The poster for “La Grande Boucle”, a French film due to be released this summer.

The predictable plot features a man in a midlife crisis overcoming challenges to rebuild his life. The story goes that he’s lost his wife, job and more and has only his bike left. He decides to ride the Tour de France one day ahead of the race. At first the project is crazy but people pick up on it, he gets joined by others, crowds applaud him, the media go crazy and even the Tour de France maillot jaune gets jealous of the attention and publicity.

It could turn out to be great… but it looks like what the French call a téléfilm, something that goes straight to TV.

In 1986 Franco-Algerian artist Mahjoub Ben Bella painted 12km of the Paris-Roubaix cobbles. It might be the longest piece of art in the world but there is little trace of the work today, except this photo via local newspaper La Voix du Nord.

The Paris-Tours race takes place on Sunday. Gone are the clichés of yellow sunflowers that mark the Tour de France.

He finished sixth in the Tour de France but would you recognize Haimar Zubeldia if he walked past you in the street?

This photo should help.

Tyler Farrar, lanterne rousse.

The American is last overall in the Tour de France, 2:37:16 behind Bradley Wiggins. But after 2402km it’s not a big margin.

Cycling is one of the few sports that venerates losers. This is because it is relative. Farrar might be last but that means he’s struggling with injuries and misfortune that would overwhelm most. Consequently the last rider is often the bravest, fighting pain as well as the road.

In the Tour de France the last rider is called the lanterne rouge or “red light”, as if they are the last wagon on a train.

The village of Pussy is near the Col de la Madeleine, a 2000m mountain pass on the route of this year’s Tour de France.

The village sign has been stolen so often that the mayor ordered it to be encrusted into cement and stone to deter thieves.