Why the suspenseful calm of the second rest day is the best time to report on the Tour de France

There is no stopping now until Paris, and it’s that tension which makes the ritual much more exciting than you’d imagine

My favourite day of the Tour de France probably isn’t the same as yours. It isn’t the pageantry of the Grand Depart or the history of Alpe d’Huez or even the champagne clinking down the Champs-Elysees. No, it’s the second rest day.

For reporters it provides an opportunity for two things: one, to get out of the cycle of reports, quotes, previews and live blogs in order to step back and gauge the feel of a race as it hangs tantalisingly in limbo for 24 hours before its big finale, this time in the Alps; and two, to nosy around the team hotels.

You might expect millionaire athletes to be put up in five-star accommodation, but the truth is that their hotels are no better than mine. Team hotels are chosen for their ability to handle a convoy of cars, buses and trucks full of spare parts, and so tend to be edge-of-town mid-market types containing two or three teams each. I spent most of the day around Team Ineos’s hotel in Nimes where fans, journalists, riders and officials all milled around one another.