On Monday, after nine days of racing and hundreds of kilometers, we stopped. We rested. For some, the rest day simply comes and goes. For others, it disturbs the rhythm of the race. But for most, it is a time to relax, to talk with our families, to laugh with our teammates, to nap and, more than anything else, to disconnect from the Tour de France.

On a rest day we have the luxury of being in the same hotel for consecutive nights, a rare occurrence on the Tour. The rest-day program is often simple: a short ride with the team and interviews with reporters, and the rest of the day is ours. Naturally, we hope and pray that the rest-day hotel is a five-star joint.

We’re cyclists; we don’t ask for much. Good food, free wireless and comfortable beds make us happy. But we drew the short straw on this one, and our rest-day hotel was a step above camping. Luckily for us, our chefs, Sean and Laura, made it seem better than a stay at the Peninsula. Well, almost.

Image Christian Vande Velde. Credit... Graham Watson

As the saying goes, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and that is especially true for cyclists. Because of Sean and Laura, the initial disappointment in our rest-day hotel was countered with meals of curry rice and chicken, heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, paella and Monday night’s feast of potato salad and barbecue turkey legs. There’s nothing like returning from a ride to the smell of sweet barbecue. It feels like home.