A HISTORIC TOUR DE FRANCE
Brittany has always been a region apart from the rest of France. In common with a few European regions with strong independent streaks and even ambitious breakaway tendencies - the Basque Country, Flanders, Catalunya, Yorkshire - it is the same as but different to the country of which it is part. By stereotype it’s the most chauvinistic and proud of the regions of mainland France and the locals consider themselves Breton first, and maybe French afterwards.
It’s a region of acid soil, cornfields, water towers, chilly rain and granite crosses. Salty winds blow in from the Atlantic, and the ocean has battered and smashed the coast into rocky outcrops and headlands. The climate and relatively sparse population density have made this one of France’s breadbaskets. Though the soil quality might not match elsewhere in the country, it is generously irrigated by the maritime climate; while the south of France is purple with lavender and much of the plains of the centre of the country are yellow with sunflowers and corn, Brittany is the greenest place in France. Its 40,000 farms produce livestock and, above all, vegetables.
It’s also been good at growing cyclists.
Brittany is where the heart of French cycling beats strongest of all. Some of the country’s greatest cyclists have come from Brittany -
