TDF 2020, Stage 9 Pau – Laruns 153 km
After fast start, Hirschi led peloton from a solo break until GC favorites battled behind on the Col de Marie-Blanque
DENVER, CO – At the beginning of the day when interviewed by reporters Marc Hirschi (Sunweb)—you remember him dear Readers—the 22 year-old who narrowly lost to Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck—Quickstep) in the sprint on Stage 2, said his goal was to get into the breakaway today. Dear Readers, I do not have any experience getting into a Tour de France breakaway myself, but ask any rider and they will all tell you it is easier said than done…in fact the smallest teams in the race treat it as a victory in itself. But yes, easier said than done…especially today as Jumbo-Visma relentlessly chased down all the attempts for the whole first third of the stage. Countless attempts went off in the flat beginning, including multiple moves started by Hirschi himself. But all the way up the slopes of the Category 1 Col de la Hourcere Jumbo-Visma brought back any groups that went away. You see dear Readers, they did not like the composition of the groups going off the front and thus they exercised their authority as the strongest team in the race and chased down everything. What were wrong with most of the groups up the road? Ineos riders. Ineos desperately wanted a man in the break today, then again so did every team. But anyways, this young Marc Hirschi, come hell or high water, he was getting in the break this day.
Hirschi rolled up his figurative sleeves and dropped any potential allies halfway up the long climb. Perhaps he thought Jumbo would just chase them down again if an Ineos rider bridged up to the group. He certainly developed an attitude, “I cannot get into the breakaway today if there isn’t one. So I will be the breakaway.” And that dear Readers is what he did. A group of 6 or 7 chasers were behind him, but they never got much of a gap on the Jumbo-Visma led peloton behind, while Hirschi started to soar. It was an impressive move from the young rider to declare he would be in the break at the beginning of the day and then he achieved it even though it meant a long range solo effort, he and the peloton were still over 90 km from the finish. Hirschi crested the Category 1 Hourcere, weaved down the short and wet descent, and then hit up the Category 3 Col de Soudet. At the top of the Soudet, with 75km to go, he had a gap of 1:52 on the chasing group of six and a 2:52 gap on the Jumbo-Visma led peloton.
The mountains were very green in the Pyrenees, and it was easy to tell why this day: it was very damp and cloudy, the roads were wet and rain was starting to fall again. The crowds were out in the Pyrenees again—how they love their cycling—despite the fact that all had to wear ponchos at the top of the climb. Behind, it was difficult for the chasers and the peloton to grab their rain gear from the cars because the pace was so high and the race still felt “ON,” but eventually all got their gear in time. After the crest of the Soudet, there was a long plunging descent down into a Pyrenean valley and the weather was only getting worse. Without the proper gear, a rider could start to cool down or even freeze on the descent and throw them off for the rest of the stage. Notably, the only one not to get his rain gear: Marc Hirschi. Was this Swiss—dear Readers, what do you call them? Just Swiss? Swissman? A Swit, or a Switz? Do any still go by Helvetians, using their Helvetica font? Swiss rider, just to be safe—was this Swiss rider used to a cold rainy descent like the ones we so often see in the Tour de Romandie or Tour de Suisse…or was this a mistake of immaturity? My commentator, the experienced and accomplished Simon Gerrans (of Orica-Greenedge fame), was wondering if he managed to get some newspaper at the top of the climb before the descent. Dear Readers, please allow me a few sentences to digress on this romantic image. Unlike so many ancient and fabled training and racing practices and preparations of old that are now out of date—my favorite being the eating of a hardy rare red steak for breakfast on the morning of the hallowed Paris-Roubaix race—this newspaper trick still actually works today. Nowadays the riders have all sorts of fancy high-tech waterproof and decently aero vests and raincoats, but in a pinch this oldest practice still gets the job done which I find quite romantic. At the top of such mountains on cold and windy stages, the support staffs would have newspapers ready for the riders to stick down their jerseys to break the wind on the descents in order to keep their torso and bodies warm, and it actually would do just the trick. So here today, the recently retired Simon Gerrans, actually wondered if Hirschi used this method for warmth today. Dear Readers, I lean towards no, and on the descent all could see his fingers were pail, his arms seemed cold. But he handled himself well, it was a fine lesson in descending for the amateurs watching at home especially as visibility was precariously reduced by fog and rain. Whether the weather would come back to bite him remained to be seen.
By the bottom of the climb, Hirschi had further lengthened his lead: 3:20 on the chasers, 4:22 on the peloton. Perhaps he needed to warm himself up, because he went straight to work in the flat valley. He then went into the best possible aero position he could achieve: forearms draped over the tops of the handlebars, hands holding his computer sticking out in front of him; from the camera following behind him he looked to be on a time trail bike. His arms were curled in tight, his shoulders were rounded well, and his legs were massive pistons; dear Readers, I wondered if we were watching his compatriot Fabian Cancellara, Spartacus, returned from retirement.
Funny I should mention him—what a transition I have made—because it turns out our Marc Hirschi is not only a compatriot, but from the same city of Bern and was a neighbor of the great Cancellara. In case you have come to cycling recently, dear Readers, Cancellara, recently retired, is arguably the greatest Swiss cyclist of all time, perhaps even better than the ancient great ones from the Golden Age: Ferdi Kubler, Monsieur 100,000 Volts, and Hugo Koblet, the definitive Pedaleur de Charme. The commentators all said Hirschi got Spartacus’ autograph when he was 9 years-old and still keeps it safe today. Is this a modern version of the legendary Coppi/Girardengo relationship? Yes, Constante Girardengo, was 1920-30’s cycling royalty, he was Italy’s first il Campionissimo (“Champion of Champions”); and Fausto Coppi, the most iconic cyclist that ever was or ever shall be and Italy’s definitive il Campionissimo, would deliver milk by bicycle to his mansion when he was a boy and Girardengo was at the peak of his powers. Surely, such romantic legends must be real as we see their modern equivalents play out today. Did Cancellara ever take Hirschi under his wing to teach him to be such a Spartacus like himself? This Hirschi seems made of stern stuff; and surely the veterans all have a care for the young ones that will take their place when they grow old, especially the ones from the same backyard. And especially this Hirschi, such a promising talent: he can sprint with Alaphilippe, climb away from strong chasers and Jumbo-Visma, the ferocious weather hasn’t phased him in the slightest, and now he time-trials without a time trial bicycle. Come on, Spartacus, Hell of the North specialist and four times the Time Trial World Champion! Fabian, you must have a soft spot for such a young rider. Surely, wherever you were today, you were cheering him on.
Hirschi looked good over the next Category 3 climb of the Col d’Ichere. After another descent and short valley ride, he reached the lower slopes of the final Category 1 climb of the Col de Marie-Blanque. Behind the chasers were caught, but Hirschi still had 4 minutes over the peloton, a sizable gap for how well he was riding. But how would the peloton play this climb? Would there be fireworks? Would Tadej Pogacar (UAE) attack again, he still needs more time; when would he attack? Of course too, at the top of this climb: 8, 5, and 2 second Time Bonuses were available for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd over the top; and from there, it was less than 20 km with only a descent and a flat run-in to the finish. Yes, there was no doubt the GC men were interested in the Bonus Seconds at the top; and from there, the ones at the finish line: 10, 6, and 4 seconds for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively.
By the time the peloton reached the bottom of the climb, Hirschi’s gap was only 3:24 and Jumbo-Visma were driving it on the front. Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma) swung off, job done; and the too familiar Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took over pacing duties again, surely the other riders now cringe to see him on the front! Wout rode like a madman and totally emptied the tank once again, shelling many out the back. Already suffering was Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgorhe), his second bad day in a row—something must be off with the man who finished 4th in the Tour last year. To the front came the American, Sepp Kuss with George Bennett, Tom Dumoulin, and Primoz Roglic (all Jumbo-Visma) all still waiting in the wings. Behind Roglic, the other favorites were lined up: Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) in Yellow, Tadej Pogacar, Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren), Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsaic), Superman Lopez (Astana), Egan Bernal in the White Jersey of Best Young Rider with his Ineos Grenadiers lieutenants, behind them the Trek-Segafredo duo of Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema, and behind them Rigoberto Uran and his EF Colombian compatriots. Yes, on the last climb before the Rest Day, there would be fireworks; and Hirschi’s lead was evaporating.
With 20 km to go Pogacar launched an attack on the steepest gradients of the climb, 12-13%. Soon Dumoulin was finished and Roglic was on his own. Bernal in White was feeling better today and launched multiple attacks and covered many of Pogacar’s. But Pogacar also covered his or returned fire. The two youngsters, the stars for the next decade to come, were equal matches for each other today. Meanwhile Roglic and Landa were able to cover all of their attacks as well. Richie Porte looked better than he has in years and just held onto them, but only just. A hierarchy for the day was being established, because 10 or 15 seconds behind: Bardet, Quintana, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Uran, and Mollema had formed a chasing score. A score or more of seconds behind them, Adam Yates rode with Valverde and Mas (both of Movistar), Superman, and Caruso (Bahrain-McLaren).
Meanwhile our soloist, Hirschi, finally reached 1 km from the top of the climb. But Bernal’s White Jersey group was now only some 48 seconds behind! On the front of the White Jersey group rode Primoz Roglic, keeping tempo, if these gaps held he would be in Yellow heading into the Rest Day; his pace was too much for Porte who drifted to the chasing group. As Hirschi was only a couple of hundred meters from the top of the climb, his gap to Roglic and the White Jersey continued to shrink extremely rapidly, would he be caught? No, Marc Hirschi went over the top alone, but only 16 seconds later, Roglic came across the line just ahead of Pogacar to take the 5-second bonus still available, Roglic was now already provisionally in Yellow regardless of the time gap to Yates and despite Pogacar almost colliding with him in the sprint.
Thus we began the furious descent. Marc Hirschi, the young talent, the up-and-comer was fighting for stage glory, meanwhile the GC battle behind would soon envelop him, surely. Roglic, Pogacar, Bernal, and Landa chasing behind were thinking purely of GC, it was in their interest to bomb down the descent and work together to take time on the rivals behind, but also sprint for first in order to gain the 10 second Time Bonus for 1st. But Marc Hirschi would not go down without a fight. The time checks that came in on that descent always turned in Hirschi’s favor: he was extending his lead, putting time into the GC groups behind. With 11 km to go, Hirschi had 19 seconds on the Bernal’s White Jersey group, 37 seconds on the next group, and 1:06 on the Yates Yellow Jersey group. All dropped like stones down the wet roads into Laruns where Roglic had won a stage just two years earlier. The corners were technical, the straightaways required every ounce of power still available, and the bends were taken at high speeds. Hirschi was descending so fast he overtook his camera-bike, on such occasions all viewing instinctively hold their breathe. Hirschi’s gap on the White Jersey group was now 23 seconds and counting. It was all thrilling viewing, it was cycling at its finest. What a finely balanced race!
Hirschi came off the descent with 7 km to go and curled straight into the aero position to powerfully time-trial his way to the finish. The GC groups behind hit the flat as well. With 6 km remaining, Hirschi had 29 seconds on Bernal’s White Jersey group. But on the flat the quartet of Roglic, Bernal, Landa, and Pogacar rotated evenly like clockwork. Bernal and Landa did equal turns with Pogacar and Roglic, though the latter two had already proven on the last summit to be the better sprinters, but they all needed to maintain the gap on the GC chasers behind. With 3 km to go, it was highly questionable if Hirschi could solo it to the finish, and then dear Readers, he made a highly controversial decision.
With only a 12 second gap and still more than 2 km to go, Hirschi—thinking the writing was on the wall and surely with guidance from his Directeur Sportif in the car behind—sat up, and let the White Jersey quartet catch him. Yes, on paper Hirschi must be a better sprinter than all of them—why just 7 days ago he almost beat Alaphilippe—but is this the case after riding solo through the mountains for 100 km? This was the gamble. And dear Readers, were I in his position right then with 2 km to go, I would have grit it out win or lose, I had already invested too much. Were I to sit up, the proper time would have been right at the bottom of the descent where I could have sat in for 7 km. But Hirschi made the decision and had to see it through. He sat at the back of the group. They came into the final straightaway. With 250 m, Hirschi launched his sprint first from the very back. It was too early, Pogacar was thoroughly on him. Hirschi reached top speed and Roglic was still in his slipstream. Pogacar accelerated past him on his right for the win, and Roglic came around his left to take 2nd. Hirschi was consigned to only 3rd place while Bernal and Landa took 4th and 5th.
The first group of chasers finished 11 seconds behind. Yates’ Yellow Jersey group was 54 seconds behind. Roglic had now captured Yellow, Egan Bernal was still in White, both masked up and cooled down on the turbo trainers next to the stage winner Tadej Pogacar…who is obviously not our man, Marc Hirschi. Ah! He had put in such a big day, he had descended and time-trialed so well. He deserved the victory, but he had made a controversial decision, maybe it was the right call, but the young Swiss rider was still too eager at the finish. Surely, it is clear for all to see that he jumped too early, after such a day and with his speed, he should have left it late. He did not and he lost. But it was still a fine showing, Marc; you impressed the cycling world today. You are a very strong rider who can climb, descend, sprint, and time-trial; a complete package, no? Perhaps you will see it as curse, but it is the highest compliment your rivals and the public can give you: from now on, you shall never fly under the radar, because now everyone knows your name.
Cycling Odysseys 