Robb Read: Inside The Bend
Five years since it was publicly announced— we catch up with The Bend’s co-owner Sam Shahin to discuss the road ahead.
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We’re being presumptuous in thinking that, by now, surely, most are familiar with the saccharine and simplistic plot of ’80s film Field of Dreams.
Still, please indulge us as we recap things.
A farmer (played by Kevin Costner) starts hearing voices, instructing him, “If you build it, he will come.” Rather than seeking immediate psychiatric help, Costner’s laconic grazier decides to take on board this other-worldly suggestion.
‘It’, as it turns out, is a baseball diamond carved into one of his cornfields. As for ‘he’? Well, that would be the ghost of baseball great ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson, who, true to the whisperings, turns up for a paranormal game of ball, completing said farmer’s descent into what must surely be madness.
It’s a plot that holds eerie familiarity for South Australian businessman Sam Shahin—a man, along with his brother Yasser, who followed a personal calling (minus the voices, we presume) to build a huge and unprecedented motorsport facility in the middle of nowhere; a massive, risk-filled undertaking that today stands as The Bend Motorsport Park.
A former Mitsubishi test facility located in the tiny town of Tailem Bend—about 100 kilometres outside Adelaide and only a few postcodes away from Nowhere—Shahin admits, five years on, that he has at times stared down the barrel of madness in his unwavering pursuit to turn this previously unremarkable expanse of land into the second-biggest permanent racing facility on the planet, in the hope of attracting everything from Australia’s Supercars series to the Superbike Championship and even Formula One.
“The ‘build it and they’ll come’ saying is a very dangerous statement,” Shahin admits. “It’s very dangerous if one hasn’t done their research and understood the landscape, the market, and the golden tension between supply and demand.
But you also have to dream and dare to be different. You have to believe in a vision to be a part of something so unique that it’s sometimes scary to even think about.
“And that’s what we did. What started as a bold and ambitious project just got bigger, and so did the drive to be a part of something so unique. It quickly became like a mini city or a motorsport theme park.”
The aforementioned madness would arrive late at night—once the heavy machinery had fallen silent and the army of workers had left the massive, half-finished site. With the silence came the doubts. Would this really work? Would anybody show up? And, perhaps most importantly, given the last major racetrack built in Australia was Queensland Raceway in 1999, why had no one else bothered?
“The cynic will always ask themselves— and I certainly did—‘Why hasn’t anybody done it before?’ Those days are very difficult. Everybody wants to be unique, and everyone wants to do something for the first time. But there can be a reason that it’s the first time.”
Shahin’s passion for motorsport comes from being a keen driver himself—the 53-year-old business leader and Tony Stark-like figure (a comparison he eagerly swats away) holds the single-seater lap record at his own racetrack, and has raced in various divisions around the world. His racing came to a literal crashing halt in a horrifying moment at the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year, a tap from a fellow racer sending Shahin flying into the concrete barriers, his AMG GT disappearing in a shower of metal and glass.
“Seven months on, I’m still suffering the consequences,” he states. “I’m two centimetres shorter than what I was in February, because two vertebrae were crushed, and I’ve been in severe pain most days since. But that’s the sport.
“My participation in motorsport has really been a significant, important and essential factor in understanding the business of this sport. And I’m very, very competitive. You don’t go into a horse race expecting to run last, and you don’t go into a car race unless you think you can win.”
Shahin must surely have wondered if it was his own passion for racing that was blinding him to the commercial realities of what he was attempting with The Bend. Especially given the oft-touted aphorism that the best way to make a small fortune in motorsport is to start out with a large one.
Still, we now know how this movie ends. Shahin opened the doors to the Bend Motorsport Park in April 2018, revealing some 7.7 kilometres of racetrack, two purpose-built drift circuits, Australia’s fastest go-karting facility, a Rallycross circuit, 4WD course, a 100-room, four-star pit-lane hotel and a welcome facility with bars, restaurants and function rooms, all housed in a staggeringly large and modern layout. The Bend also welcomed its first Supercars Sprint round in 2018 and its first Australian Superbike Championship round that same year. Its first Asian Le Mans Series event arrived this year, and there have been countless car launches, private track days and smaller races along this same timeline.
The true jewel in the crown could still be incoming—the facility offering its track as an option to F1 organisers desperately searching for a fall-back plan for Melbourne’s 2021 GP, should that city be locked down again come next January.
“When I was asked about the potential for an F1 race at The Bend, my very clear answer was ‘absolutely’. We’ll be ready, willing and able if the opportunity presents itself. We haven’t come up with a development like The Bend to sit back and wait for things to fall into our laps, we’ve put our hand up and said we have a magnificent facility that can be made very quickly into a Formula One circuit.”
Whether or not The Bend claims the F1 [since the time of publication it has been announced that Melbourne will host the 2021 Australian Grand Prix], Shahin’s incredible risk has clearly paid off. Because, just two years after opening, the circuit finds itself rightly stitched into the fabric of Australian motorsport.
To truly understand why that alone won’t be enough to satisfy Shahin, you need to explore his history. His father, Fred, founded the Peregrine Corporation with the purchase of a single service station in 1984, which Shahin and his brothers later joined. The company has since grown into one of South Australia’s largest, and, in 2020, was ninth in the Australian Financial Review’s list of the nation’s Top 500 Private Companies—delivering an estimated annual revenue of $2.6 billion. Obviously, Shahin’s not the type to sit on his hands and accept the various wins to here; or to clap some self-congratulatory approval from the vast stand straddling the main straight.
So what next, beyond the possibility of Lewis, Dan, Max, Valterri turning up come March? Well, that would be the country’s most exclusive showroom and auction house—known as Pit Lane Garage—which debuted in September with the listing of its first vehicle, the incredibly rare McLaren Senna GTR. The circa-$2.5m hypercar is one of only three examples painted in the famous Marlboro livery of F1 ace Ayrton Senna, and likely the only one going on the market anytime soon—a major coup for The Bend’s exotic auction-house aspirations and yet another global play for this remote Australian player.
The idea for the Pit Lane Garage hit Shahin while he was casually strolling through his facility’s Welcome Centre—filled as it is with rare and exotic machines, most of which were donated by the businessman’s friends in the same way collector’s lend art to a museum.
Some of these vehicles were nominally for sale and Shahin concluded The Bend could act as an exclusive dealership, giving a buyer the choice of either shipping the car where they wanted or an ability to leave it under lock and key at the race circuit, to be used whenever a new owner so chooses.
“I kept knocking on the doors of collectors and friends and people I knew,” Shahin says of the new venture. “We knew they had wonderful cars, and for everybody to enjoy them is an incredible experience. It’s something that has to be seen—we have bus loads of people that come in every day just to look at and enjoy these magnificent pieces of art. The Pit Lane Garage vehicles, the finest automobiles on the globe, will be kept in that same space, where people know they will be well looked after and under 24-hour security.”
Further to The Bend’s evolution will be the completion of a village of Trackside Villas, where keen drivers can “completely indulge their motoring passions” by storing their vehicles on site, and securing a home away from home that will back straight onto the track itself.
A completion date for the luxury villas is still to be finalised, but one thing is certain: Shahin will build them and they will come.
This piece is from our new Summer Issue – on sale now. Get your copy or subscribe here, or stay up to speed with the Robb Report weekly newsletter.
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First Drive: Bentley’s Flying Spur Speed Is a Muscular Heavyweight That Sets a New Benchmark
The most cumbersome part of the marque’s most powerful sedan to date is perhaps the infotainment system.
By Jaclyn Trop
December 1, 2024
Porsche Design Tower Bangkok in Photos
The automotive icon has announced plans for a 21-story residential building in Thailand. Set for completion by 2028, the 21-story building will house 22 “Sky Villas” priced from $23 million to $60 million.
December 1, 2024
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First Drive: Bentley’s Flying Spur Speed Is a Muscular Heavyweight That Sets a New Benchmark
The most cumbersome part of the marque’s most powerful sedan to date is perhaps the infotainment system.
“Remember, it’s 25 years in jail for damaging a cactus,” warns Wayne Bruce, communications czar for Bentley Motors Limited, as he tosses us the keys to the marque’s newest and most powerful four-door ever, the fourth-generation Bentley Flying Spur Speed. Sufficiently admonished, we’re set loose from the veranda of the Four Seasons Scottsdale and into the foothills of the Sonoran Desert. We have no plans to damage local flora, but beneath the sophisticated lines and refined amenities of the vehicle lurks a beast begging to be unleashed on this cacti-flanked thoroughfare.
Bentley’s Beyond 100+ strategy, geared toward greater sustainability, has a number of components underway as incoming CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser takes the helm. Primary among these is the brand’s first all-electric model, due in 2026. The Flying Spur Speed—a Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde of a car—is a bridge between the old Bentley and the new, a model variant that must compensate for the loss of its W12 engine.
The new all-wheel-drive Flying Spur Speed comes equipped with a plug-in-hybrid power train comprising a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V-8 and an electric motor. The pairing delivers a total of 574 kilowatts, an acceleration time of zero to 96 kph in 3.3 seconds, a top speed of 284 mph, and 75 kilometres of electric range. It’s also the first Flying Spur to get four-wheel steering.
My driving companion, Kristin, and I depart the hotel in Bentley mode, the automaker’s eponymous default setting, and—first things first—begin scrolling through the manifold touch screen controls to customise the individual climate and postural settings for our quilted, hand-stitched leather seats.
The car purports to “measure and maintain the perfect body temperature via zoned heating and ventilation.” It shouldn’t take long for the Flying Spur to learn about us. I tend toward freezing, whereas Kristin veers the other way, mentioning, “I’m a 53-year-old woman. I’m always hot.”
At least the functionality should eliminate any fighting over climate control. But we are equally intrigued by Bentley’s twist on seating comfort: a postural adjustment feature that the automaker claims “soothingly and seamlessly varies the pressure on the occupants’ muscles throughout their journey” to minimise fatigue. This sounds promising. As our route to Sedona and back is a circuitous mix of surface streets, highways, and twisty canyon roads, the prospect of traveling the 482 miles without a nap seems unlikely.
“Sitting consistently the whole time—that’s what gives you a numb bum,” says Bentley spokesman Mike Sayer, explaining more about the seating system. “It’s about blood flow. If that seat is very slowly changing shape underneath you, that [numbing] never happens.”
A look at the V-8 engine inside Bentley’s hybrid Flying Spur Speed.
The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V-8 pairs with an electric motor for a combined output of 574 kilowatts James Lipman, courtesy of Bentley Motors Limited
Leaving Scottsdale, Kristin and I get to work, so consumed with jabbing at the car’s cumbersome, 31 cm touchscreen that we hardly notice the car seems to be doing the driving for us. “Cruise control isn’t engaged?” I asked. “No,” Kristin replies. “I’m not even touching the pedals.” Yet there are no preternatural powers at play here, as this particular street features a long, imperceptible descent that requires no throttle input, a fact we learn only later.
James Lipman, courtesy of Bentley Motors Limited
That, though, is the point of the Flying Spur Speed. Like its two-door Bentley Continental GT Speed sibling, it benefits from the automaker’s most advanced chassis ever. On exhibition is Bentley’s suite of performance enhancements that includes the aforementioned four-wheel steering as well as active all-wheel drive, torque vectoring, an electronic limited-slip differential, and twin-chamber air springs.
“Then we have our little secret weapon,” says Bruce: a twin-valve damper sitting within the air springs. The independent control over compression and rebound damping means that Bentley can improve the Flying Spur’s Comfort mode without sacrificing performance.
James Lipman, courtesy of Bentley Motors Limited
As we near Sedona, we toggle between chassis settings, observing for differences in ride quality. We alternate between Comfort, which loosens the dampers to absorb bumps on the road, and Sport, which stiffens the suspension and uses active all-wheel drive to send more power to the rear axle. We also drop it into EV mode, which activates at speeds up to 140 kph. And best yet, plugging in is optional. The new Flying Spur comes with a charge mode that allows the engine to fully replenish the battery even while driving.
This new dual-character Bentley leaves us with no reason to bemoan the loss of its gas-guzzling W12 engine. True, the hybrid version is heavier, but it delivers a surprisingly nimble yet planted ride, and requires less time spent topping off the tank.
Kristin and I had no qualms about the performance—even though I did find the postural adjustment at times abrupt and bordering upon naughty—but considered the car’s main kink to be the infotainment system, which shut off the navigation just before important turns, obfuscated the menus we wanted, and continually stopped its job to nose its way into our private conversations. Didn’t we almost have it all?
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Porsche Design Tower Bangkok in Photos
The automotive icon has announced plans for a 21-story residential building in Thailand. Set for completion by 2028, the 21-story building will house 22 “Sky Villas” priced from $23 million to $60 million.
For some time now, branded residences by household names like Armani and Fendi have attracted those with a lust for designer luxury. Car makers have entered the real estate market, too, with unique offerings by Bugatti and Bentley as well as Porsche Design, which has launched residential towers in Stuttgart, Germany, and Miami, Florida. The German lifestyle brand, founded by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, creator of the iconic Porsche 911, now has plans to take their real estate endeavours to Asia.
This month, the company unveiled its third real estate development, a collaboration with Ananda Development, a Thailand-based developer, to introduce the Porsche Design Tower Bangkok. Construction on the 21-story tower begins next year and is set to wrap by the end of 2028. The ultra-luxury condo will be located on Sukhumvit 38, one of the most prestigious addresses in Bangkok.
Photo: @Porsche Design
“The Porsche Design Tower Bangkok is the next big thing for Porsche in Southeast Asia,” says Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche AG, in a statement. The region is becoming increasingly important for us, which is highlighted by major events taking place here these days. To name just one example: in January we celebrated the world premiere of the new all-electric Macan in Singapore.”
The tower’s striking design, as seen in renderings, is inspired by the kinetic movement of the 911 Targa roof mechanism, according to a press release. Its exposed pedestal structure, called “X-Frame,” takes cues from the design of the auto brand’s Mission R concept car and its exoskeleton structured to create a unique entry experience. A vibrant red light strip crowns the building, mirroring light displays on Porsche’s iconic sports cars.
The tower will house 22 exclusive duplex and quadplex “Sky Villas,” aimed at attracting “ultra-high net-worth individuals,” according to a press release. The abodes will range from 5,651 to 12,217 square feet, with a price range of $23 million to $60 million.
Owners can expect to find luxury furnishings and high-end appliances throughout the residences and the building that evoke the car company’s commitment to elegance, power and flawless craftsmanship.
The complex’s many amenities will include an 82-foot-long swimming pool, fitness center, spa, social lounge, and a luxury garage with “passion spaces,” similar to showrooms, that can be tailored to the individual liking of residents. Upscale restaurants and shopping malls are located nearby for a variety of entertainment options.
Visit pdtowerbangkok.com for more details
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How to Make a Gimlet, the Gin and Lime Cordial Cocktail That’s Perfect for Summer
It will also keep scurvy at bay, which is nice.
“Why on earth this stroke of genius stands unheralded and unsung in this fair and allegedly free land of ours shall, to us, always be a mystery…” –Charles Baker Jr., The Gentleman’s Companion: An Exotic Drinking Book
The above was published in 1939, when the author, an American food writer travelling through Asia, first discovered the Gimlet. This is honestly a fairly common reaction to a well-made Gimlet, and the only major thing that’s changed in the last 80 years is that while we didn’t know why it wasn’t more popular then, we know exactly why the Gimlet is not more popular now. The answer is a saccharine, highlighter-yellow liquid that can be found entombed in plastic on the bottom shelf of every liquor store in this country called Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice.
Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice, a.k.a. Rose’s Lime Cordial, wasn’t always this way. It started as medicine and was literally lifesaving technology when a Scot named Lauchlin Rose invented it in the mid 1800s. Before then—basically, from the beginning of human sea-travel until about 150 years ago—the biggest threat to a mariner wasn’t pirates or sharks or sea-madness but scurvy, which claimed some 2 million sailors between the 16th and 18th centuries. We now know scurvy is caused by about three months without any vitamin C, but it took millennia to figure that out. Once we did, there was still the problem of preservation, because some other forms of preservation (things like boiling it or storing it in copper) are, as it turns out, incredibly efficient ways to destroy the vitamin C. It was ultimately Rose who figured out a way to preserve lime juice with sugar in 1867, the same year the Merchant Shipping Act decreed that all British sailors must have an ounce of lime juice in their rations every day. Rose’s new “lime cordial” fortified the entire British Royal Navy against scurvy, all at the mere cost of suffering the nickname “limeys” for the rest of time.
The Gimlet fits into this like so: The sailors drank rum, but the officers drank gin. A shot of lime juice is some fairly unpleasant business, but alcohol seems to help the medicine go down, so one story is that it was Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Gimlette who first took his Rose’s Lime Cordial with a spot of gin. Another story is that the Gimlet was named for the metal tool used for opening the barrels to get the alcohol out. In either case, we meet the Gimlet officially in 1923, in Harry MacElhone’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails as equal parts Plymouth Gin and Rose’s Lime Juice Cordial. Fifteen years later Mr. Baker (above) calls it a “stroke of genius.”
So why aren’t Gimlets more popular now? Because Rose’s has become a zombified version of itself, embalmed with high-fructose corn syrup and sodium metabisulfate, and is now one of 125+ brands owned by the gargantuan Keurig Dr. Pepper group. This is a problem, because while you need a lime cordial to make a proper Gimlet, Rose’s is explicitly the type of mass market, highly processed bullshit that the whole “mixology” thing was resurrected to combat. It helped get us to where we are—Lord knows I made my share of Mojitos with Rose’s in those dark and early days—but fortunately for all of us, we now have a better way, because fresh cordials are quick, easy, and savagely delicious.
If a Gimlet with Rose’s is the speaker on your phone, a Gimlet with a fresh cordial is a concert hall. It’s like tasting in technicolor, what was a chemical note of lime now a chord of acidity, piquant and resonant. A good Gimlet is bright and full, sharp and piercing, with a clarity that sings no matter what gin you choose. To try a good one is to really get what Baker was talking about, or to see why Chandler and Hemingway wrote the Gimlet into their fiction, or to understand the type of joy that comes from knowing you won’t die from scurvy, after all.
Gimlet
- 60 ml. gin
- 40 ml. lime cordial
Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds. Strain off the ice either up into a cocktail glass or else onto fresh ice in a rocks glass, and garnish with a lime wheel or peel.
NOTES ON INGREDIENTS
Gin: As mentioned, use whatever gin you like. Some gin cocktails have ingredients which strongly prefer one brand over another—the raspberries in a Clover Club, for example, uniquely complement the rose petals in something like Hendrick’s—but here we’re just dealing with gin and lime, and all gins will go well with lime. My perennial favorite for shaken gin drinks is Beefeater, which indeed works great. You could also take a note from both the original recipe and from Naval history and make it with Plymouth Gin, which works fantastically well in both its standard (41.2 percent) bottling and its Navy Strength (57 percent).
Lime Cordial: There’s lots of ways to make a lime cordial, and as your faithful servants we’ve made / bought every single one we could find and tried them in side-by-side to determine the best. Our surprise and breakaway favorite was a cordial developed by Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler, which has the perfect balance of full lime flavor and sharp zesty edge. It requires getting some citric acid, which sounds intimidating but is natural and abundant and about $10 next day on Amazon (recipe below). If you absolutely insist on not making your own cordial, a good option was to just make the Gimlet using fresh ingredients (2 oz. gin, 1 oz. lime juice, 30 ml. simple syrup) and throw a lime peel into the shaker to shake with the ice. It lacks the cordial’s intensity, but the extra zestiness helps.
What’s great about the cordial is that not only is this spectacular with gin, it’s delicious with literally any clear spirit: tequila, vodka, rum, you name it. The sweet and sour of it is already balanced, so you can just add soda for a quick and easy limeade, or use it as a starting point for your own creativity (i.e. a Raspberry Pisco Gimlet is what happens when you add three raspberries to the shaker tin and use pisco instead of gin). The cordial will last in the fridge for at least a month and in the video above, I show you my favorite way to make, but here’s the complete recipe below.
Lime Cordial Recipe
Recipe from jeffreymorgenthaler.com
- 220 grams. white sugar
- 240 ml of warm or hot water
- 40 ml. fresh lime juice
- Zest of 2 medium or 1 large lime
- 30 grams citric acid
Zest the lime and put the lime zest into a blender. Juice the zested lime(s) into the blender, then add the sugar, water, and citric acid. After blending on medium speed for 30 seconds, strain with a fine strainer. Bottle and refrigerate or mix a cocktail immediately, if you so choose.
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01/12/2024
Gut Samaritans
Other top clinics around the globe are also offering microbiome-oriented remedies. Here are four to book.
ANANDA IN THE HIMALAYAS India
Using a more natural approach, Ananda in the Himalayas heals the gut, among other problem areas, through ayurvedic treatments and medicine with a holistic program overseen by a senior ayurvedic physician specialising in gastro health and metabolic disorders. The spa is ensconced in a former palace in the foothills near Rishikesh, making the location just as relaxing. From around $1,235 per night for seven- or 14-night programs
LANSERHOF SYLT Germany
On the weathered island known as the Hamptons of Hamburg, the year-old Lanserhof Sylt boasts a team of medical experts specialising in cardiology, neurology and dermatology, among other fields. Its gastrointestinal package includes a sonogram of the entire abdomen and comprehensive stool examinations. From around $6,940 for a one-week program, not including accommodations, which begin at around $1,145 per night
RAKXA Thailand
This integrative wellness retreat in Thailand has a seven-night gut-health program that blends medical technology with traditional regimens. Treatments include colon hydrotherapy and chi nei tsang (a form of abdominal massage); guests also undergo a food-intolerance test and leave with a month’s worth of supplements. From around $16,890 for a seven-night program
ARO HA New Zealand
The Revive & Thrive program here nurtures vibrancy with gut-focused, detoxifying plant-based meals. Guests enjoy nutrient-rich plates that support the gut-brain connection, enhancing overall wellbeing from the inside out. From around $6,950 for five nights.
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Upcycle Your Vacation
For merging serious riding with high-end hospitality, Le Blanq isn’t the only game in town. Here are a few others to consider.
When it comes to merging serious riding with high-end hospitality, LeBlanq isn’t the only game in town. if you are up for unapologetically indulgent weekends of eating, drinking and riding we have collected a few other travel operators to consider for your next cycling holiday abroad.
The Slow Cyclist
The reassuringly named company was founded by British author Oli Broom, who spent 412 days riding—via 23 countries—from London to Brisbane to watch a few games of cricket (and raise money for charity). The company is part of the “slow travel” movement, which aims to minimise your impact on local communities while maximising your engagement with them—and what better way to do so than arriving by bike. The Slow Cyclist will put you on two wheels in locations you might never have considered, from the mountains of Transylvania to the volcanoes, lakes and gorilla-filled wilds of Rwanda.
Cycling for Softies
As its name suggests, Cycling for Softies focuses unabashedly on the luxury hotels and Michelin-starred dining that punctuate its easy trips (e-bike optional)—“a gâteau in every château”, in the words of author and client Kathy Lette. The company operates in five European countries, with itineraries traversing the regions with the best comestibles, whether Provence or Portugal’s Douro Valley. Your bags are transported between hotels each day, and you ride at your own pace, following an app that even details the best cake stops en route.
Sportive Breaks
If you want to go harder than even LeBlanq can offer, Sportive Breaks will fast-track you into the most sought-after events of the year. From L’Étape du Tour, in which “civilians” take on a hard mountain stage of the Tour de France, to the roughly 314-km-long Mallorca 312 and other spectacular closed-road, mass-participation events (known as sportive rides), this specialist eases the logistical pain, if not the physical. Our pick? The slightly gentler annual Strade Bianche, whose 87 and 142 km routes over the white-gravel roads of Tuscany are bucket-list stuff for many.
Butterfield & Robinson
Established nearly 60 years ago, Butterfield & Robinson is the OG of the luxury cycling world. A coterie of loyal and well-heeled clients has followed the Canadian company into new fields, from safaris to superyacht charters, but bike trips remain its beating heart. Don’t bother packing energy gels or even your wheels: the aim here is seamless, stress-free travel, with itineraries curated by a firm with more experienced hands and likely a broader range of destinations— covering Europe, Asia, South America and Africa—than anyone else.
Trek Travel
The travel wing of the behemoth Wisconsin-based bike maker is your go-to for North American trips, with itineraries in 18 US states, Canada, Australia, Chile and Japan, and can organise custom private vacations for as few as one rider. As an official affiliate of the Tour de France and a team sponsor, Trek also offers excursions that follow the greatest race at a gentler pace: for around $17,000, you get six nights in top hotels in Nice and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, with VIP access to the final stage of this year’s event.
