AP PHOTOS: The race to capture fleeting scenes from the Tour de France

It almost seems more like surrealism than photojournalism.

A cyclist in a teardrop helmet and tight racing suit leans over aerodynamic handlebars in the middle of a Burgundy vineyard, with no road in sight. The rider is framed between a woman waving a flag and a man facing in the opposite direction.

The image taken by Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay in a split second is not so much an artistic photo as an artistically composed tableau of professional cyclist Primoz Roglic going full speed in the Tour de France.

Filming the three-week race that ends on Sunday is as much about getting the stage winners to cross the line with their arms raised in victory as it is about finding a unique angle that captures the picturesque and quirky side of one of the world’s greatest . most epic competitions.

The race is a grueling competition that covers around 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) over 21 days and climbs a total altitude of around 52,000 meters (57,000 yards), the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest almost six times.

It’s also an endurance contest for the photographers who cover it. We spent long days taking photos on the back of a motorcycle or speeding up to find an ideal vantage point and then racing to catch up to riders or descending winding mountain passes at high speed.

“It takes everything out of you,” said Daniel Cole, who is filming the event for the AP with Delay. “It’s really intense physically, mentally and creatively. …It’s an absolute marathon to cover this.”

Cole and Delay are avid cyclists with an understanding of a sport that can seem confusing to the casual observer with the nuances of team tactics, breakaway maneuvers and the races within the race for the best sprinter and climber.

Cole raced in college and Delay is proud to own six bikes. If they weren’t participating as journalists, they would be watching. For Delay, who grew up in France and has never been this close in his 64 years, it’s a dream.

“It’s impressive,” he said. “I’m a kid in a candy store.”

To take the photo in the vineyard, Delay explored the route several times before the time trial, a short stage where each rider starts at intervals in a race against the clock.

Delay planted himself in a space between the grape trellises where fans were spread out along the road and then “waited and waited and waited.” The vines blocked his view of the road, so he had to judge the riders’ arrival by their applause and then he had a mere moment to take the photo as they passed at about 50 km/h (30 mph).

The main event is the race for the maillot jaune, the yellow jersey worn by the leader with the best overall time, but the spectacular French – and, in four stages this year, Italian – landscape can steal the show.

Postcards of the colorful squad that tours old world villages, riders swinging in a sea of ​​sunflowers or lined up on a pass in the Alps serve as little love letters to this corner of Europe.

Cole, filming his fourth tour, compares it to a trip through France that’s part sports story and part feature film.

Just as the tour passes in the blink of an eye, photo opportunities can disappear as quickly as they appear. One of the rules of the road for a motorcyclist transporting photographers is that you cannot turn back. Searching for vantage points at 80 km/h (50 mph) can become an exercise in frustration when you realize you’ve just passed a good place to take a photo.

“Once you see something, it’s almost too late to stop,” Cole said. “You start to accumulate these failures one by one. You play this game where you try to overcome the things you lost.”

In addition to the stunning views, there are small details, quiet moments from the race and vignettes that capture how the sport is woven into the culture of the country it surrounds each July.

There’s the lone horseman seemingly levitating over a field of wheat. There is the former winner Geraint Thomas and teammates huddled under an umbrella before the start of a rainy race. There is a man dressed as a monk waving a French flag that symbolizes the obsessive fans who arrive early to picnic and sip wine as they wait hours for the race to pass quickly.

“Every little part of France has the Tour de France for 10 seconds and then it’s gone forever,” Cole said.

Cole convinced himself to go into homes along the way, where homeowners with front-row seats stood in open doorways to glimpse the spectacle in motion. In a garage, a family set up a table of food to cheer the riders, close enough to feel the breeze and hear the buzz of the passing peloton.

When they got back to the table, the ride was over and so was Cole. He was on the bike, racing to catch riders and find his next shot.

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