It’s a tale of two spa towns in Stage 4 of the Tour de France, which travels from Mondorf-Les-Bains, Luxembourg, to Vittel in the Lorraine region of northeastern France on Tuesday.
Lorraine has shifted back and forth between French and German control over the centuries and there are still areas where the local dialect is closer to German than French.
Vittel – not Evian – has been the official mineral water supplier and sponsor of the Tour for the last decade, handing out one million bottles to spectators over the course of the race.
Here’s a gastronomic, sporting and cultural glance at the day’s route:
BAGUETTE AND BUTTER: The mostly flat 207.