Max provided five additional clues on the France Inter radio station during the 1993 Tour de France.
- On July 15, the Tour de France crossed the arrow of Apollo.
- On July 16th, the Tour de France crossed a line.
- The world champion could peddle fast enough for his jersey to become white.
- On July 23, the Tour de France crossed a line.
- On July 24, the Tour de France passed between two lines and crossed two. (A footnote in the third edition of the book says, ‘Concerns the displacement of the riders previously to reach the Paris region.)
These clues are very revealing. To solve the Golden Owl hunt we need to check these fit the lines we draw on our map.
Here’s where the Tour de France riders travelled on these dates.
On July 15, the Tour de France crossed the arrow of Apollo.
The cyclists travelled between Serre-Chevalier and Isola 2000 in the Alps.
On July 16th, the Tour de France crossed a line.
The cyclists travelled from Isola 2000 to Marseille.
The world champion could peddle fast enough for his jersey to become white.
The world champion of the Tour de France wears a rainbow jersey, so this clue seems to connect to enigma B. It suggests the science of of Newton’s Disc, the fact that a coloured circle spinning very fast blurs the colours into white.
On July 23, the Tour de France crossed a line.
The riders of the Tour de France travelled between Orthez and Bordeaux.
On July 24, the Tour de France passed between two lines and crossed two.
The Tour de France cyclists used a train on July 24th to travel from Bordeaux to Brétigny-sur-Orge before their final stage through Paris. It isn’t clear whether we consider this as a straight line between Bordeaux and Brétigny-sur-Orge, or whether we use the exact route of the TGV between these two cities. According to Max, a train trip is ‘more or less in a straight line.’
These clues are very useful for all owl hunters who draw lines on a map.
Further information
The Kaspius blog (French) details all the stages and provides the following map of the route.
Ilotresor (French) has a commentary on these clues.
The le dico du tour site (French) details all the stages in 1993.
Tour Atlas has a nice image of the tour stages.
The WikiChoutte (French) also has a lot of information and links on its Tour de France page.
Download a map showing the Tour de France clues HERE.