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Open Country: Beefeater Bend on the Tour de France

Beefeater Bend on the Tour de France

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Beefeater Bend on the Tour de France

We're in the French Alps with five men from Essex dressed as Beefeaters... and it's hot.

It's stage 12 of the cycling in Tour de France, and Miles Warde is helping the Beefeaters push a shopping trolley up an Alp. One of the funnier tales of the year.

Over a decade ago, two friends from Essex decided to break off from work and drive down to the Alps. Neither knew much about cycling but the plan was to watch the Tour de France dressed in peaked caps and cravats. Probably best not to ask why. By 2014 when the race came to Yorkshire, they'd moved on to full Beefeater outfits - red jackets, black hats, white gloves, matching shades. They love dancing to europop at the side of the road, and in 2019 they were voted the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) fans of the year. 

Miles Warde joins the Beefeaters as they load up their shopping trolleys at the bottom of Alpe d'Huez for one of the toughest and hottest stages of this year's race. They are pushing up to Bend 20 where they'll reclaim a little space from a German called Herbert who has been looking after their beer, then set up their generators and loudspeakers and dance for six hours. Unlike other bends on the Alpe - Dutch Corner, Norwegian Corner, Cymru Corner - Beefeater Bend is completely non-national. Everyone is welcome, and everyone comes because everyone loves europop in the blistering sun.

"The nicest programme I've made." Miles Warde

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