Qatar’s cooled bike path could lure Tour de France

A story on today’s Roadbikerider.com points to a story on Cyclingnews.com about Qatar’s application to play host to the world’s biggest annual sporting event.

The oil-rich Gulf State has a problem. It’s hot. But there’s a plan: a cooled cycle path. It just so happens I did a podcast on this subject in 2006, before I created Quickrelease.tv. The audio-and-pix interview with the project’s tech advisor can be seen here on YouTube:

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Qatar could be a contender by 2014: “The candidacy is a logical step for Qatar, which after hosting the Asian Games in 2006, is also a candidate for the Olympic Games of 2016. The distance [from France] shouldn’t be a problem. When we took the Tour to London, everyone said we were crazy.”