NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES, France — The women were crouched on the sidewalk early Monday morning, their eyes narrowed in concentration. The four of them, retirees with salt-and-pepper hair, worked quickly, pulling colorful T-shirt shapes from shopping bags and stringing them along the metal railing that lined the street.
Each mock shirt had been crafted of brightly colored yarn to resemble one of the iconic jerseys of the Tour de France: yellow, green, white and even one with red polka dots. The women have made more than 400 of them since January, and now, with a stage of the famed cycling race set to finish in their town Friday afternoon, it was finally time to put them on display.