TDF 2020, Stage 3 Nice—Sisteron 198 km
Sprinters have their day in Sisteron. Ewan weaves like a needle. Alaphilippe retains Yellow.
DENVER, CO – Just over 200 years ago, Napoleon Bonaparte was at the peak of his powers. He was the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, ruler over the Iberian Peninsula, destroyer of the Holy Roman Empire, and the rest of Europe formed coalition after coalition to defeat him. For over a decade he was the master of Europe and in that time he became one of the most famous people in world history. But by 1814, it all came tumbling down. In 1812, his infamous invasion of Russia failed miserably triggering yet another coalition of European powers warring against him. At the Battle of Leipzig in the Fall of 1813, Napoleon was dealt a crucial blow and was forced to retreat. By the Spring of 1814 it was all over, his enemies had captured him and Paris. Peace terms were negotiated, and dear Readers let me tell you, they perplex me. In practice he was exiled to the small island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany, but he enjoyed full autonomy to do what he wished as ruler of this little island kingdom with highly ample pensions for himself and family. What were these rival powers thinking not keeping him under lock-and-key? Because how could the once Emperor be satisfied ruling an island of a few thousands when he had once waged wars for the mastery of Europe while commanding armies of hundreds of thousands, an entire half-million at one point. So majestically and romantically he returned to Europe, breaking his exile. He smuggled himself out of Elba when Britain’s eye was turned and landed back in southern France. Before the famous Hundred Days—his brief but absolutely legendary return to power that ended with his final defeat at Waterloo—began, he first needed to cross quietly undercover to one of his loyal armies through the new king’s France. For some ten days he marched from Cannes to Grenoble. The route is still known, it has the finest trail markers in all of Europe: A Gilded Eagle perched on a Roman column, each taller than a man. The towns and their many starred hotels where he slept each night can still be visited today. In fact the views and the history are so rich, a scenic highway has been built during these modern times: the Route Napoleon. And it is on this highway our dear Tour travels today.
The opening festival in Nice is completed, it is time for the Tour to live up to its name. We strike North, as Napoleon did. Napoleon had 1,100 men with him, the Tour caravan is probably larger but of a comparable number. The same sites Napoleon, France’s greatest general, saw, our riders and us viewers now get to see. What was Napoleon thinking as he trekked over hill and passed lake between such beautiful mountain vistas? He must have thought about what grand things were in store. Did our riders think about such things today? Some, perhaps, but I would guess many of the riders lived in the moment and focused on the task at hand. GC men needed to be guarded, and sprinters needed to keep their legs fresh. As stated, the Tour now began to live up to its name, it was travelling from the hustle and bustle of Nice into the remote hill country. The roads and towns were quieter and more laid back. With only Jerome Cousin (Total Direct Energie) never more than a few minutes up the road, the peloton had a relative day of leisure, it seemed. I could be wrong on that, dear Readers, for I have not yet listened to many interviews, but today had all the vibes of a low-key transitional Tour stage. Such days are necessary, some days the powder needs to be kept dry so that the fireworks of the big days are truly fantastic shows. And fear not, surely a fine sprint would await us at the finish line to send us home happy. On such days, we can afford dives into the history such as our Route Napoleon. We can also mention the beautiful churches in the towns and the chapels on the hilltops. The Chapelle Notre Dame du Roc was the one that most impressed me. Dear Readers, take a look at it, scour the internet for its images amongst the landscape. The twelfth century chapel is perhaps humble but definitely beautiful; but the key is to see where it is seated. What an amazing mount it is on, they don’t call it Our Lady of the Rock for nothing; the sheer drop of this cliff wall is O! so impressive. It is so romantically picturesque from the town of Castellane below, “Our Lady of the Rock high above, watching over us mortals here below.” But we move on, for the peloton approached the finishing town of Sisteron.
Cousin was caught with 16 km to go and then the sprint teams clocked in for the business end of the stage. It had been a quiet day, and Sisteron was far quieter than in years passed with COVID restrictions and the end of summer vacations, but none of that diminished at all the gravitas of winning this stage of the Tour de France. NTT was on the far right working for their newly crowned European Champion, Giacomo Nizzolo, in his blue stripes and golden stars jersey. Cofidis were gearing up for their sprinter Elia Viviani. The sprint trains were fighting with the GC teams’ trains for the front trying to protect their favorites. Thibaut Pinot’s Groupama-FDJ team protected him, Mikel Landa’s Bahrain-McLaren team was up there, at one point Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers) led Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) at the front of the peloton. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) came down in a crash with 6 km to go, no sprint for him. Quickstep, lurking, made their way up towards the front (Alaphilippe looking as fetching as ever in Yellow). At 3 km to go the GC teams could back off, because now they would receive the same time if there was a crash. Quickstep now bowled down the road on the left. Michelton-Scott on the right. At 2.2 km there was a roundabout and the left side proved the quicker. Team UAE came to the front, Sunweb to their left. Lotto Soudal working for Caleb Ewan came up as well. Finally under the 1 km to go banner, la flamme rouge, “the Red Flame,” Sunweb was in full control with an impressive train of three or four men still intact: surely they were working for Cees Bol on such a day, after he had reached the podium on Stage 1. But NTT was coming up with Nizzolo, ratcheting up the pace to ever higher speeds. Then Bora-Hansgrohe’s Peter Sagan—Monsieur Green Jersey, but not wearing Green today—launched his sprint. “Finally he is looking in better form,” I thought. Though he looked good, he launched too early; on his right emerged the Shamrock Jersey with the Green, White, and Orange helmet: Sam Bennett of Deceuninck-Quickstep, champion of Ireland, had launched his sprint, his final kick. He looked good, it all seemed won…but behind one rider was making big gains. Whizzing between riders all the way to the far right on the barriers Caleb Ewan pinched and tight-roped his way through a gap left open around Sagan. Ewan came into Bennett’s slipstream and as Bennett accelerated a gap to the left in front of the fading Nizzolo opened for Ewan to pop through. Caleb Ewan, the Australian Pocket-Rocket, still continued accelerating and drew even with Bennett. The line was coming fast but Bennett knew he had topped out and Caleb hadn’t, so Bennett’s line took him slightly towards the left in the hope that it would help stall out Ewan as well. But today the Pocket-Rocket was the man of the match physically and tactically. Ewan continued to drive by Bennett like a bullet train, he won by almost a full bike length. Last year Ewan won three stages and was the dominate sprinter in the 2019 Tour, today he opened his account this year in Sisteron. It was a fine sprint, he was as nimble as a needle weaving through such competition. Perhaps his small stature—5’5”, 1.65 m—is what allows him to move like Mercury. And perhaps, were Napoleon here, he would be pleased that a rider after his own stature won the day on his Route.
Cycling Odysseys 