AP photographers take a look at characters on the Tour de France with a colorful portrait gallery

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Philippe Planet poses for a portrait with his daughter Laurine and grandson Evan Bousset in their tricolour Citroen 2CV during the tenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 167 kilometers (104 miles) with start in Vulcania and finish in Issoire, France, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Rodolphe Encelin poses for a portrait in a sunflower field during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start in Dax and finish in Nogaro, France, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Jon Ayarza-Marien, left, Inaki Gartziandia, center, and June Lopez pose for a portrait at the summit of the col d’Ichere, during the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 163 kilometers (101 miles) with start in Pau and finish in Laruns, France, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Melvin and Luna Oliveira pose for a portrait in Le Genestoux during the tenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 167 kilometers (104 miles) with start in Vulcania and finish in Issoire, France, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Roger Soreau poses for a portrait in his cow costume which he has worn during the eleven previous editions of the Tour de France during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start in Dax and finish in Nogaro, France, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Fans cook sausages on a barbecue in Cauterets during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 145 kilometers (90 miles) with start in Tarbes and finish in Cauterets-Cambasque, France, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Tour de France Director Christian Prudomme and five time Tour de France Winner Bernard Hinault chat together while posing for a portrait during the second rest day in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, France, Monday, July 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Patrick Plasse poses for a portrait in Poule-les-Echarmeaux during the twelfth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 169 kilometers (105 miles) with start in Roanne and finish in Belleville-en-Beaujolais, France, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Jean Paul Lenaerts and Katrien Boydens from Leopoldsburg, Belgium, pose with a sign cheering on Wout Van Aert in Montfort-en-Chalosse during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start in Dax and finish in Nogaro, France, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Roger Soreau, left, and Fernand Despeignes pose for a portrait wearing their costumes during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start in Dax and finish in Nogaro, France, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Elaine Drouet poses for a portrait outside her home in Commentry during the eleventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 180 kilometers (112 miles) with start in Clermont-Ferrand and finish in Moulins, France, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Andoni Atxateqi, right, and Juanjo Zumelzu pose for a portrait in Bizkaia, during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start and finish in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, July 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Motorcyclist on the Tour de France Guy de Devuyst poses for a portrait Monday, July, 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Mikkel Berg from Denmark rides during the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time trial over 22.5 kilometers (14 miles) with start in Passy and finish in Combloux, France, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Neighbours from the town of Torreauzo pose for a portrait during the second stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 209 kilometers (130 miles) with start in Vitoria Gasteiz and finish in San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Cycling jerseys are pictured hanging along the race route in Montfort-en-Chalosse during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start in Dax and finish in Nogaro, France, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Jitske Lenaerts from Leopoldsburg, Belgium, poses with her dog Yuki in Montfort-en-Chalosse during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start in Dax and finish in Nogaro, France, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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A sunflower is pictured in a field during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start in Dax and finish in Nogaro, France, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Marina Garat, right, and Baptiste Pinot pose for a portrait at the summit of the Col de Marie Blanque during the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 163 kilometers (101 miles) with start in Pau and finish in Laruns, France, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Riders of the Uno X cycling team pose at their hotel during the Tour de France rest day, Monday, July 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus

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People on the side of the road pose for a portrait with Basque flags in Bizkaia, during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182 kilometers (113 miles) with start and finish in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, July 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Michel Francois poses for a portrait in Chambon sur Lac during the tenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 167 kilometers (104 miles) with start in Vulcania and finish in Issoire, France, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Richy, left, Pedro, center, and Robert from Spain pose for a portrait at the summit of the Col de Marie Blanque during the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 163 kilometers (101 miles) with start in Pau and finish in Laruns, France, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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A jersey depicting Raymond Poulidor is seen on the side of the road during the stage departing Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat, the home of cycling legend Raymond Poulidor, during the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 182.5 kilometers (113.5 miles) with start in Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat and finish in Puy de Dome, France, Sunday, July 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Patxi Arocena and his son Bruno pose after a surf session in Oraux, near Bayonne, during the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 187.5 kilometers (116.5 miles) with start in Morebieta Etxano, Spain and finish in Bayonne, France, Monday, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Didi Senft of Germany, also known as “El Diablo”, poses for a portrait during the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 138 kilometers (86 miles) with start in Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne and finish on Grand Colombier pass, France, Friday, July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Soren Waereskjold from Norway rides during the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time trial over 22.5 kilometers (14 miles) with start in Passy and finish in Combloux, France, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN

The Tour de France is a big traveling circus, a well-oiled machine going through rural France at full speed over three weeks.

Everything moves so fast.

Riders on their high-tech machines reaching 60 mph in downhills, journalists trying to reach the press room as fast as possible to deliver stories on deadline. Even the diehard fans need to sprint when they run along their favorite champions to catch a glimpse of their grimacing faces at the top of a punishing mountain pass.

Associated Press photographers Thibault Camus and Daniel Cole have been capturing that frenzy — day in, day out — over the past three weeks, documenting the great sporting moments of the pulsating rivalry that opposed Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar.

But they have also hit the pause button to take a step back and capture a less ephemeral facet of the race through a series of behind-the-scenes portraits on a white background.

Throughout their journey of thousands of miles that started in Bilbao, Spain, Camus and Cole carried with them a rather bulky white panel. Along the way, they met dozens of anonymous or better-known individuals, all essential players in the Tour de France, who agreed to take the pose.

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Once they had a deal, setting up the white panel to create a kind of open-air studio was another challenge.

“It could take between 30 and 45 minutes. Some of the people we shot helped us setting it up,” Cole said. “The aim was not to depict France, but to show the Tour bubble and the characters that make it work. It’s a chunk of the Tour.”

The result is a stunning gallery of colorful characters in a suspended moment. Cut from the race environment by the white panel, it is, however, impossible not to associate them immediately with the Tour, so much do they belong to the folklore of the century-old event.

Look at the pictures and you’ll come across five-time champion Bernard Hinault and Tour director Christian Prudhomme, both looking so humble as a daunting mountain covered with snow looms large over them.

The champions’ jerseys, deprived of the bodies that usually inhabit them, are also taking pride of place.

And there is, of course, the famous devil-dressed supporter and his pitchfork that all the fans bottle-fed on the Tour will immediately recognize.

Just as essential: the two middle-aged men looking so serious over a bottle of red wine and a plate of cheese and charcuterie.

Even a sunflower, unmissable along the roads taken by the peloton, is looking straight at you.

“All of them,” Cole said, “pieces of the Tour de France.”

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