Hotel horror on rest day for Tour de France riders - Uno-X duo forced to sleep outside after being given bug-infested room
Cycling
The Tour de France rest day affords the peloton with a timely opportunity to relax, put the feet up and enjoy some refreshing air conditioning and comfortable beds amid a sweltering heatwave during the first week.
But for Uno-X Mobility brothers Anders and Tobias Halland Johannessen, their rest day hotel relaxation turned into horror as they took to social media to show their fellow 'guests'.
The pair found their room crawling with bugs and spider webs as they made a key decision to get a good night's sleep in peace. Despite soaring temperatures and the luxury of air conditioning, the pair opted to sleep outside and moved their beds outside onto their terrace.
The ordeal has led to online criticism of the Tour organisers ASO. Teams are required to stay at the hotels organised by the race and are not allowed to privately provide accommodation for their riders and staff.
Logés dans un hôtel vraisemblablement insalubre, Anders Halland Johannessen & Tobias Halland Johannessen ont installé leurs lits sur le balcon ! 😲 https://t.co/67lJINBAIy pic.twitter.com/zhoTygBSI8
— Cycling Legend (@CyclingLegend_) July 13, 2026
Tour de France organisers provide teams with accommodation
ASO reportedly book 40,000 rooms every year for La Grand Boucle and rotate the quality of the accommodation provided throughout the race to ensure each team gets a fair share.
Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates – XRG reportedly dealt with the effects away from the road as well.
According to Spanish journalist Sergi Lopez-Egea, UAE are staying in a hotel where the air-conditioning system has struggled to cope with the extreme temperatures. When several rooms attempt to use the system at the same time, the electrical installation reportedly trips and causes power cuts.
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It is an awkward problem for the dominant team of the opening week, particularly with the Tour moving into its second block of racing and temperatures having climbed well beyond 35 degrees on several stages.
Pogacar and his teammates were pictured heading out for a training ride on Monday’s first rest day, while the hotel situation added an unexpected complication to an otherwise commanding start to the race.
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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- Congrats! It is done so now is time for CX.averagecyclist15-11-2026
- It's going to happen at some point. It will happen to Tadej as well, we all get older. Jonas was in pretty great form at the tour. I still consider him a top two or three cyclist in the world, until he's not.awp15-11-2026
- mij, I am not so sure of that. I have been on a spine ward at a Denver hospital that had quite a few spinal injuries from mountain biking.BDBigGuy15-11-2026
- Pogi takes care of his teammates in races and training. Tadej Pogačar is widely praised within the cycling peloton for his fair and egalitarian leadership, actively supporting his UAE teammates both on the road during races and behind the scenes at training camps. Rather than acting like an untouchable superstar, he has intense team loyalty by sharing daily chores, giving up personal glory to help domestiques, and publicly praising their sacrifices. Unlike some Grand Tour contenders, like Vingegaard, who occasionally train away from their squads, Pogi consistently attends team training camps alongside his domestiques, making the exact same sacrifices to build friendship. I love how Pogačar shares his teammates-domestiques, either when they succeed or win in races or when they simply just do a good job for him. It has to be a great moral boost for them. And then they work even harder and go even deeper for Pogi. This is teamwork.PogiSloFans15-11-2026
- Yeah, what he said!Lozza15-11-2026
- I’m sure Jasper Philipsen would disagree with you.Lozza15-11-2026
- Article says he was “out for a spin around the town”, implying not off-road.Lozza15-11-2026
- let’s be honest, Alpecin is all about one rider - MVDP. I’m sure he gets whatever he needs, the rest get the scraps.mij15-11-2026
- there are more vicious injuries on a road bike than a mountain bike far and away.mij15-11-2026
- That'll be one crazy rider
Rafionain-Glas15-11-2026
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