The year climate change came for the Tour de France

This year's Tour de France, the famous three-week bike race across France, ran into a problem that has nothing to do with cycling strategy: heat and wildfires. The first two weeks brought an average temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest stretch in the race's past two decades of data, and wildfires in the Pyrénées-Orientales region forced organizers to limit the crowds and vehicles following one stage. Riders described headaches and exhaustion, teams handed out roughly 28 water bottles a day per rider, and many wore ice-packed vests before and during races. For the first time in the Tour's history, organizers shortened a stage because of the heat, cutting nearly 19 miles from one leg, and French officials gave regional authorities the power to cancel stages entirely during a red heat alert.

None of this changes anything about home energy upgrades directly, but it's a vivid example of how extreme heat is showing up in daily life, not just in forecasts. Nighttime temperatures that stay high mean less recovery time for bodies, whether that's a professional athlete or someone at home without reliable cooling. That's the same dynamic driving interest in home weatherization and heat pumps here — sealing up a house and having efficient cooling matters more as heat waves get longer and more intense, even far from a bike race in France.