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Halfords 'Tour de Francis' vid knits TdF ads togetherTour de Francis

Halfords 'Tour de Francis' vid knits TdF ads together

Wondered what those Halfords ads were all about? Wonder no longer...
by dave atkinson
Thu, Jul 05, 2012 15:04
40

If you're like us you've probably been wondering exactly what the storyline is behind those Halfords Tour de France ads on ITV4, whilst also kneeling and thanking the gods of cycling that they're a less annoying than the Chris Boardman ones from last year. Anyway, the full 15-minute video is on the Halfords channel on Youtube, and we've included it below.

The premise, as you may have already guessed, is to take an average Joe on an average bike and stick them onto the Tour parcours to see how they fare. The average Joe in question is Dan Francis, a 29-year-old employee of a pharmaceutical company, and the average bike is, well, probably a bit above average; it's the £999 Carrera Virago which we tested on road.cc not so long ago. "A versatile, comfortable, performance oriented, carbon bike and a real bargain too", was Stuart Kerton's verdict on the bike. Certainly it's one of the best road bikes you have for your cycle-to-work grand.

We meet Dan on the prologue course in Liège, and there's plenty of sunny swoopy shots of him tackling the Tour's sixth road stage from Épernay to Metz, but the real challenges come later in the vid. First he has a go at the 1,993m Col de la Madeleine before tackling the fearsome 2,067, Col de la Croix de Fer. There are hurty legs, triumph, disappointment and tears along the way, plus a cameo from sometime road.cc contributor Phil Gale shouting encouragement from the team car. And to finish it all off Dan tackles the mayhem of the Champs Elysées traffic. Anyway, we won't spoil it for you. Enjoy!

Tour de France 2012
Dave Atkinson

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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40 comments

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Simon E replied to bigmel | 12 years ago
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MercuryOne wrote:

They're irritating. I'm sick of the 'new lads' in cycling. Sick of them at sportives. Sick of them thinking they can then race after never riding at speed in a group and sick of them giving me their opinion on the T D effin F when I've been following it since Merckx and they've only picked it up since Armstrong won 5.

Opinions are like arseholes, we've all got one. Why is yours so much better? Does everyone else have to serve a grovelling apprenticeship before having something to say? Armstrong won his fifth in 2004, that's 8 effin' years ago. A lots has happened since then.

It's the prospect of arsey people like you that deter me from doing group rides and organised events. There's nothing worse than an snob who tell us all how to tie our shoelaces (well, there is, but jaded teachers are way off-topic).

bigmel wrote:

And that's why I do Audaxes.
And shout a lot on club runs!

At least shouting on club runs is educational. If people don't know how to ride in a group then it's the responsibility of those leading it / experienced participants to explain. If the recipient of the advice is unresponsive then I'm sure there are ways to get the message through.

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jijiandnoah replied to WolfieSmith | 12 years ago
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MercuryOne wrote:

I'm sick of the 'new lads' in cycling. Sick of them at sportives. Sick of them thinking they can then race after never riding at speed in a group and sick of them giving me their opinion on the T D effin F when I've been following it since Merckx and they've only picked it up since Armstrong won 5.

This is the kind of elitist douche-baggery I've kind of come to expect from cycling forums but normally absent from road.cc (which is why I like it here). Out of interest, can you let me know exactly how many years I need to have watched the TdF before I can express an opinion about it? Seeing as you've been following it so long and all...

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Doctor Fegg | 12 years ago
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Every time I hear "smashing it up by the river" I keep thinking "isn't that what Richard Keys and Andy Grey were on about?". Clearly not.

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amazon22 | 12 years ago
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Enjoyed it too - looks as though he had a great time with a helpful team behind him (although I can't believe they didn't know the top of the mountain would be closed). Could have done without the blubbing though - come on, man up man ... As is often said, its not about the bike, although apparently it did behave impeccably.

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Celeste08 | 12 years ago
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Looks like he had a great trip. French roads are generally fantastic, people are friendly, scenery is beautiful. I'd love to have the same opportunity.

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mavone | 12 years ago
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Enjoyed that, just a lad taking full advantage of an oppurtunity, fair play to him!

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gazzaputt | 12 years ago
0 likes

Smashing it up by the river. 39

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amazon22 replied to gazzaputt | 12 years ago
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gazzaputt wrote:

Smashing it up by the river. 39

Lost me there ...

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Karbon Kev | 12 years ago
0 likes

no, they're no less irritating. much more imo, who wants to see some idiot on a bloody Carrera? not many, i'd wager ...

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Raleigh | 12 years ago
0 likes

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

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