Corsica became a temporary home for this event in 2010 in what was widely regarded as a series of test events for the first visit of the Tour de France. It would be a mistake however to see this race as a test event! It's one of the classics and the 81st edition will be run in Corsica this weekend. What a year 2013 will be for pro bike racing in Corsica.

The Critérium International was formerly a three day road race designed as a mini Tour de France - a sprint stage, a time trial and a mountain stage - an all round test. The modern format remains similar in terms of the test but it's squeezed into two days with the first of those being a 'split stage' - a 90km road race in the morning followed by a short individual time trial in the afternoon.

Porto-Vecchio in the south of Corsica has been the race start/finish and it's also where the Grand Depart will take place on the 29 June. Being a classic it has attracted the big names and recent winners in Corsica include the Australian, Cadel Evans who won the Tour de France in 2011. The only Brit to win this race was Chris Boardman back in 1996 when it was held in mainland France. Irishmen Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche have won the event three and two times respectively and it's a shame Dan Martin can't be here this weekend given his current form!

The route is the same as in previous years and just checking Meteo France it looks like sun and showers saturday and more in the way of rain for sunday. Eurosport usually provide excellent live coverage of the race but their schedule at the moment is just showing sunday's stage only. I will tweet if this changes.

For cycling fans visiting Corsica the ride out from Porto-Vecchio to the Col de l'Ospedale at 965m and back through Levie is not only a great way to experience part of the Critérium route but also a great tour of the Alta Rocca region.

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USS, United States Ship, the initials that precede all American navy warships and of course, Captain Kirk’s starship Enterprise. There never has been a US navy ship (or as far as I know a Starfleet craft) with the name Corsica so where did USS Corsica come from?

Like much of Europe and all of France, Corsica was occupied during World War II but on the 16 September 1943 it became the first part of Metropolitan France to be liberated. Some 12,000 local partisans known as the Maquis drove out the occupying German and Italian forces.

Following liberation the island became a key base for US air force operations. Some fifteen airfields were rapidly established making it a ‘carrier island’ hence, USS Corsica. The airfields were constructed and made operational in a short period of time by specialist engineering brigades designed for the task. Many of these 800 man strong units were comprised solely of black Americans reflecting the segregated nature of the US at that time.

The 812th ‘black’ brigade arrived in Corsica from Africa in late 1943 and set about the airfield construction task. The bases were primarily for B25 and B26 bomber aircraft. Serving with the 340th bomber group was one Joseph Heller, the soon to be author of Catch 22 which he wrote in the 1950’s and said, was influenced by and based on his time and experiences in Corsica.

Between 29 June and 1 July this year the Tour de France will weave its way past a number of these historic air fields – Figari, Basita, Ajaccio and Calvi – all commercial airports today and not forgetting Solenzara on the east coast which remains an active military airfield. Today there is little evidence of Corsica’s role in WWII however if you’d like to visit a unique relic of the era why not take a dive trip from Calvi and see the wreck of a B17 flying fortress bomber which has been lying on the seabed nearby since 1944.

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It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Postman Pat does it? Postman Guy, Postman Guy, Postman Guy and his black and white cat.…

I think it probably loses something in translation.

However early in the morning, just as day was dawning Guy, like Pat, picked up his post bag and set off not in his van but on foot to make a 14km round trip to deliver the post to Girolata. This is a tiny coastal village in the north west of Corsica which is only accessible by foot, boat or parachute! And for Guy, as a former French Foreign legionnaire the latter must have been an option he’d considered many times as the round trip takes about four hours.

On the 1 July this year the Tour de France peloton will spend around four hours racing from Ajaccio to Calvi. The route will pass the start of the Sentier du Facteur or Postman’s Path at the Col de la Croix in some of the most stunning coastal scenery. No doubt Phil Ligett and David Harmon will tell us a little about Guy, Girolata and the Scandola nature reserve as the helicam zooms in on this Unesco world heritage coastal paradise guarded by an imposing 16th century Genoese watch tower.

But what of Guy Le Facteur?  Well he made his final delivery in May 2008 and the residents held a party for him on the beach which if you really want to, you can view on YouTube. Guy is the one who looks like Uncle  Albert and come to think of it, this is just the sort of yarn he’d spin to Del Boy and Rodders! Guy clearly was a cushty geezer or so the fifteen permanent residents of Girolata thought – I can’t help but agree with them.

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