Thirsty? Todays stage starts in Evian-les-Bains to give it the full name, but as Evian its one of those places more famous as a consumer brand of than a town.Spring water is abundant in the Alps, there are many fountains supplied by abundant rain and snow melt. The handy website eau-cyclisme (water-cycling) lists over 7,000 places to get a free drink during your rides across France, itd be helpful to have a map or app that does this in more countries or unifies other attempts. Its been essential for the recon rides that inform the daily previews here. Some are dilapidated public toilets, others taps inside a cemetery. A few are more swanky. One such spot is in Evian where you can fill up your bidons with Evian for free.In the late 18th century Gabriel Cachat had a spring in his garden and this is the origin of the water which became celebrated for its light taste. People took a liking to it, he ended up fencing his garden and one thing led to another. It was in 1826 that the spring water got official approval to become a saleable product and the industrialisation begun. This year obviously marks the 200th anniversary and the Tour is here to play a part, last month the G7 summit in Evian did too.Visit Evian and the scale of the industry is not obvious. Its a tourist town and not a corporate one. The fountain is a steady trickle rather than a gushing torrent. However three big pipes which take water from the Cachat spring, or the geology that supplies it, a vast layer of glacial sand wedged between to layers of clay. The conduits go to bottling plant in Publier, another town to the west.Production estimates vary, take your pick of online sources, but at the low end of 1.5 billion bottles a year are said to leave the factory gates or two billion litres. Whatever their size, that works out as over four million bottles a day, most of which is taken away by train direct from the factory to different freight platforms where it is loaded onto more trains, trucks and also sent to shipping ports for export.Plenty ends up in countries with abundant water and whats really being sold is convenience and standardisation. Its big business for parent company Danone, Evian has been a tenth of its sales.This makes it a delicate day for the Tour de Frances sponsorship staff. Since 2008 the race has been sponsored by Vittel, another brand of water that belongs to Nestl Waters, arch rival of Danone.Vittel is an important customer for the the Tour as an official partner, the label used for the second tier of sponsors below those that sponsor the jerseys like LCL or Skoda. So how much can the race visit Evian and not trigger talk of Danones produce? Perhaps starting in Evian helps as the finish tends to get more attention.The Tour has a good reason to visit now. As well as the 200th anniversary of the water as a commercial venture, a century ago in 1926 the race started in Evian. This was the first time it did not begin in Paris, a literal departure from its established format.Nevertheless the race was determined to stick to its tour-of-France. 1926 was truly the year of the grande boucle, the big loop as the race fastidiously returned to Evian to complete a full lap around France before making the journey to Paris for the remaining two stages. This made it the longest ever Tour de France with 5,745km compared to 3,200km today. But back then things were obviously slower. The 1926 Tour took 238 hours to complete for the winner Lucien Buysse, and the lanterne rouge was a full 24 hours down on GC, compared to last years race taking 76 hours for the winner with the last rider only six hours slower. Thirsty work either way.The post Postcard from Evian first appeared on The Inner Ring.