Multiple teams complain about Tour de France rest day hotels as riders forced to sleep outside in Massif Central

As if the interminable heat of the first week wasn't enough, several Tour de France teams complained of additional discomfort on Monday's rest day after staying in accommodation with problems including no air conditioning, no WiFi, bugs and in one case "a small smell of rot".

Riders are used to staying in a wide variety of hotels during the Tour, such is the challenge of accommodating hundreds of riders, team staff and Tour employees all across France, but an apartment hotel in Le Lioran spurred complaints from Uno-X Mobility and Alpecin-Premier Tech, whilst UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Lidl-Trek reportedly had to go without air conditioning at a different hotel.

The situation was seemingly worst for Uno-X and Alpecin, where riders ended up sleeping outside on the balcony rather than in their rooms. Brothers Anders and Tobias Halland Johannessen posted photos of their outdoor set-up, as well as a video showing cobwebs and dead insects in their room.

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Magnus Cort, who is known for his Instagram reviews of hotels when he is away racing, posted a more detailed breakdown of the hotel.

"It has an amazing view and looks pretty good on the outside. But in reality it is amongst the worst places I have stayed," he said, adding that he had stayed in the same place two years ago during the Tour.

"It wasn’t completely soaked this time and only a small smell of rot. We also had the luxury of dry toilet paper. I had a sink in the closet that was nice to have so I didn’t have to walk two sets of stairs during the night.

"It is hard to say much more positive things about this place. It was dirty, no aircondition and no WIFI. It was very used with many broken things like the holder for toilet paper and shower head. Even though it was better than last time, it will still only get 1 out of 7 stars."

Alpecin-Premier Tech stayed in the same hotel and posted a room tour reel to Instagram with Silvan Dillier showing off the facilities. Like the Uno-X riders, he also took his bed outside and slept under the stars. His roommate Tim Marsman opted to stay in the room with a portable air conditioning unit.

Tour de France hotels are all booked and provided by ASO, and there is an attempt to fairly share out the quality of rooms, with all teams expected to stay in nicer hotels and more budget ones.

Crucially, though, teams are obliged to stay in the hotel they are given – they are not allowed to pay for rooms in nicer hotels themselves, in the name of fairness and not giving any unfair advantage to teams with bigger budgets.

A dated hotel is clearly not the worst thing that can happen to a person, but with the stifling heat in France, and the extra time spent in the hotel over the rest day, the quality of some teams' lodgings certainly hit a low for several riders this week.

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