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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Aug 23

So, some background for the start of @lavuelta.bsky.social…and oddly, the best way to do that is by telling you about the geology of Milano-San Remo 😃. The first days will be about the Po Plain and the Ligurian Alps! Enjoy!

www.geo-sports.org/2024/geology...

Geology of Milan-Sanremo | Geo-Sports

We explore the geology of Milan-Sanremo with lost oceans, colliding continents plus a bit of risotto and wine.

www.geo-sports.org

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Aug 22

We, too! 😎

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Aug 2

The Tour de France Femmes is climbing the Alps! Did you know the Alps are made of cheese?

@vanhinsbergen.bsky.social explains in this clip!

youtu.be/7wkFVQaMdo8?...

GeoTdF 2023 - Stage 14: The Alps are made of Cheese

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Aug 2

And the Swiss Cheese that is the Basque subsurface, and that makes for all the steep climbs!

youtu.be/kCiXOFIMtZU?...

GeoTdF 2023 - Stage 2 - Swiss Cheese

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Aug 2

Or the world-famous boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary - the end of the dinosaurs - exposed in Zumaia!

youtu.be/5yBTkUd3RWE?...

GeoTdF 2023 - Stage 3: The Book of Earth History

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Aug 2

The Classica San Sebastian will race along the Basque North Coast! @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social made some clips about the beautiful geological goodies of the Basque Country!

The trace fossils in the Black Flysch for instance!

youtu.be/BWGPKmuo6Zw?...

Trace fossils in the rocks along Stage 3 of the 2023 Tour de France!

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 31

The TdFF races through the Devonian of the northern Massif Central today. Marj and @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social imagined racing a Tour stage back then, 400 million years ago, in this ‘23 clip! 🐟

youtu.be/VFXoz3pSPec?...

GeoTdF 2023 - Stage 12. Fishing in the Devonian

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 27

Ooh…I don’t know. And that is a problem 😃. If I figure it out, I’ll let you know!

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 26

And why is the Jura such a strange, croissant-shaped mountain belt in front of the Alps? Marj will tell you!

youtu.be/CMeyN5AMGAU?...

TDFF 2024 - Stage 6: How the Jurassic got its name

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 26

Racing through the Jura today! In ‘23 and ‘24 we made two clips about its geological wonders!

Like dinosaur footprints!

youtu.be/N7hmLLasZrk?...

GeoTdF 2023 - Etappe 19. With a trace of dinosaur

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 22

Clearly, geology raised its ugly head again - literally - to make the Ventoux. And its structure has funny ways in influencing the race 🤓🤠

Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jun 26

OK, so we won't do a detailed GeoTdF this year, but we couldn't help ourselves...the geology of the Ventoux is quite clearly correlated with scenes during the climbs. For example, the famous 2016 incident that left Chris Froome running up with a broken bike - clearly geologically pre-determined.

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 19

One more Pyrenees stage! And luckily, we have one more Pyrenees clip! How the deepest rocks end up on the highest peaks!

youtu.be/0t4EifLi-zU?...

GeoTdF 2023 - Stage 5: Earth's mantle

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 17

While watching the ride to the Pyrenees, it's always striking how abrupt the transition is from the flat lands of the Aquitaine basin to the steep mountain slopes. Two years ago, Marj Naudé explained where this sharp change comes from!

youtu.be/H7YIk3DnCug?...

GeoTdFF 2023 - Stage 7: From plains to towering mountains

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 17

Pyrenees! Mine country!

Time for the 2024 story of Metal & Rock!

youtu.be/tImHaE0i9w4?...

TdF 2024 - Stage 15. Metal and rock.

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 14

While riding over the Cantal volcano 🌋 - Europe’s largest, it’s time to tell the story how a volcanic eruption led to the invention of the bike!

@vanhinsbergen.bsky.social @uugeo.bsky.social

youtu.be/mLzFcPAZNAA?...

TdF 2024 - Stage 11: Volcanism and the invention of the bicycle

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 14

A ride through the volcanic fields of the Massif Central today! Time to tell the story of Mary again! Take it away, Marj!

youtu.be/6LPwKGLCHFU?...

GeoTdFF 2023 - Stage 2. Mary, queen of volcanoes

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 7

This one!

www.quaternary.group.cam.ac.uk/research/pro...

Cambridge Quaternary, Cambridge » How Britain Became An Island

www.quaternary.group.cam.ac.uk

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 7

And humans have used the dry North Sea to migrate from France to England and back during the last 800.000 years, depending on the climate state. And when there was enough ice, they could also walk to Ireland! No ferry needed. Or cycle, if they had invented the wheel.

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 7

The wind picked up the silt from these rivers and spread it around. This wind-deposited silt is known as loess, and northern France is covered by it.
Loess is a nightmare for anything on wheels, so early on, big cobbles were brought in from Belgium to pave the roads!

youtu.be/R00JSTLw-f0?...

Geology of Paris-Roubaix - When did the Hell of the North break loose?

YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events

youtu.be

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 7

Well, dry, it was occupied by a tundra and a large river, that combined the Rhine, the Meuse, the Scheldt, and the Thames.
These flowed towards the Bay of Biscay. Mammoths roamed the banks, and the vast tundras south of the ice caps of Scandinavia.

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 7

OK, so we decided not do skip a GeoTdF year, but this stage is so boring that it's begging for some geo-info!

We're riding along the North Sea coast towards Dunquerque. But even as recent as 20.000 years ago, there was no coast here! During the last ice age, the Channel was dry!

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 5

Thanks a lot! We've really enjoyed the past four Tours and explained the geology of cycling races the world over and all year. Last year was a climax. This year there's a cooling down: it was all a hobby between full-time jobs, and those take precedence this year. But we might be back 😎.

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 4

I wish you a fantastic Tour, Ned. Thanks for your interest and support in our off-topic contributions of the last years. We'll be listening and enjoying the commentary of you, David, Peter et al, and everytime you see a rock along the parcours, know that we planted it there especially for you :D

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jul 3

We’ll go light this year, a detox after four intensive years of Geo-Tour covering 😃. But check out the site, blogs, and clips of last years, most regions are covered!

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · Jun 26

Bouke Mollema!

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