot wind was blowing across the vines. Grapes ripened under the sun. Our riders stayed safe, as they hurtled with the peloton towards the sure bunch sprint in Bordeaux.

It was hard to keep their wits, after they’d baked on melting asphalt for another 170 kilometers, but they saved all the strength they could. Stages eight and nine are much hillier. We like our chances. Stage nine, with its summit finish on the Puy de Dôme, will be a huge test, especially for Neilson Powless who is still leading the climbers’ competition and wearing the polka dot jersey.

Before you start putting your own picnics together to get ready to watch this weekend’s racing, hear our riders’ thoughts from after stage eight.

Today was pretty easy at the beginning and then really, really the last 40km and really stressful the last 90km, because there was a little bit of wind, mostly tailwind, but the speed was really high. And the last 20 kilometers was also really warm. We managed well to stay cool with our ice gels and bidons. I ate four or five ice gels today and had tons of bidons with water and mix. It was the first really warm day at the Tour de France.

Pretty hot, fast, at the beginning it was slow, but after the sprint, we turned left and then we had tailwinds, so we were practically going 60kmph/70kmph… OMG that’s why we had a 56 chainring today.

I feel great. You don’t have to worry about me. I feel great. Today was a pretty relaxed stage. Tomorrow and Sunday are important days for the team. I feel motivated, very concentrated and I hope to be back in front in search of a stage. That’s why we are here at the Tour de France.

It was pretty good. It was a really nice day after the last few mountain stages, so a good day to recover and just hide from the wind, sit on the wheels and enjoy the nice scenery along the roads on our way into Bordeaux. I just let the sprinters do their thing in the end and let go of the group and just tried to roll in nice and easy and I got to see some of the city and the river and it was a nice day to just take in the sights.

Everyone keeps asking me, like it was pretty hot out there, pretty crazy, what were you doing? I am just like, it wasn’t even that hot. It felt fine. It felt normal. Coming from Nice, where it was quite a bit warmer than that, it just felt like a normal day out there, a normal summer day, so I just drank lots of fluids and enjoyed the sunshine while we have it.

It was the warmest day so far. It was pretty hot. And it was pretty fast. The first couple of hours I was a bit stiff, but the last hour was back to normal. I am looking forward to the next few days, just chilling a little bit, and then hitting the hard stages full gas.