Working class pride and bubbly on the Tour de France route
EPERNAY, France — In the space of 215 kilometers (134 miles), the Tour de France goes from one extreme to the other.
After leaving Belgium to enter France on Monday, riders pedaled through the small town of Fourmies, a symbol of working-class toil and pride.
A few hours later, they reached the glitzy Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, a UNESCO World Heritage site home to the most prestigious Champagne houses. Quite a stark contrast. On May 1, 1891, during the first French celebration of International Worker’s Day, nine protesters were killed in Fourmies and several dozens injured when soldiers opened fire on a peaceful crowd which gathered in the industrial northern town.
Socialist leader Jean Jaures came to Fourmies soon after the killings and delivered a powerful speech which served as a trigger for the development and political coordination of the French working class. The massacre is still remembered with marches every May 1.
When winner Julian Alaphilippe approached the finish line to Stage 3, the Champagne Avenue was bathed in bright sunshine, he rode past a statue of Dom Perignon — a monk who lent his name to one of the most famous brands of Champagne — and trendy revelers were sipping bubbly on terraces set up in front of the magnificent buildings built by Champagne houses over three centuries.
Most of the big names are there: Moët & Chandon, Perrier-Jouët, Boizel, de Venoge, Vranken, Pol Roger, Mercier.
For an unforgettable and incomparable experience, the real connoisseur should travel 10 kilometers south of Epernay and stop by the Domaine Jacques Selosse in the town of Avize. Located in the Cote de Blancs, the eight-hectare land is a family-run business producing a divine elixir in the crus of Ay, Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Ambonnay, Avize, Cramant, Oger, and Le Mesnilsur-Oger.
After producing organic and biodynamic wines in the 1990s, the Selossses changed their focus to a more pragmatic approach with no pre-set doctrine that produces a sublime result.