“It’s hard being a cyclist”: Tour de France riders forced to sleep on balcony as “dirty” hotel room covered in cobwebs and dust – after Tadej Pogačar endures night without air conditioning; Brutal day in the Massif Central + more on the live blog

Ah, the glamour of the Tour de France. The adoring crowds, the expensive bikes, the spectacular scenery. And the litany of questionable, occasionally very worrying two-star hotels.

While England’s World Cup contingent will be relaxing in the luxurious surroundings of a five-star resort ahead of tomorrow night’s semi-final against Argentina, things are a little bit different at the other big sporting event going on at the moment.

At the Tour, organisers ASO are usually responsible for allocating each team to a hotel every night, leading to a, ahem, significant range when it comes to quality (though it must be noted that ASO do try to average out the good and not so good hotels over the course of the race for each team, ensuring some degree of fairness).

> The ‘glamorous’ life of a Tour de France cyclist: Horrible hotels, mouldy walls, foul smells, and peeing in bottles – Magnus Cort says “old abandoned bunker” hotel the “worst place I have stayed in many years”

For example, the night before the Tourmalet stage, I stayed in the same hotel booked up by Pinarello Q36.5 and Cofidis, a perfectly acceptable Ibis on the outskirts of Pau.

However, on Sunday night, both UAE Team Emirates (and the yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar) and Lidl-Trek rocked up to their hotel in Vic-sur-Cère, in France’s Auvergne region, only to discover that it didn’t have air conditioning. In the middle of a heatwave.

According to reports, to add to the Carry on Touring feel of the whole debacle, both teams brought their own air conditioning units, but when they turned them on, the hotel’s fuse tripped. Unbelievable.

Things were arguably even worse over at Uno-X’s hotel, where brothers Tobias and Anders Halland Johannessen resorted to sleeping on their balcony over the last two nights to escape their gloomy room.

The Norwegian team’s breakaway specialist Magnus Cort has become renowned in recent years for his daily reviews of ASO’s accommodation choices. Two years ago, you may remember, he gave a scathing review of the squad’s hotel in Le Lioran, describing it as “one of the worst places I have stayed in many years”.

Well, I don’t know what Uno-X have done to offend the Tour, but this year the organisers sent the team back to Cort’s hotel of nightmares. And it looks like it’s got even worse.

Could be worse, this is ours 🤣 pic.twitter.com/ijPNxKc69Y

— Anders H. Johannessen (@AndersHJohanne2) July 13, 2026

In a video posted on social media (in response to the reports of UAE’s stifling night), Anders Halland Johannessen showed off his and brother Tobias’ room, covered in mould, dust, and the biggest spiderweb you’re ever likely to see in a hotel not featured in a horror film.

“Could be worse, could be ours,” Anders joked after hearing about the yellow jersey’s lack of air conditioning.

The bathroom was grimly depressing too:

pic.twitter.com/USZ683ubyv

— Anders H. Johannessen (@AndersHJohanne2) July 13, 2026

Unsurprisingly, the brothers were forced to adapt, shifting their mattresses outside to the balcony with its admittedly lovely views.

“Improvise. Adapt. Overcome,” Tobias, who sits 11^th overall and finished second behind Mathieu van der Poel on Sunday in Ussel, wrote on Instagram, with the hashtag: “Itshardtobeacyclist”.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tobias Johannessen (@tobias_johannessen)

“The inside of the hotel: Questionable. The outside: reallyniiiice,” he said.

“Sharing room with everyone in the world who sleeps outside this night,” a reflective Anders added in the comments.

And this morning, Cort finally submitted his review of Le Lioran’s finest establishment. And he didn’t hold back.

“Two nights in this room and the rest day,” Cort wrote. “We also stayed here two years ago during the Tour. And even though it was only one night it created memories that last. It has an amazing view and looks pretty good on the outside.

“But in reality it is amongst the worst places I have stayed. We had a whole apartment that could sleep up to eight people so Anthon and me couldn’t complain about not having enough space. The apartment was in three levels with the button being entrances and toilet and bathroom.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Magnus Cort (@magnuscort)

“It wasn’t completely soaked this time and only a small smell of rot. We also had the luxury of dry toilet paper. I had a sink in the closet that was nice to have so I didn’t have to walk two sets of stairs during the night.

“It is hard to say much more positive things about this place. It was dirty, no air conditioning, and no WiFi. It was very used with many broken things like the holder for toilet paper and shower head. Even though it was better than last time it will still only get 1 out of 7 stars.”

But at least Anders looked on the positive side of things.

“The big bedroom outside was nice,” he said.

Now that’s the kind of attitude that gets you through a Tour de France.

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It still probably wouldn’t be enough, if we’re honest…