{"id":595573,"date":"2026-05-21T04:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/595573\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T04:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:37:18","slug":"ever-wanted-to-drive-a-giant-cauliflower-at-the-tour-de-france-this-could-be-your-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/595573\/","title":{"rendered":"Ever wanted to drive a giant cauliflower at the Tour de France? This could be your chance"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s more exciting than watching the Tour de France <\/a>shoot past in all its three-dimensional technicolour? Maybe, just maybe, driving just ahead of it in a car decked out as a cauliflower.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a second Tour de France that the cameras don\u2019t show: one awash with branded bucket hats and inflatable animals, giant four-by-four vegetables climbing mountains and vehicles that have, through the years, rolled past spectators disguised as a leek, cherry, melon and strawberry. The Tour de France caravan.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now, E.Leclerc, the Tour\u2019s supermarket sponsor, is looking for someone to drive its latest vegetable vehicle: a giant cauliflower.<\/p>\n

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The recruitment criteria is alarmingly scant: you should have a drivers license; be friendly (you\u2019ll literally be driving around in a giant cauliflower) and available from 2-26 July for the men\u2019s race, and from 1-10 August for the women\u2019s race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Strength enough to bat away spectators who get too close to the open-top car is also a requirement, as is the ability to navigate both flat roads and mountain passes<\/a> thick with excited fans; all while maintaining enough distance from the peloton to avoid being caught, and a cruisy enough speed to keep the spectators happy. Easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to have had their B license for more than three years, and have a bit of a CV because it’s not easy to drive,\u201d the president of the E.Leclerc centers’ Strategic Committee, Michel-\u00c9douard Leclerc, said in an interview with the LCI television channel<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s an electric car.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cauliflower will be one of nearly 50 vehicles in the Tour\u2019s famous caravan. Devised in 1930 by the race’s founder, Henri Desgrange<\/a>, the caravan was a way the Tour could finance the purchase of tour-specific bikes.<\/p>\n

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Now, nearly 100 years later, the caravan has become such a core part of the event that according to a 2017 polling by Le Tour, 47% of fans come out to see the spectacle, rather than the race itself. And it\u2019s no wonder; the parade traces every kilometre of the race\u2019s route in 45 minutes of uninterrupted flying freebies thrown from car after sponsored car.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to be in with a chance of driving one of the supermarket\u2019s fabled vegetables around the Tour de France route, you\u2019ll have to act quick.<\/p>\n

“The selection process is underway,\u201d Leclerc continued, \u201cthere are many applicants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the race now afoot to become the next cauliflower chauffeur, Leclerc stressed that the main point of the big vehicular vegetable is, really, to spread a bit of joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s the point of the caravan<\/a>,\u201d Leclerc finished. \u201cIt has to be a celebration. It showcases French products, it shows support for French products, but it’s also cheerful and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nTour de France
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