Perros-Guirec—Mur-de-Bretagne Guerledan, 183km
Another lovely day in Brittany as Stage 2 was set to finish with two passages up the Mur-de-Bretagne, “the Wall of Brittany.” There was breakaway action throughout the day to give us something to follow as the Tour traversed more beautiful rolling up-and-down country, and the proud Breton crowds were out in force once more. Ah! But alas! all of this action shall be shafted. For in the finale, all of it was blown away by already great champions adding another chapter or chronicle to their legend or saga.
Edward “Looney” Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) was the last man standing of the breakaway, and he was desperately fighting to hold off the peloton with 18km to go. Already he had locked up the super combatif prize for the day as the most aggressive rider, now his last goal was to get a last King of the Mountains Point on the Category4 hill into the town at the base of the Mur-de-Bretagne. Looney Theuns achieved this in the nick of time before he was swamped away by the peloton. Already the peloton was all-hands-on-deck, not just because this was the first passage up the Mur-de-Bretagne and position is always vital. No, not only was this the first passage up the Mur-de-Bretagne: at the top of this passage were available 8, 5, and 2 Bonus Seconds for the first three riders across the top. We have seen in the past that every second counts at the Tour de France, but especially in these early days when the gaps on the General Classification (GC) are still so small: any within a shout will take the chance to wear the Yellow Jersey, the Maillot Jaune of the Tour de France. The hilltop Bonus Seconds are not in every stage, but they were an addition by the organizers in an act of “nudge theory,” give the riders just a bit more incentive to race or sprint a little bit harder to kick off more action throughout the stage. They are in the same vein as the Finish Line Bonus Seconds of 10, 6, and 4 available to first, second, and third on the stage. Yesterday, when Quickstep’s Julian Alaphilippe won Stage 1 by 8 seconds over the chasing pack, a full 10 seconds was knocked off his GC time to give him an 18-second GC advantage over the rest of that pack who had not received additional Bonus Seconds for finishing in second and third on the day (those being: BikeExchange’s Michael Matthews and Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic).
With two passages up this Mur-de-Bretagne, the red-hot favorite was yesterday’s winner Monsieur Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer who wore no longer the Rainbow Jersey of World Champion but the Yellow Jersey as the GC Leader of the Tour de France. When a rider dominates a stage so thoroughly to dazzle us beyond belief, our brains, hearts, and memories are totally warped: “O! O! How can this Musketeer be bested tomorrow on a climb that suits his characteristics even better?!” But not all the riders had the minds of us giddy fans. Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer knocked it out of the park yesterday, but today competitors were ready to draw swords once again in an attempt to hold off lightning striking twice. Yes, yes, with all the Bonus Seconds available on both the passages of this Mur-de-Bretagne, the nudge theory went off with out a hitch. And who was bold enough to kick things off from long range? Why, of course, the Madman who always loves to kick things off from long range.
Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) is the son of Dutchman Adri Van Der Poel, a decorated cycling champion of his generation. And Mathieu is also the grandson of Frenchmen Raymond Poulidor, one of the most famous cyclists of all time. Poulidor, affectionately referred to as Poupou, had the misfortune to span two generations of cycling that each had a supremely great champion. Yes, Poulidor raced against both Jacques Anquetil, Monsieur Chrono, and Eddy Merckx, the Cannibal. Between the three of them they won a combined 10 Tours de France. 5 Tours for Anquetil. 5 Tours for Merckx. 0 Tours for Poulidor, despite finishing on the Overall Tour podium a record 8 times. Unlike his grandson Mathieu, who I believe has become a greater rider thanks to his archrivalry with Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Poulidor missed out on many victories because of Anquetil, Merckx, and the others of those eras. Now, in Poulidor’s defense he had a great palmares outside of the Tour de France, but his lack of winning at the Tour did generate his other nickname “the Eternal Second.” Combined his humble farming background with this nearly-man status, Poupou captured the hearts of every Frenchman over the course of his long career, it is well believed he is the most popular French cyclist of all time. O! How they all rooted for him to finally get over the hump and win, but not even for one day did he ever wear the Yellow Jersey as race leader of the Tour de France. It was this missing Yellow Jersey that Mathieu Van Der Poel came to this Tour de France to win for his late grandpa Poupou who passed away in 2019.
Yes, yes, on that first passage of the Mur-de-Bretagne, Van Der Poel lived up to the moniker I have dubbed him since his Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne antics at the beginning of this season: the Madman was on the attack for the first time at the Tour de France. How? How was I surprised to see him go on the attack? He did, he did actually play it safe and conventional yesterday. And what happened? In the end, he was bested by the better man on the day: Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer. Today, surely, Mathieu must not make the same mistake, he must always do the unexpected, he must be an even greater showman than the Musketeer. Even at the Tour de France, Mathieu the Madman cannot just play it safe. Unlike many others at the prestigious Tour who would rather not attack than risk losing big: the Madman goes for broke. And as we have seen this season on and off the road, Mathieu is not just the Madman. From winning Cyclocross Worlds, to winning in the Dubai crosswinds, to almost winning Kuurne while using it as a massive training session, to rocket launching to victory at Strade Bianche, to raising all eyebrows with multiple versatile Tirreno wins, to competing across all the biggest Cobble Classics, straight into podiuming Mountain Bike World Cups, then doubling straight back into winning multiple Suisse road stages….Mathieu Van Der Poel is a cycling Renaissance Man…or more accurately a Renaissance Madman.
Up, up this Mur—this Wall—he attacked! All the other GC and stage favorites let him go, not even the other Mighty Ace Wout Van Aert, the Champion of Belgium, tried to hawk down his archrival—was he on team duties riding and protecting Jumbo team leader Primoz Roglic, or did he have no desire to escape away with this Renaissance Madman? It was still unbelievable to see, that Mathieu the Renaissance Madman would try such a long range attack at the Tour de France to take not just the stage, but the Yellow Jersey as well—the Jersey his grandpa never wore. Mathieu had gone from the bottom steeper section of this Mur-de-Bretagne climb. He muscled his way up, he got a solid 7 second gap-or-so on the peloton behind. But as the road began to level out his gap stopped extending, for the rivals behind were winding it up for the Bonus Seconds sprint at the top. O! O! Had the Renaissance Madman miscalculated again as he did at Kuurne on the season’s Opening Weekend? Surely, surely, that is where the Madman name comes from: often Mathieu can play some tactics that are quite simply un-astute though always exciting to see. Then the admiration of us fans comes from when our jaws drop to see him over come his audacious tactical mismanagements and still take the day by sheer strength, power, and unrivaled technical skill. But as Mathieu churned and churned to the top of the Mur-de-Bretagne, behind the Slovenians—Roglic and UAE’s Tadej Pogacar—were unleashing their sprints with Julian Alaphilippe in Yellow, and the Genadier Richard Carapaz following behind. Van Der Poel crossed the line first to take the 8-second Bonus only a handful of meters ahead of Pogacar in White for second, and Roglic in third. Alaphilippe the Musketeer, the man of the match yesterday, took fourth and NO additional Bonus Seconds. But what could Mathieu have been thinking? If he had stayed in that peloton—still 60-to-70 riders strong—surely he could have outsprinted these GC rivals. He had taken the 8 seconds the hard way and not managed to escape away solo like the Renaissance Madman he is.
Over the top of this climb and into the final circuit loop, Mathieu the Madman, the Slovenian stars, and Alaphilippe in Yellow all settled back into the peloton and were comfortable to let the Ineos Grenadiers drive the pace on the rolling terrain back to the base of this same Mur-de-Bretagne for the stage’s final passage up. It was the Ineos Grenadiers and Bahrain Victorious that shared almost 90% of the pace-making on the front for this final circuit, but curiously a curious third team was in formation still towards the front too: in navy-blue Alpecin-Fenix, the team of Mathieu Van Der Poel the Renaissance Madman. Yes, yes, the Madman was still up for this. He had not wasted all his bullets on the first passage of the Mur-de-Bretagne: this showman’s act was far from over this day.
On, on, Ineos drove the pace and the peloton into the bottom of the final climb. At the base of the climb, the Tasmanian, the King of Willunga Hill, Richie Porte ratcheted up the pace even more in service of his Grenadier Generals Geraint Thomas and Richard Carapaz—yes, yes, on a climb like this Richie Porte is O! so absolutely filthy lethal at riding everyone off his wheel! UAE’s Davide Formolo tried some sort of satellite attack for his team leader Pogacar, but suddenly the power went out quicker than cutting electrical wires. On, on, Richie Porte drove that ruthless pace over that first steepest kilometer of the 2km climb. But before the gradient let up, still one man dared break the Ineos stranglehold, the man who has been trying a decade now. Arkea-Samsaic’s Nairo Quintana went on the attack, hunting for glory and stage honors! Via his diminutive figure, he accelerated right over the crest of the steepest part of the climb. The entire peloton began reacting to Nairoman’s attack…but only one was successfully mounting and muscling a formidable bridging maneuver up to the light and decorated Colombian, the Renaissance Madman.
Mathieu Van Der Poel drew even with Quintana, he was still dragging a great share of contenders for stage honors with him as they passed under the Red Flame, signifying 1km to go. Mathieu the Renaissance Madman did not much seem to care that he was stuck on the front, for he was prepared to go with everything anyways. With 800m to go, Bahrain’s Italian Champion Sonny Colbrelli attempted to launch an attack, but Madman Mathieu instantly covered it with Tadej Pogacar in his wheel. But Van Der Poel the Renaissance Madman in one swift motion counterattacked over Colbrelli with the most confident body language announcing to the world: “TODAY, THE RENAISSANCE MADMAN CANNOT BE BEAT!” Even the talent Slovenian Tadej Pogacar wearing the White Jersey of Best Young Rider had not a prayer to follow Van Der Poel. Madman Mathieu was rocket launching away once more. Ah! Ah! To see him take length after length, his lead inflate like a balloon filling with helium, it was spectacular. Finally, finally, this Mighty Ace Mathieu Van Der Poel has made his presence felt at the greatest race on earth, on the biggest stage. How? How was he growing such a gap on this more shallow part of the climb? Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer in Yellow could not close the gap and swiveled his head for others to take over, but Israel Start-Up Nation’s Michael Woods was on the limit as well, and even the other Mighty Ace Wout Van Aert could not the bleeding.
Mathieu Van Der Poel the Renaissance Madman muscled all the way to the line for every second he could take over his rivals. It was not just the stage win, but the Yellow Jersey he would take if the gap was big enough and the Bonus Seconds were taken by the right rivals. He crossed the line in victory, pointed to the heavens, and was incredibly emotional. Behind 6 seconds later, the Slovenians, Pog and Rog, respectively swiped up the 6- and 4-second Time Bonuses. Alaphilippe crossed the line in 5th place 8 seconds after Van Der Poel. Thus with the 8-second Time Bonus on the first passage up the Mur, with the 10-second Time Bonus for the Stage Win, and the 8-second margin of victory over Alaphilippe the Musketeer: Mathieu Van Der Poel took an 8-second lead on GC. Yes, the day ended with the Mighty Ace Mathieu Van Der Poel the Renaissance Madman donning the Yellow Jersey for the first time in his career, at his very first Tour de France. He was emotional in the interviews, Mathieu has now done what his grandpa Poulidor could not. Ah! But surely, surely, Poupou is looking down on him now, shedding tears of joy as well at all his Renaissance Madman grandson has accomplished in his career.
Cycling Odysseys 