An island that's crazy about cycling

Today is pre-race day. After a pretty good night. I slept 9 hours, of which the first five like a brick. I won the “last at breakfast” prize. It won’t be the last time either. If I’m not working, like actual work, I’m pretty slow in the mornings and like to sleep as long as possible.

Anyway, a pre-race coffee ride was the plan for the day. Our first ride in Guadeloupe. After concluding that none of us had the Garmin or Wahoo map of Guadeloupe installed on our head unit, we simply set off following the GPX line on the screen. First impressions of the island: good. It definitely feels like a completely different environment. The infrastructure is okay, but everything is just extremely messy compared to European standards. More striking, however, is the humidity. As soon as you step out of the air-conditioned hotel, it feels like walking into an indoor swimming pool. Lots and lots of sweating. I think I’ll manage fine, but it will definitely have its influence over the coming ten days of racing.

Beyond the environment and climate, the biggest surprise has been the people. They are incredibly friendly and relaxed, especially once they realise we’re here to race the Tour de Guadeloupe. It really is a big thing here. You’re constantly being waved at and cheered on while riding around. If you stop for a little chat with the locals and ask whether they’ll come and watch the race, the answer is always the same: “Of course we will.”

That feeling was confirmed during today’s team presentation. If only by the amount of effort the organization went through to make it happen. Every team had to bring all of their bikes to a large shopping centre about twenty minutes from the hotel. So once again: all the bikes into the truck and off to the presentation. We spent almost three hours there waiting for our two minutes of fame.

But: totally worth it. We actually got to ride our bikes through the shopping centre towards the podium. Along the way people were already cheering, taking pictures and shouting encouragement. I’m used to team presentations being one of the most underwhelming parts of a bike race. Usually there are two local villagers, somebody’s mum, and if you’re lucky your own soigneur taking a photo. This was something completely different. We got an actual crowd that genuinely seemed excited to cheer us on.

The Tour de Guadeloupe really is a big deal here. If you ask the organisation, this race is like the Tour, Giro and Vuelta of Guadeloupe. Factually speaking, that’s true. The level might not be quite as high, but the enthusiasm certainly is. I’m really looking forward to the coming races. I have a feeling the people here are going to turn the next ten days into one big cycling festival.