'Then it's gone forever:' AP photographers race to capture fleeting Tour de France scenes

‘Then it’s gone forever:' AP photographers race to capture fleeting Tour de France scenes

1 of 29 |

Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic rides through the vineyards during the seventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time-trial over 25.3 kilometers (15.7 miles) with start Nuits-Saint-Georges and finish in Gevrey-Chambertin, France, Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

2 of 29 |

The pack rides during the fourth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 139.6 kilometers (86.7 miles) with start in Pinerolo, Italy and finish in Valloire, France, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

3 of 29 |

Claudette, right, and Jacky Lemeije stand in the doorway of their house as the pack with Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, right, passes through the village of Ligny-le-Ribault during the tenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 187.3 kilometers (116.4 miles) with start in Orleans and finish in Saint-Amand-Montrond, France, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

4 of 29 |

Britain’s Mark Cavendish greets spectators during the team presentation in Florence, Italy, Thursday, June 27, 2024, two days before the start of the Tour de France cycling race. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

5 of 29 |

Spectators watch the pack speed by during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 163.5 kilometers (101.6 miles) with start in Macon and finish in Dijon, France, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

6 of 29 |

Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen, wearing the best climber’s dotted jersey, rides breakaway during the eighth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 183.4 kilometers (114 miles) with start in Semur-en-Auxois and finish in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, France, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

7 of 29 |

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, rides in the pack during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 163.5 kilometers (101.6 miles) with start in Macon and finish in Dijon, France, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

8 of 29 |

A man in a monk’s robe waves the French flag as the peloton passes during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 163.5 kilometers (101.6 miles) with start in Macon and finish in Dijon, France, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

9 of 29 |

The pack with France’s Romain Bardet, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, center, rides during the second stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199.2 kilometers (123.8 miles) with start in Cesenatico and finish in Bologna, Italy, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

10 of 29 |

Luc van de Populiere poses for a picture with pictures of Belgium’s Wout van Aert as Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen, wearing the best climber’s dotted jersey, rear, passes during the eighth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 183.4 kilometers (114 miles) with start in Semur-en-Auxois and finish in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, France, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

11 of 29 |

The pack rides during the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

12 of 29 |

The pack with Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, and Netherlands’ Mathieu van der Poel, left of Pogacar in white, rides on a gravel road during the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199 kilometers (123.7 miles) with start and finish in Troyes, France, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

13 of 29 |

Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay celebrates as he crosses the finish line ahead of Netherlands’ Dylan Groenewegen, left, Belgium’s Arnaud de Lie, second left, Colombia’s Fernado Gavira, second right, ans Netherlands’ Fabio Jakobsen, right, to win the third stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 230.8 kilometers (143.4 miles) with start in Piacenza and finish in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

14 of 29 |

ADDS THAT THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN IN MENNETOUR SUR CHER - People watch the riders pass from their garage in Mennetou sur Cher during the tenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 187.3 kilometers (116.4 miles) with start in Orleans and finish in Saint-Amand-Montrond, France, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

15 of 29 |

The pack with Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, rides during the eleventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 211 kilometers (131.1 miles) with start in Evaux-les-Bains and finish in Le Lorian, France, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

16 of 29 |

France’s Anthony Turgis, right, leads before Canada’s Derek Gee, center, during the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199 kilometers (123.7 miles) with start and finish in Troyes, France, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

17 of 29 |

The pack rides on a gravel road during the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199 kilometers (123.7 miles) with start and finish in Troyes, France, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

18 of 29 |

A lone cyclist waits roadside for the peloton to pass during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 163.5 kilometers (101.6 miles) with start in Macon and finish in Dijon, France, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

19 of 29 |

The pack rides during the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199 kilometers (123.7 miles) with start and finish in Troyes, France, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

20 of 29 |

The pack with Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay, wearing the best sprinter’s green jersey, rides on a gravel road during the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199 kilometers (123.7 miles) with start and finish in Troyes, France, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

21 of 29 |

A cycling fan uses his mobile phone while waiting for the riders to pass on a gravel section of the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199 kilometers (123.7 miles) with start and finish in Troyes, France, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

22 of 29 |

Residents watch the pack with Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, pass through their village during the sixth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 163.5 kilometers (101.6 miles) with start in Macon and finish in Dijon, France, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

23 of 29 |

People get up from their table to watch Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen, wearing the best climber’s dotted jersey, pass during the eighth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 183.4 kilometers (114 miles) with start in Semur-en-Auxois and finish in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, France, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

24 of 29 |

A cycling fan waves the Italian flag as the pack with France’s Romain Bardet, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, left, passes during the second stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199.2 kilometers (123.8 miles) with start in Cesenatico and finish in Bologna, Italy, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

25 of 29 |

The pack rides during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

26 of 29 |

New overall leader France’s Romain Bardet, right, crosses the finish line with teammate Netherlands’ Frank van den Broek, left, to win the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

27 of 29 |

The pack speeds down Col de Valico Tre Faggi during the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 206 kilometers (128 miles) with start in Florence and finish in Rimini, Italy, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

28 of 29 |

The pack with Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, center left, rides on a gravel road during the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 199 kilometers (123.7 miles) with start and finish in Troyes, France, Sunday, July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

29 of 29 |

Britain’s sprinter Mark Cavendish crosses the finish line to win a record 35th Tour de France stage and break the record of Belgian legend Eddy Merckx in the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 177.4 kilometers (110.2 miles) with start in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and finish in Saint-Vulbas, France, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

By BRIAN MELLEY

It almost looks more like surrealism than photojournalism.

A cyclist in a teardrop-shaped helmet and skin-tight racing suit hunches over his aerodynamic handlebars in the middle of a Burgundy vineyard with no road in sight. The rider is framed between a flag-waving woman and man facing in the opposite direction he’s going.

The image snapped by Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay in the fraction of a second is not so much an art photo as an artfully composed frame of professional cyclist Primoz Roglic going full speed in the Tour de France.

Shooting the three-week race that ends July 21 is as much about getting stage winners crossing the line with arms raised in victory as finding a unique angle that captures the scenic and quirky side of one of the world’s most epic competitions.

The race is a grueling contest that covers around 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) over 21 days and climbs a total elevation of around 52,000 meters (57,000 yards), the equivalent of riding up Mount Everest nearly six times.

It’s also an endurance contest for the photographers who cover it. Long days are spent snapping photos from the back of a motorcycle, or speeding ahead to find an ideal vantage point and then racing to catch up with the riders or zipping down winding mountain passes at high speed.

Not PARSE.LY: Cycling

NATO summit in the Netherlands threatens to derail 2025 Dutch cycling season

Former cycling world champion Lizzie Deignan to retire at the end of next season

Sprint ace Mark Cavendish ends cycling career in style with Singapore win

“It takes everything out of you,” said Daniel Cole, who is shooting the event for AP with Delay. “It’s really intense physically, mentally, creatively. ... It’s an absolute marathon to cover this.”

Cole and Delay are both avid cyclists with an understanding of a sport that can seem confusing to the casual observer with the nuances of team tactics, breakaway gambits and the races within the race for best sprinter and hill climber.

Cole raced in college and Delay boasts of owning six bicycles. If they weren’t taking part as journalists, they’d be watching it. For Delay, who grew up in France and has never been so close to it in his 64 years, it’s a dream assignment.

“It’s stunning,” he said. “I’m a kid in a candy store.”

To get his photo in the vineyard, Delay scouted the route several times in advance of the time trial, a short stage where each rider starts at intervals in a race against the clock.

Delay planted himself in a gap between the grape trellises where fans were scattered along the road and then “waited and waited and waited.” The vines blocked his view up the road, so he had to judge riders’ arrival by the smattering of cheers and then he had a mere moment to get the shot as they sped past at about 50 kph (30 mph) .

The main event is the race for the maillot jeune, the yellow jersey worn by the leader with the fastest time overall, but the spectacular French — and, in four stages this year, Italian — landscape can steal the show.

Postcards of the colorful peloton coursing through old world villages, riders bobbing in a sea of sunflowers or strung out in a line streaking down a pass in the Alps serve as little love letters to this corner of Europe.

Cole, shooting his fourth tour, likens it to taking a road trip through France that’s half sports story and half a feature.

Just as the tour passes in the blink of an eye, photo opportunities can vanish as quickly they appear. One of the rules of the road for a motorcycle rider transporting photographers is that you cannot turn back. Scouting for vantage points at 80 kph (50 mph) can become an exercise in frustration as you realize you’ve just shot past a good place to make a photo.

“Once you see something it’s almost too late to stop,” Cole said. “You start accumulating these failures one by one. You play this game where you try to get over the things you missed.”

Beyond the sweeping views, there are the small details, quiet moments in the race and vignettes that capture how the sport is interwoven in the culture of the country it circles every July.

There’s the lone breakaway rider seemingly levitating above a field of wheat. There’s former winner Geraint Thomas and teammates huddled under an umbrella before a rainy race start. There’s a man dressed as a monk waving a French flag who symbolizes the obsessive fans who arrive early to picnic and sip wine as they wait hours for the race to quickly pass by.

“Every little part of France has the Tour de France for 10 seconds and then it’s gone forever,” Cole said.

Cole talked himself into homes lining the route, where the owners with front-row seats stood in open doorways to glimpse the rolling spectacle. In a garage, a family had abandoned a table of food to cheer the riders, close enough to feel the breeze and hear the buzz of the passing peloton.

When they returned to the table, the tour was gone and so was Cole. He was on the motorbike, dashing ahead to catch the riders and find his next shot.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports

BRIAN MELLEY

Short Biography for testing purpose only.
Some more details.