THE GREATEST RACE OF TRUTH

TDF 2020, Stage 20 Lure – La Planche des Belles Filles ITT 36 km

THE GREATEST TIME-TRIAL RIDE IN THE HISTORY OF THE BICYCLE WAS PRODUCED TODAY as major GC shifts take place on the La Planche des Belles Filles penultimate day Time Trial

DENVER, CO – The dramatic “Race of Truth” has never more so lived up to its name. Put to shame are Monsieur Chrono Jacques Anquetil’s Grand Prix des Nations wins compared to the ride we saw today. The Cannibal Eddy Merckx’s Hour Record set in Meixco City in 1972 cannot hold a candle to the ride I shall soon describe. For all his dominance even Big Mig Miguel Indurain did not have a signature ride of such weight like this one had today. The Hour Record performances of Monsieur Prologue Chris Boardman and the Flying Scotsman Graeme Obree which were akin to the space race have now been blown out of the water. And even, even the most legendary Time Trial performance of them all by Greg Lemond in 1989 has finally been bested. It is for such Herculean performances that shake the foundations of the world like the one we saw today that we watch this sport day in and day out, because we simply never know when we shall be dazzled and stunned by a performance we shall remember for literally the entire next century. Truly, in the future cycling history books that shall cover this new generation, all of them shall give today’s performance the place of honor. Here in the two thousand and twentieth year of our Lord, in the midst of the restoration of the world after the Coronavirus pandemic, the greatest time trial, chrono, pursuit, effort against the clock in the history of the bicycle has taken place.

Richie Porte! The Tasmanian Richie Porte of Trek-Segafredo has ridden himself onto the podium of the Tour de France for the first time in his career at the ripe old age of 35. It was probably the crowning achievement of his career. It was the Time Trial of his life…and his ride was an afterthought, completely eclipsed by this greatest Time Trial not only of the century, but of all time.

O! La Planche des Belles Filles, how I love thee. Yes, dear Readers, the climb where this Individual Time Trial finished has a special place in my heart. In 2012, still during the years when the only bike race I knew about was the Tour, I saw Chris Froome (Ineos Grenadiers) for the first time pacing Bradley Wiggins for the entire climb. When it seemed his domestique duties were done for the day, he then still outsprinted Cadel Evans up the final 20% ramp. He was the first to come over the horizon as the insane gradients flattened out in the final meters to take his first Tour stage victory. In that moment, I pointed to the TV and said that man would win the 2013 Tour de France, and he did. Stage 10 of the 2014 Tour de France finished at the top of La Planche des Belles Filles and it was a day I shall never forget, for it was the day I officially fell in love with cycling. There is not room to tell that romantic love story here, because today’s events are so much more historic and thrilling. And yet, if not for that stage in 2014 perhaps today I would have skipped out on watching what everyone thought would be a business-end Time Trial, more of a formality check-up test rather than the ultimate Race of Truth. Yes, La Planche des Belles Filles was the scene of another legendary performance today—by far its greatest yet. As in the past though, it was the riders themselves who created the drama today.

How does one go about producing the greatest individual effort of all time against the clock? What was he thinking when he woke up this morning? What was his warm-up procedure—sorry, procedures?  Was there an early morning effort to warm-up the legs for the whole day? Was there a course recon? What was the feeding schedule for the day? Surely, he nailed the final hour-or-so preparation routine before he descended the Time Trial Starting Ramp. And none of those questions matter compared to psyching oneself up for the biggest performance in their career. Quite frankly, I highly doubt he even knew he had such a performance in him, he did not know what he was about to do, and that made it all the better.

The day got off to a slow start actually, it really was the business-end of the Tour for many of the early riders. The most notable early ride was not due not to his performance, but to the ovations he received. Why it woke up the stage! Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) came down the start ramp to the wildest applauses on the day. These roads are where Thibaut grew up, 9 km into the TT he rode through his home village of Melisey where his father Regis is mayor. His friends and family were out on the roadside, I do not say probably, dear Readers, because I am convinced the whole town was out in force. Pinot’s former schoolteachers were there with the local baker who would give him free croissants as a child. The barber who would give him the same haircut as all the other boys in his youth was cheering for him. There was the now-retired priest who baptized him thirty years ago, there was his childhood crush, there was the boy who milks the goats on his farm while Thibaut is away at the races. Yes, Thibaut Pinot owns a goat farm. And yes, every villager was there to see the darling of their village ride through in the biggest bike race in the world. Ah! How beautiful would it have been if Pinot were in Yellow as he rode up that last 20% ramp of La Planche des Belles Filles where the fans had painted “Pinot, Pinot, Pinot,…” for literally 200 meters of the road. But ultimately, it was good Pinot was not in contention today, because it would have been a shame to see the unstoppable one break his heart on his home roads. Pinot rode well, but he did not trouble the top times already set nor the top men still to come.

In his Beglian Time Trial Champion skinsuit, Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was the first mighty one to threaten the best time already set. He was down 38 seconds at the first time split 14.5 km into the course, but by the bottom of La Planche des Belles Filles he had drawn even. Wout opted to switch to his road bike at the bottom of the climb in order to eat up the meters of steep gradients as he has all Tour in the service of his Yellow Jersey-wearing team leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma). He crossed the finish line with a bike throw 38 seconds quicker than the best time thus far. It was a strong performance, but behind the final contenders were already on the road and something major was brewing.

Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) rolled down the ramp in the Polka Dot Jersey, knowing the plan to sandbag the flat and steamroll up the finishing climb in order to set the best time uphill and retain his King of the Mountains lead. Soon after Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma), former Time Trial World Champion, was off down the ramp—ready to stretch his legs and put in a stage winning performance. Rigoberto Uran (EF) went off with Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) a minute after him, surely it would be a Race of Truth between these two, because Rigo began the day only 10 seconds behind Yates on GC. The same would be true for Enric Mas (Movistar) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren) who were the next two to start, only 50 seconds separated them on GC. After Landa was fourth place Richie Porte who was only 22 seconds ahead of Landa on GC and 1:39 behind Superman Lopez of Astana. It would surely be a Race of Truth for Superman Lopez to keep his GC Podium position, O! too often the Time Trial is the Achilles’ Heel for so many Colombians! And it was only the Slovenians left to start after that.

Would it be a Slovenian-bowl? A rematch of the Slovenian Time Trial Nationals that took place in June while the world was just in the beginnings of releasing from the lockdowns? It was surprising to see the headlines that Tadej Pogacar (UAE) had beaten Primoz Roglic by 8 seconds in that time trial, because in 2019 Roglic had beaten him handedly in the two Time Trials they both competed in. We all remember Roglic burst onto the scene at the 2016 Giro as a time-trialist, he’s been world-class in the discipline ever since while also orchestrating a perfect five-year trajectory to win the Tour de France. Only this Race of Truth, this final Time Trial Test was left for him to pass. After this test he would be the champion of the Tour de France off the back of the tremendous teamwork his Jumbo-Visma team had put together over the past years but specifically 19 stages to finally slay the Sky/Ineos giant. As he warmed-up on his time-trial bike connected to the turbo-trainer, a staff member and teammate Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) helped pin his bib number on his back in the most aero position possible. Tony Martin the Panzerwagen, four times Champion of the World in the Time-Trial discipline, what an ally for Primoz Roglic to have in his team. Martin’s World Champion days are long beyond the veteran now, but after already completing the course and showering, he was still helping prepare his team leader for the discipline he’s been so successful at in the past. And meanwhile, the other Slovenian? Alone on the trainer with headphones on and cotton balls up his nose containing some sort of oil to better open up his air passageways. How would young Pogacar in his White Jersey fair against the clock in this Race of Truth? Surely, he would retain his White Jersey, but would he take back the Polka Dots also? That could prove to be a tall order. And how would he fair on GC? Superman was not far behind, but his time-trialing record is poor, it was more of a question if he could give his “older brother” a race today who started 57 seconds ahead of him on GC. Well, a minute after Superman began, down the starting ramp went “little brother” Pog, and a minute after him went “big brother” Rog; all had begun the Race of Truth.

By the time Roglic had started, time checks for the Top 10 on GC at the first intermediate split were starting to come through. Dumoulin was only 12 seconds behind the leading time, he was on a good day. Uran was 1:08 behind the lead time, and Yates was 1:10 behind, so those two competitors were running even with each other. Mas was 1:10 down—average, Landa was 1:30 down—bad, and then Porte was only 47 seconds down—he was on a good day! Porte’s day got better when we heard Superman must have gotten his cape caught in the phonebooth, because he was already 41 seconds behind Richie Porte himself! O! That was big news: Superman was wilting, and Richie Porte was throwing down a ride worthy of the podium. And then less than a minute later, we saw that Tadej Pogacar was flying like a Peregrine Falcon today. At this first time check, only 14.5 km into the 36 km route, Primoz Roglic, originally of time trial fame, had already ceded 13 seconds to “his little brother” Tadej Pogacar.

With still 17.5 km to go to the finish Tadej Pogacar in the White Jersey had passed Superman Lopez who had started one full minute ahead of him, but it was of little interest. Yes, all the other storylines fell away after that first time check, because “little brother” Pog was challenging “big brother” Rog for “the inheritance” now. After his Grand Colombier stage win before the Second Rest Day, an interviewer asked Pogacar if he would try to win the Tour de France and Pogacar’s response was simply “That’s the plan.” He probably answered that with genuine confidence and intent, but did he actually think he could contend with “big brother” Rog this Tour? What about after his time losses to Superman and Rog on the Col de la Loze? Or on the last mountain stage where Roglic seemed to have him on the ropes on the gravel roads after the summit of the last Beyond Category climb? But this was 21 year-old Tadej Pogacar who found himself only 57 seconds down on the Yellow Jersey going into this final test of his first Tour de France, it was a no-brainer he would go for it, yet it was still a surprise to see how much ground he was already making up. Yes, the “little brother” was all in to win, how would the elder respond?

What information do these Directeur Sportifs provide to the rider’s radio from the car behind?  Some riders hate to hear the time-checks of their competitors and only want to ride their own race, but today it seemed like “big brother” Rog wanted to hear how he was doing over “little brother” Pog. After that first time check, Roglic—who was by no means having a bad day—did not look nearly as smooth or comfortable on his bike; yes, surely he was being updated on the young one’s progress. But he had a 57 second buffer on his “little brother” to begin the day, he would just need to raise his pace higher and maintain this gap—but that is easier said than done. By the time Roglic hit 16 km to go, Pogacar had already taken 20 seconds out of him, Roglic’s buffer on Yellow was down to 39 seconds. By the time Roglic hit 13 km to go, his buffer on holding Yellow was down to just 31 seconds. Could Roglic recover the time with a great climb, or were we reliving 1989?

Since 1975, the Tour de France has finished on the Champs-Elysees in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In all of those years since, the last stage has been a flat road stage with the gentlemen’s agreement to not even race until they started laps of the finishing circuit where the race would heat up one last time so the sprinters and the Tour could have one final, massive curtain call. In all of those years except one. In 1989 the organizers decided to forget the coronation ceremony and ultimate sprint, and instead run a final Individual Time Trial from Versailles to the Champs-Elysees. American Greg Lemond—who had surprisingly resurrected his career after being shot while hunting—had battled Frenchman Laurent Fignon for Yellow all Tour, they had passed the maillot jaune off to each other multiple times over the course of the race, but finally everyone thought Lemond’s 50-second deficit to Fignon going into the final 24 km time trial would be a bridge too far for Lemond and the Tour was done and dusted. Everyone except Lemond and maybe his inner-circle. Too many books, documentaries, and interviews have been made to cover how Lemond rode the greatest time trial in history—until today—to beat Fignon by 58 seconds and win the 1989 Tour de France by just 8 seconds. With all the lead changes throughout and the surprise twist in the finale, according to many it is the greatest Tour of all time. I do not think many will say the 2020 Tour de France shall top the 1989 Tour, but only halfway through the Slovenians’ rides today I thought this 2020 Race of Truth was already in contention with that final Champs-Elysees Race of Truth in 1989 no matter which Slovenian would come out on top.

Up the road Roglic’s Jumbo teammate Tom Dumoulin came across the line 10 seconds ahead of other Jumbo teammate Wout Van Aert with a time of 57:16 to set the new best of the day. Down the road the young Pogacar was sailing and taking risks on every corner while older brother Roglic fought to staunch the bleeding, but with 7 km still to ride Roglic’s grasp on Yellow was only 24 seconds. Both must have been getting time checks, because the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. At the bottom of the climb both opted to swap onto road bikes, and O! it was no surprise when Pog’s was better. But this was it, Roglic’s last hope was that he could keep pace with his “little brother” on the climb and maintain his now only 20 second grip on the Yellow Jersey. Never have I said it with a heavier heart: Alas! He could not. With over 4 km still to climb Pog had already put 57 seconds into his “older brother” Rog this time trial, and they were at that point virtually tied for the Yellow Jersey. With 3 km to go, the “little brother” Pog was up 22 seconds on his “big brother,” Roglic was spinning a high cadence and clearly not putting out the power that Pogacar was laying down. With 2 km to go, you could see it in Roglic’s body language that he understood he had lost. O! But dear Readers, Pogacar was not just beating Roglic, he was barnstorming to the win. Some in the press said Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) rode with diamonds in his legs in last year’s Tour as he bravely rode out of his depth to defend Yellow until he blew up on the penultimate mountain stage, to what shall the press compare Pogacar’s legs this year? Yes, the rich get richer, Pogacar would not relent, he rode all the way to the line. Tom Dumoulin, and Richie Porte who about tied him, bested Wout Van Aert’s time by 10 seconds, Tadej Pogacar beat their times by 1:20 with a time of 55:55. It was so stunning no one could even cheer, it was too much to process. Not a soul woke up this morning expecting to see such a stunning performance; as I said before, we can only say it was the greatest individual effort against the clock in the history of the bicycle.

No one expected Pogacar to take Yellow today, or even to take time out of Roglic. If you read and listen to Lemond in the interviews about 1989, that Champs-Elysees time trial was his third or fourth time trial against Fignon in the past couple of months alone. Based off those performances Lemond not only knew there was a real chance he could beat Fignon, Lemond really did think he would before rolling down the starting ramp. Today, at best, everyone left the door open to the possibility that Pogacar could win—because they know the famous story of 1989—but no one actually thought he would do it. In days and months and years and decades to come, Pogacar will be asked if he thought on the morning of this most famous day he would win, and my guess is that this morning he would have said “No.” For 19 stages, Roglic had appeared to be bulletproof to all and surely everyone thought he would finish off the job in his ace discipline. This is what impresses me more than Lemond’s victory, Pogacar himself was probably almost as surprised as the rest of us by how well he did today. But the deficit itself is not the only reason this was the greatest effort against the clock.

This victory was more stunning than 1989, because not only was it more unexpected, it was more intimate. Ah! Five years ago, Primoz Roglic was a nobody-cyclist from Slovenia, but at that time Tadej Pogacar was a nobody teenager probably just learning how to drive. In that five years Primoz Roglic has done the most remarkable systemic build-up to a Tour de France victory anyone has ever seen. Surely already, three years ago young Tadej must have been looking at the elder Primoz as a hero and trailblazer. By last year at the latest, all were aware of Pogacar’s meteoric rise, Roglic most of all. O! We’ve seen it this Tour dear Readers, they have a relationship and it does have a brotherly dynamic. Remember Stage 9 where Pogacar almost collided and crashed them both, but Roglic immediately said sorry and checked how he was; and we’ve seen them chatting before and after the races like buddies. They both have the utmost respect for each other, neither really even underestimates the other. Seeing them, surely I have gotten a sense of an older brother-little brother relationship, Pog surely saw Rog as a trailblazer. If not for Rog, the scouts and agents may not have heard of Pog for years more—if ever. And everything Pog has experienced, Rog has already been through and he could offer advice like a mentor to the young Pog. Until today. The older brother was one final test away from completely his ascendance to the pinnacle of the sport, but all of a sudden his mentee, his younger brother has beat him to the top. But it does not just feel like the little brother has beat the older brother to something that they will both eventually accomplish: not many people win a Tour de France, and every Tour Roglic shall try to win after this, his now superior, now more accomplished “little brother” will be standing in his way. And though he loves his “older brother,” he will not gift him such a win. For me, this vanquishing of the elder does not feel like a Slovenian version of the Coppi-Bartali 1949 Giro d’Italia where Fausto Coppi definitively eclipsed the aging Gino Bartali, because alas! Roglic had not finished establishing himself as Bartali clearly had. It feels like a much more ancient and murkier myth when brother slayed brother. It feels like a reversal of the Romulus and Remus story, when a dispute broke out between the two brothers about where to found the city, it was the older Romulus who slew the younger Remus despite all their adventures together. Romulus is immortalized in the name of their city, if Remus had vanquished him the city would have been known as Rem and not Rome. Yes, though he surely had no malicious intent, it felt like “little brother” Pogacar committed fratricide today which is what made his performance all the more stunning. Even a Frenchman can recognize the perfect happy fairy tale the 1989 Tour was for Greg Lemond who came back to win from within an inch of death. But here, the talented younger brother with his meteoric rise has savagely denied his trailblazing older brother to complete the final step in his steady progression from zero to hero. It is another story that you cannot make up, it is another script Hollywood would reject. Not just one, but two nobodies of a tiny country with barely any results to speak of rise to the top of a sport so quickly, and then in an edgy turn at the end the elder who did everything right and even befriend this junior is unexpectedly slayed by him when the junior produces the greatest performance in the history of the sport. Yes, yes, dear Readers, that is too hard to believe. How tough it must be to be Primoz Roglic, because tomorrow he has to wake up and realize it was not all just a nightmare.

Roglic had stripped the vizor off his helmet at some point on the stage. As he was coming up the steep gradients in the final kilometers it was haunting to see him. His helmet was tilted, somehow his hair seemed unkempt, his face was completely pale, but it was his eyes that showed the most emotion. He was a deer in the headlights, they were O! so big; he was wide-eyed with shock. He looked as if he had just survived an enemy bombing in World War II. He was shellshocked. He was in disbelief. He was broken. As the two Slovenians were still approaching the line, a finish line camera captured Wout Van Aert and Tom Dumoulin standing at the finish line waiting to congratulate their team leader on winning the Tour de France, but soon they also knew the writing was on the wall in the very final kilometers. Their faces seemed to be made of stone watching the same images on a big screen that we were seeing too at home, they were crestfallen. How were they going to console their leader, and even themselves? Had they worked day in and day out for 19 days for Roglic’s “little brother” to beat them all at the very last possible moment? The race is over, they do not even get another opportunity as a team to crack him. How could this be real? O! Has the ecstasy of victory and the agony of defeat ever been on more display than today? Day after day, race after race, year after year, Jumbo-Visma had been assembling and grooming the talent to compete with the greatest cycling teams in the world. They did that, they made the mighty Ineos Grenadiers go out with a whimper before the Second Rest Day of this Tour. How many times have we praised Tom Dumoulin, Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), and The Swiss Army Knife Wout Van Aert as they destroyed almost all of Primoz Roglic’s enemies? And then today, Roglic did not even do anything wrong, he finished 1:56 down. On his best day—which he potentially could have had if he was not getting the morale-killing time checks that Pogacar was stealing the race from him—he would have finished around Dumoulin, 1:20 back, potentially a dozen or so second ahead at most. If Roglic had done that, he still would have lost the Tour to Pogacar. Roglic crossed the line and just sat down on the ground in disbelief for a long while. Wout tried to say something to him, but Roglic couldn’t even acknowledge him. This is an agony that has not even sunk in yet.

This was the last strange thing of the day and then I wrap up, dear Readers. It is heartbreaking for Roglic and the whole Jumbo-Visma team, but without question they should be proud of their efforts. They really did do all they could, but the better man won and it took one of the greatest performances in the history of all sport to unseat their team leader off of the back of a total team effort. If Roglic had to let victory slip through his fingers, which seems he was fated to do, could he have asked for a better group of guys to do it with? I know! I know that seems extremely corny and cliché, but truly for these past 19 stages this Jumbo team has been on an epic journey, an odyssey that would impress Odysseus. Surely, a more special bond is forming between them, in a sport chock-full of team camaraderie. But more importantly, look at Jumbo-Visma in comparison to UAE Team Emirates. Who is Tadej Pogacar going to celebrate with? Can you name any of his teammates? I look out for that stuff, watching the efforts of the selfless teammates is what moves me and gives me the most pleasure watching the sport. I saw David de la Cruz (UAE) stick with Pogacar and do one big turn for him one time on the Col de la Loze stage. Other than that, I saw Fabio Aru (UAE) abandon with sort of medical issue on Stage 11 or 12; and I saw Alexander Kristoff (UAE) win Stage 1 in the wet in Nice, but that was a lifetime ago. Are we about meet four or five random dudes drinking champagne on the way to the Champs-Elysees who supposedly helped Pogacar win the Tour de France? Seriously, I figured when Pogacar would finally win the Tour in a year or two, one of the main people that would celebrate with him would be his “big brother” and mentor Primoz Roglic—even in a year or two if it was Roglic he’d have had to beat, Roglic could better accept the defeat as a former Tour winner himself. When Roglic finally stood up, he made a point to quickly congratulate Pogacar before he started a ton of winner’s interviews. In Roglic’s own interview, he said he did all he could today, but the result is what it is. He said, “I am disappointed, I will cry, I did already, but it was how it was. I want it to be a little different, but I cannot change it…It’s true I did not have the best day, Tadej was in a different world for me and he definitely deserves his win so really congrats to him.” Surely, Roglic is not mad at “his little brother” Pogacar for beating him, he is disappointed the Tour slipped through his fingers. I don’t know where the “older brother” goes from here, besides come back next year and try again. The competition will be fiercer, he will be another year older, and he will have to rebound from a devastating defeat. At the moment, the only consolations I see for Roglic are that it will be the shortest gap between Tours in the history of the event, he should have the support of a strong team even in defeat, and it took the greatest time trial in history to defeat him.

Tadej Pogacar can retire tomorrow evening and we shall still speak of this ride with hallowed words. As we grow old and tell younger generations about the performances that have deeply moved us, this one will be high on the list. With the perfect kinslaying element mixed with the stunning unexpectedness, it may even make us shiver or give us the creeps or goosebumps decades later. It is only an afterthought to confirm that Pogacar handedly took back the Polka Dot Jersey as well, Carapaz was nowhere to be seen on the results, truly I have not even seen his split for the climb. Ah! More news and inside stories will come out about this day, books and documentaries shall be produced about it, but all of us shall be slow to forget the stunned emotions we felt when we saw Tadej Pogacar, the “little brother,” heartbreakingly slay his “big brother” and mentor Primoz Roglic in the greatest time-trialing performance of all time to win the Tour de France. There are not enough superlatives in the language to describe Pogacar and it is just still too hard to believe what happened. And at the same time, the performance broke our hearts as we saw the agony of defeat on the faces of Primoz Roglic and his Jumbo-Visma team.