Workers seek shade at their camper vans parked the "Zone Technique" (Technical Zone) of the finish line area of the 11th stage of the 113th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 161,3 km between Vichy and Nevers in central France, on July 15, 2026. Hours before the Tour de France peloton arrives, an empty field or car park on the edge of town is already being transformed. Beyond the crowds, barriers and television cameras, a temporary settlement rises each day in the race's finish town. In a field, industrial estate or patch of open ground adjacent to the stage's finish line, designated as the "Zone Technique" (Technical Zone), hundreds of workers transform an empty space into a functioning village capable of supporting one of the world's largest sporting events. Then, less than 24 hours later, it is dismantled and moved on. Much of the operation unfolds overnight. In the early hours, trucks stream into the Zone Technique from the previous finish town, parking with military precision as crews unload equipment and connect power supplies before dawn. Many workers live on a shifted timetable, sleeping when they can during the afternoon in camping chairs, hamacs or shaded corners of the compound before another night of logistics begins. For three weeks each July, the Tour carries far more than cyclists across France. Technicians, builders, media crews, podium hosts and hostesses travel with the race, bringing their own power, communications, food services and sanitation infrastructure. Together, they form a population that descends daily on towns and villages of every size, bringing with them their own infrastructure, services and routines. Seen from inside the Zone Technique, the Tour de France is not only a cycling event. It is a nomadic settlement crossing the country, rebuilding itself from scratch every day, wherever the finish line happens to be. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP via Getty Images)