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Geology of the Tour de France

@geotdf.bsky.social
6.5K followers 68 following 358 posts

At @GeoTdF.bsky.social we answer your questions on landscapes and geology cycling races | see Geo-Sports.org for more information!

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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Alpe d'Huez day! Two years ago, Marjolein made this clip for the @le-tourdefrance.bsky.social Femmes about how the Alpe is folding without breaking! Enjoy the climb! And the spectacular folds...
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Three years ago, Marjolein Naudé made this clip about the Puy Mary, the Cantal volcano's highest peak not far from today's finish line. It was then the finish for a stage in the @letourfemmes.bsky.social! @uugeo.bsky.social
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Today's Tour de France stage ends at Le Lioran, at the top of the Cantal Volcano, Europe's larges stratovolcano. Two years ago, we made this clip there, our favorite :) How volcanism led to the invention of the bicycle! @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social @uugeo.bsky.social
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
The Giro will pass Carrara today! The Carrara marble mines are Earth's largest. Since Roman times, some of the purest marbles in the world, used for iconic architecture and art, have been excavated in over 650 quarries.
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Liege-Bastogne-Liege today! And there’s nice geology there of course 🤠 youtu.be/w4WDYuYwfgk?...
youtu.be
Geology of Liege-Bastogne-Liege: The Ardennes are a valleybelt, not a mountainbelt
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Always wondered why the Flemish hills are so steep? Check out our recipe of how to make a Flemish hill #Geology #RondevanVlaanderen youtu.be/Sq-AvUHGKf4?...
youtu.be
Geology of the Tour of Flanders - how to make a Flemish hill?
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
In case you wondered why GeoTdF is silent: we went incognito and trained to become pro. Today, we ended at nr 116 in Paris-Nice 😎 🦖 @teamvismaleaseabike.com @appysluijs.bsky.social
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
The #TourofHolland gives us the opportunity to introduce the geologically most puzzling mountain of Europe: the Col du VAM! The Dutch province of Drenthe is world-famous for Pleistocene ice age erratics: blocks of gneiss and granite that were transported from Sweden and Finland by giant glaciers.
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
During the Holland Tour, the peloton will pass the Geulhemerberg! See @melanieduring.com's clip about the treasures hidden along the climb! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkM7...
youtube.com
TDFF 2024 - Stage 4: The spring day on which the dinosaurs died
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
And check out our 2-minute clip, with @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social about the Alblasserwaard's history, made last year for the Tour de France Femmes! www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZSZ...
youtube.com
TDFF 2024 - Stage 2: Living on land below sea level
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
The Holland Tour is racing through our backyard! See this blog we wrote last year about the geology of the Alblasserwaard, the scene of today's stage :) And don't forget to listen to @josebeentv.bsky.social 's reporting at Eurosport! www.geo-sports.org/2024/stage-2...
geo-sports.org
Stage 2: Tidal | Geo-Sports
Three large tidal channels in the Rhine-Meuse mouth region of Dordrecht and Rotterdam in the South of Holland feature on stage two of the Tour de France
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
So, some background for the start of @lavuelta.bsky.social…and oddly, the best way to do that is by telling you about the geology of Milano-San Remo 😃. The first days will be about the Po Plain and the Ligurian Alps! Enjoy! www.geo-sports.org/2024/geology...
geo-sports.org
Geology of Milan-Sanremo | Geo-Sports
We explore the geology of Milan-Sanremo with lost oceans, colliding continents plus a bit of risotto and wine.
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
The Tour de France Femmes is climbing the Alps! Did you know the Alps are made of cheese? @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social explains in this clip! youtu.be/7wkFVQaMdo8?...
youtu.be
GeoTdF 2023 - Stage 14: The Alps are made of Cheese
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
The Classica San Sebastian will race along the Basque North Coast! @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social made some clips about the beautiful geological goodies of the Basque Country! The trace fossils in the Black Flysch for instance! youtu.be/BWGPKmuo6Zw?...
youtu.be
Trace fossils in the rocks along Stage 3 of the 2023 Tour de France!
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
The TdFF races through the Devonian of the northern Massif Central today. Marj and @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social imagined racing a Tour stage back then, 400 million years ago, in this ‘23 clip! 🐟 youtu.be/VFXoz3pSPec?...
youtu.be
GeoTdF 2023 - Stage 12. Fishing in the Devonian
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
And why is the Jura such a strange, croissant-shaped mountain belt in front of the Alps? Marj will tell you! youtu.be/CMeyN5AMGAU?...
youtu.be
TDFF 2024 - Stage 6: How the Jurassic got its name
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Racing through the Jura today! In ‘23 and ‘24 we made two clips about its geological wonders! Like dinosaur footprints! youtu.be/N7hmLLasZrk?...
youtu.be
GeoTdF 2023 - Etappe 19. With a trace of dinosaur
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Clearly, geology raised its ugly head again - literally - to make the Ventoux. And its structure has funny ways in influencing the race 🤓🤠
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
One more Pyrenees stage! And luckily, we have one more Pyrenees clip! How the deepest rocks end up on the highest peaks! youtu.be/0t4EifLi-zU?...
youtu.be
GeoTdF 2023 - Stage 5: Earth's mantle
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
While watching the ride to the Pyrenees, it's always striking how abrupt the transition is from the flat lands of the Aquitaine basin to the steep mountain slopes. Two years ago, Marj Naudé explained where this sharp change comes from! youtu.be/H7YIk3DnCug?...
youtu.be
GeoTdFF 2023 - Stage 7: From plains to towering mountains
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Pyrenees! Mine country! Time for the 2024 story of Metal & Rock! youtu.be/tImHaE0i9w4?...
youtu.be
TdF 2024 - Stage 15. Metal and rock.
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
While riding over the Cantal volcano 🌋 - Europe’s largest, it’s time to tell the story how a volcanic eruption led to the invention of the bike! @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social @uugeo.bsky.social youtu.be/mLzFcPAZNAA?...
youtu.be
TdF 2024 - Stage 11: Volcanism and the invention of the bicycle
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
A ride through the volcanic fields of the Massif Central today! Time to tell the story of Mary again! Take it away, Marj! youtu.be/6LPwKGLCHFU?...
youtu.be
GeoTdFF 2023 - Stage 2. Mary, queen of volcanoes
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
OK, so we decided not do skip a GeoTdF year, but this stage is so boring that it's begging for some geo-info! We're riding along the North Sea coast towards Dunquerque. But even as recent as 20.000 years ago, there was no coast here! During the last ice age, the Channel was dry!
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
OK, so we won't do a detailed GeoTdF this year, but we couldn't help ourselves...the geology of the Ventoux is quite clearly correlated with scenes during the climbs. For example, the famous 2016 incident that left Chris Froome running up with a broken bike - clearly geologically pre-determined.
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Unfortunately, we won't make GeoTdF clips for Dutch (NOS) and UK (ITV) television this year. Our grants ran out, and science & teaching life got the better of us. But it's not for lack of ideas. Just looked into the Ventoux. Wouldn't be a problem at all to make a 2 minute Geo-Cycling video there :D
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Patrick de Wever and friends from the Geological Society of France have provided the Geology of the Tour de France 2025! (In French) 👇🏽👇🏽
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
geo-cycling coming up in Ireland!
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DrSadhbh @drsadhbh.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
In Irish cycling, the 5-day Rás Tailteann starts tomorrow in Drogheda, and inspired by @geotdf.bsky.social I'm aiming to do a daily post looking at the geology crossed or passed by the riders. This year the route passes lots of interesting geology - I hope I can do it justice! 1/4
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
The Giro will set the first foot in Italy today! Although, geologically speaking, Puglia is the African plate of course! Read up on the geology of the Giro d’Italia in out blog, and we’ll give you the highlights during the race in the next few weeks! www.geo-sports.org/2024/the-geo...
geo-sports.org
Geology of the Giro d'Italia | Geo-Sports
The Giro d'Italia takes place in both Europa and Africa. The geology of the Giro d'Italia actually predicts who wins where!
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
The Giro d'Italia started in Albania, but the riders who are used to Italy will feel geologically right at home! Just like the Apennines, the Albanides (and the Dinarides to the North and Hellenides to the South) are made of rocks that were once part of the continent (Greater) Adria!
Paleogeographic map showing the outlines of the Greater Adria continent that once intervened Africa and Europe
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
The Giro d'Italia started in Albania, but the riders who are used to Italy will feel geologically right at home! Just like the Apennines, the Albanides (and the Dinarides to the North and Hellenides to the South) are made of rocks that were once part of the continent (Greater) Adria!
Paleogeographic map showing the outlines of the Greater Adria continent that once intervened Africa and Europe
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Reposted by Geology of the Tour de France
Douwe van Hinsbergen @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
10 more days to apply to this great opportunity at Utrecht University: Come join us as a new Assistant Professor in Seismology! Spread the word :) www.uu.nl/en/organisat...
uu.nl
Assistant Professor in Computational Seismology
Are you a versatile seismologist familiar with all modern tools of the trade? Join the Department of Earth Sciences!
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Geology of #LBL! @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social explains how the riders in the Ardennes do not climb up mountains, but out of valleys! Check it out in our video 👇🏽 @uugeo.bsky.social #geology #scicomm youtu.be/w4WDYuYwfgk?...
youtu.be
Geology of Liege-Bastogne-Liege: The Ardennes are a valleybelt, not a mountainbelt
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Reposted by Geology of the Tour de France
Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
The Dutch Amstel Gold Race is of course our favorite race of the year! That's why we have two clips about the geology of the Amstel! @melanieduring.com made this one for the Tour de France Femmes last year, but it is about the Geulhemmerberg! Enjoy! #scicomm #geology www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkM7...
youtube.com
TDFF 2024 - Stage 4: The spring day on which the dinosaurs died
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Geology of the Amstel Gold Race! Brought to you by Marjolein Naudé 😃🚴‍♀️⚒️ #scicomm #geology @uugeo.bsky.social youtu.be/eZpLfavOB3A?...
youtu.be
Geology of the Amstel Gold Race - The lizard of the Meuse
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
The Dutch Amstel Gold Race is of course our favorite race of the year! That's why we have two clips about the geology of the Amstel! @melanieduring.com made this one for the Tour de France Femmes last year, but it is about the Geulhemmerberg! Enjoy! #scicomm #geology www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkM7...
youtube.com
TDFF 2024 - Stage 4: The spring day on which the dinosaurs died
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
No Paris-Roubaix without a geology story! Marjolein Naudé explains in this clip how the Hell of the North froze over and made the muddy, dusty mess we all love so much! And read more in our blog: www.geo-sports.org/2024/geology... youtu.be/R00JSTLw-f0?...
youtu.be
Geology of Paris-Roubaix - When did the Hell of the North break loose?
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Tour of Flanders day! 🤠🤠 Last year, we made this clip about the Geology of the Tour of Flanders: why are those hills so steep? Check it out below, and have fun today! youtu.be/Sq-AvUHGKf4?...
youtu.be
Geology of the Tour of Flanders - how to make a Flemish hill?
YouTube video by Geo-Sports - The Geology of Sports Events
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Milano-San Remo day! For hours, the peloton will cross the Po Plain - an up to 8 km thick pile of sand and clay dumped from the Alps and Apennines. River terraces form steps in the flat surface and make natural rice fields for risotto rice! Read this and more in our blog! @uugeo.bsky.social
geo-sports.org
Geology of Milan-Sanremo | Geo-Sports
We explore the geology of Milan-Sanremo with lost oceans, colliding continents plus a bit of risotto and wine.
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
For those of you who are Tired Of All This Shit, we bring you: The relationship between volcanism and the invention of the bicycle! We made this clip, with @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social, for last year's Tour de France stage over the Cantal Volcano, and its highest remaining peak, Puy Mary ❤️🤠
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Ooh...the #TourdeFrance 2027 will start in Scotland and then go to Wales...that's gonna be some awesome geo-racing! Maybe we should consider making a few clips about that again then 🤠!
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Strade Bianche day! The famous white gravel roads of Tuscany promise another epic battle on the bike. But where do the white gravels come from? Tuscany’s subsurface consists of marble: bright white crystals of calcium carbonate. These are famously mined in western Tuscany, in the Carrara quarries.
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Douwe van Hinsbergen @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Also Australia is shaking: the intraplate faults of the Flinders Range, last month the stage for the Tour Down Under, are moving.
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Earthquake action in Tour Down Under land 😬
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Geology of the Tour of Oman! - The peloton may think that they're riding through desert mountains this week, but for a geologist, they're riding through the deep ocean, and the mantle below that ocean! Oman is one of the favorite geo-destinations: the world's most beautiful 'ophiolite'. #Geoscience
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
The pro-cycling peloton is racing the Al'Ula Tour in Saudi Arabia this week, territory of spectacular cliffs of sandstones, deserts, and young volcanoes. The cliffs around AlUla formed in shallow seas, ~500 million years ago, but to the South Polar, as part of the supercontinent 'Gondwana'.
Geologist standing in front of a wind erosion-carved limestone cliff in the Al'Ula region of Saudi Arabia
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Bernd Andeweg @berndandeweg.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
There was a 'decent one' (M 4.5) last week!
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Douwe van Hinsbergen @vanhinsbergen.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Well, here we go again with a GeoTdF cycling season! No longer on the dark side, but under the blue blue sky!
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Geology of the Tour de France @geotdf.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
And off we go with the 2025 geo-road cycling season 🥳🚴‍♀️🤠! The Tour Down Under brings the peloton to Adalaide, in the middle of the Australian plate. If you were afraid of earthquakes, you'd think this would be a safe place, as most earthquakes occur at plate boundaries. But you'd be wrong 😑.
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