Vierzon—Le Creusot, 249km
What a day it was on the Tour de France. It was one of those unbelievably massive days. Massive, not only because this was the first 250km stage of the Tour in over 20 years, but because there were so many plot points that no coherent and just account can be done to encompass them all. After scratching my head and stroking my chin about the events of this whole stage, I wonder most what Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Team and Staff thought of the events today, both how everything played out on course, and where do they begin to go from here. I shall attempt to string out the tale from their perspective as best as I can contrive. Should anything confuse you, the listener: my apologies, but also that is part of the point. There was so much going on today, it was pretty unbelievable to see so many agents—third, fourth, and fifth parties—acting in their own interest. With Tadej Pogacar in second on the General Classification, only 8 seconds behind the race leader, the unspoken onus was on his UAE team to control the race. All knew this to be the case as Pogacar is the defending Tour champion, and he now has a commanding lead on all his “real” GC rivals. But what of the man in the Yellow Jersey, why was there no onus on his team to help control the race today?
Because, because, the Mighty Ace, the Renaissance Madman Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) wearing the Yellow Jersey, the Maillot Jaune, as race leader of the Tour de France…was himself in a 30-man breakaway. Yes, yes, in the opening kilometers of the race instead of attempting to control the race Van Der Poel the Madman and his team were instigating attacks to get into the breakaway. Many other riders were itching to make the break today, but none more so than—O! it had to be—the Other Mighty Ace Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) The Swiss Army Knife of the peloton wearing the Belgian Champion’s Jersey. Assisting Van Aert to force the split was his veteran Jumbo teammate Tony Martin of Time Trial fame. With Van Aert in his wheel, Martin would ratchet up the pace, string out the peloton, and once it was in one long line Van Aert would attack to try and break the metaphorical elastic. With still 208km left in the stage, Wout Van Aert managed to successfully do this at potentially the only real point of crosswinds all day. About 30 riders made that split, to name them all would be too difficult, but allow me to rattle off the heaviest hitters: Van Der Poel and Van Aert, Vincenzo Nibali and Jasper Stuyven (both of Trek-Segafredo), Simon Yates (Team BikExchange), Casper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quickstep), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Magnus Cort (EF Education-Nippo), Dylan Van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka Nexthash), Philippe Gilbert and Brent Van Moer (both of Lotto Soudal), and…sneaking his way in there, wearing the Green Jersey Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quickstep).
In that phone book of names, what was missing? Almost every team—including teams with GC riders—had representation in this move except notably: UAE Team Emirates. Yup, after a completely flat day yesterday, at the first opportunity today, Tadej Pogacar and his UAE team were being put to the test already. To begin the day, Pogacar was in the White Jersey of Best Young Rider 8 seconds down on Van Der Poel, Van Aert began the day 30 seconds down on Van Der Poel—thus 22 seconds back on Pogacar. The 250km stage was primarily flat for the first half, but in the second half were many hills that would sting the legs after such a brutal day. Presumably Van Der Poel and Van Aert—the cyclocross stars—will not finish high up in the GC when the race reaches Paris, but still how would UAE fair with their current top rivals on GC going up the road in a large breakaway? UAE rode their entire team onto the front to chase down the gap, all 8 riders—save Pogacar—rotated on the front in an alarming effort to bring back the breakaway.
But already 40 seconds ahead, most of the 30-man breakaway contributed to the pacing—equally rotating through to do a turn to help this move launch for the day. Thus it was really a case of 7 UAE riders versus 30 men already 40 seconds up the road—and not just 30 bit-player riders but many already proven champions. Yes, yes, UAE did not stand a chance. The breakaway’s lead absolutely ballooned! With 180km still to go the 30-man break’s lead was already over 2 minutes. With 157km to go, the lead was already over 4 minutes! With 140km to go, the lead was almost 5 minutes. One talking point of too many from the day would be how cohesive this large breakaway was for much of the stage. Typically such breaks as this attack, destroy, or implode themselves…or at the very least shed much of the deadweight. Very likely much of the reason this did not happen today was because the strongest men—even if they had teammates in the group—were totally willing to fully work at this…most notably, of course, those archrivals most known for tearing up all the scripts: Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van Der Poel, the Mighty Aces. All—especially those tuning in late—had to pinch themselves to see Wout and Mathieu putting GC minutes into the mighty Tadej Pogacar and his UAE team on this supposed transition stage. Pogacar and UAE had to do literally zero GC defeating last year for Pogacar did not take Yellow until the penultimate day. Now today, on the first day of real practical GC defense, UAE and Pogacar were in the most usual GC position may cycling fans have ever seen. Had they put a pedal wrong this stage? Maybe, but once that 30-man break had any sort of gap, and all were working together, how were 7 men supposed to chase it down? Yes, yes, as was stated and predicted, after that Time Trial on Stage 5, Pogacar had become tactical public enemy No. 1; no one was about to help UAE chase down anything. Jumbo and Alpecin had their headliner names moving minutes ahead of the mighty Pogacar on GC, of course were just going to sit back and see how far up their talented ones could get. Quickstep for day-to-day GC man Julian Alaphilippe and the Ineos Grenadiers for any of their riders, were not going to help UAE even though neither had a GC man in the breakaway. Quickstep, Ineos, and every other team in the peloton were happy—even licking their chops—to see UAE tucker themselves out today, and for the rest of this Tour.
On the day went. Mark Cavendish was the only significant sprinter of note to make this split: he took maximum Points at the Intermediate Sprint and the other riders in the breakaway swept up the rest of the available Points leaving none for any of his top rivals for Green who were back in the peloton; his Points lead for the Green Jersey is now bordering on commanding. After that, Cav’s mission for the day was accomplished. He went into survival mode, for the hills were about to start. As the hills began with 90km to go, Mark Cavendish and the breakaway had about a 7-minute gap to the peloton. With 87km to go, towards the crest of the first categorized hill of the day: Bahrain’s Matej Mohoric the Champion of Slovenia and Lotto’s nearly-man of Stage 4 Brent Van Moer launched out of the break to sprint for the available KOM points. No one else followed, clearly no one else was too interested in the KOM competition this day. Mohoric won the sprint over the top. And as can often be the case, the crafty and wily Matej Mohoric took advantage of their established gap. He regrouped with Brent Van Moer and the two pushed on together to form a 2-man breakaway from the 30-man breakaway. With more KOM Points available coming soon along the road, it would just be easier to secure them with only one rival to beat for the maximums available…additionally, if they had a big enough lead then they could dream of outfoxing the other strong riders behind—even the Mighty Aces, Wout and Mathieu.
And this was what transpired in the next phase of the race. Surely, UAE were happy to see Mohoric and Van Moer go up the road. Pogacar was probably happy to see the Slovenian Champion Mohoric in position to win a stage of the Tour, most likely just out of friendship or patriotism. But additionally, with two men dangling a minute out in front of the rest of the breakaway, perhaps finally that would end up diminishing the cohesion of the rest of break being driven on by the Mighty Aces. Yes, with two riders a minute up the road on the hilly stage, the cohesion of the 30-man break began to slightly fracture. Most were in the break looking for a stage win: the Mighty Aces, Mathieu and Wout, along with probably Vincenzo Nibali and perhaps Kasper Asgreen were the only ones with high virtual GC standings at this moment. So with two riders up the road, the rest of the break became antsy. Thus a flurry of attacks to bridge up to the leading duo began. Old veteran Vincenzo Nibali the Shark of Messina, the winner of the 2014 Tour de France, properly kicked things off. Perhaps it was in set up for his teammate Jasper Stuyven? For Stuyven and Victor Campenaerts were the only ones that managed to successfully establish a gap, and then proceed to bridge up to Mohoric and Van Moer up front. At this point, the leading quad, the rest of the breakaway, the peloton some-6 minutes behind, and the entire watching world would traverse the most testing climb thus far this Tour.
The Signal d’Uchon was only a Category2 climb, it was only 5.8km in length, and it only had an average gradient of 5.6%. But, but, after a short descent within it, the climb ramped up to some 18% gradients for the final slopes to the crest of it. This section would prove pivotal at any point in a race, but especially with already over 200km in the legs today alone. The quad began the climb and Mohoric proved the best climber among them, which was appropriate for he took enough KOM Points throughout the day to move into the Polka-Dot Jersey this evening. Meanwhile behind, the rest of the break played it interestingly: Van Der Poel in Yellow did much of the pace making, but riding at a steady pace his big frame could handle, his archrival Wout Van Aert stayed right on his wheel. By this point, both the Mighty Aces had let other lesser-known riders and even Kasper Asgreen, this year’s Tour of Flanders champion, off the leash to hunt down Mohoric and the other leaders if they really had the legs. Clearly, though of course the Mighty Aces would always love to win a stage, both were thinking about defending and increasing their GC positions…and with many minutes’ advantage on Pogacar, perhaps for the very long term! Van Der Poel paced up the steepest 18% ramps on the climb with Van Aert, Simon Yates, and Vincenzo Nibali all matching his effort but not exceeding it. Over the top Wout helped his archrival Mathieu set the pace in effort to catch the leaders and keep the handful-of-minutes advantage over the peloton. It was not until the peloton hit this Signal d’Uchon climb that the finale of fireworks really began.
UAE had still been doing all of the pace making for the day, already Marc Hirschi—the revelation of the 2020 Tour—had buried himself riding on the front all day. UAE still had a decent number of men, but the only outside help they were receiving was from the small-budget French team, Total Energie with their new ugly fluorescent uniforms. They must have been riding for their GC rider Pierre Latour, but to be completely honest with you I have no idea why they felt the need to ride with the mighty UAE squad. Anyways, up this Signal d’Uchon UAE and Total Energie landed a race winning blow one of the great favorites for this Tour. Alas! Alas! Jumbo-Visma’s fearless captain Primoz Roglic was out the back on the lower slopes of the climb, clearly finally succumbing to his wounds from that nasty crash on Stage 3. After days of brave Relentless fighting, even an excellent Time Trial given the circumstances, the mighty Slovenian, the predicted chief competition for Tadej Pogacar, was bitterly falling out of contention. If the circumstances in the breakaway up ahead were not so bizarre, surely all of us would have felt so much more crushed to be seeing that genuine hero—a cycling knight on a carbon-fiber steed—fall in battle. Just as we were about to change into black for the funeral of Roglic’s GC campaign, on the steepest 18% slopes: the Grenadier Richard Carapaz el Jaguar de Tulcan, the winner of the 2019 Giro d’Italia, attacked! Making good on Ineos’ preseason promise to race more aggressively, to ride “like Brazil” even here on the biggest stage of the sport! Off Carapaz the Jaguar went, already 1:44 down to Pogacar on GC, at this very first opportunity he was taking his chance. Should Carapaz dare to instantly attack on just a hilly stage like this, what are we in for tomorrow in the Alps?
Yes, yes, surely that must have been UAE’s primary concern too at that moment. But given their still numerical advantage at the front of the shrunken peloton, UAE’s squad stayed together working as a cohesive unit for their mighty Young Beowulfian leader Tadej Pogacar. Though Carapaz the Jaguar was off a-huntin’ time, behind they were putting to the sword Pogacar’s most formidable and intimate rival…for the second year in a row. To work as group, to work as unit all the way to the finish line was their best hope now to secure or staunch the bleeding of any General Classification time the Mighty Aces in the breakaway were accumulating.
On the last climb of the today, it was clear Mohoric was climbing and descending as good or better than any this day, and his crafty strategy had worked to perfection. Matej Mohoric the Champion of Slovenia would go on to win his first stage of the Tour de France. And with such a stage win, he now joins that elite club of riders that have won stages in all three Grand Tours. Bravo! And well earned, Matej. But behind, on that last Category4 climb of the day cresting with only some 8km still to ride: finally, the Belgian Mighty Ace tried to make his move.
Wout Van Aert The Swiss Army Knife of the peloton began the day in 3rd place on GC, 30 seconds down on Maillot Jaune-wearing Mathieu Van Der Poel the Renaissance Madman. Though they have been archrivals for over a decade already and the competition is always fierce and even spicy at times, still these two Mighty Aces are not afraid to work together should it suit both their interests. Hence the success of this 200+km breakaway all day to distance on GC Tadej Pogacar who is becoming the Grand Tour rider of his generation. There was a charming moment doing the rounds on social media mid-stage capturing Mathieu in Yellow in conversation with Wout draped in the Belgian colors as the master breakaway was being pulled off. As the rotation shifted, and Mathieu slid back in the group he was smiling at something Wout had told him. It was a timestamp representing their unrivaled fruitful rivalry. Thanks to the competition with the other, both push their limits so far that both tear up any conventional race scripts. They are ferocious racers and engines: both highly technically skilled, both unbelievable machines of endurance. Again, all of this was on display today as they put GC minutes into Tadej Pogacar and his UAE team on their first real day trying to control the peloton. But on this final climb, the partnership was over for the day…or was it?
Wout wanted to find 30 seconds or more on Mathieu to match the Yellow Jersey accomplishment his archrival has pulled off this Tour; an accomplishment Mathieu beat Wout to—despite this being Wout’s third Tour and only Mathieu’s first. But if Wout could be the one to take the jersey off Mathieu’s shoulders, surely that would redeem the lose of his archrival beating him to such a prestigious goal. Yes, on this final climb, after letting Mathieu do much more of the work on the other final hills, Wout Van Aert the Mighty Ace in the Belgian Champion’s Jersey attacked! Vincenzo Nibali and Simon Yates, both Grand Tour winners in the past, could not follow…only the other Mighty Ace Mathieu Van Der Poel in Yellow could match him pedal stroke for pedal stroke. They went over the climb together, for probably the triple-digit-ith time both the Mighty Aces were matches for each other as they put away the rest of the competition. With a mostly downhill run-in after that climb, Wout knew he was not finding 30 seconds on Mathieu today. So once more, the two began working together to put more time into anyone they could. In the end, they picked off or finished with just about every chaser up ahead they had let off the leash on an earlier climb, besides Mohoric the winner and second place Jasper Stuyven. It was another quintessential thread in the saga that is the Van Der Poel-Van Aert rivalry…the greatest rivalry since Coppi-Bartali of ancient old.
Yes, into the finish line all the riders were now trickling after a long Monument-length stage. The group of the Mighty Aces finished 1:40 down on Matej Mohoric, the winner of the stage. Nibali and Yates did not come in until 2:57 after Mohoric—yes, the Mighty Aces put almost 80 seconds into these Grand Tour winners in only 8km of net-downhill terrain. The next eagerly anticipated rider then should have been Richard Carapaz el Jaguar de Tulcan who had audaciously been on the solo attack ahead of the GC peloton for many kilometers already. The cameras were capturing him soloing into the finish, salt-stains all over his jersey from sweating on this hot day, pushing his body to the limit to capture every second he could. But unexpectedly, as Carapaz came down the finishing straight, emerging into view behind him was the entire GC peloton of favorites led by the UAE lieutenants in service of Tadej Pogacar, 5:15 behind Mohoric the winner, 3:35 behind the group of the Mighty Aces. And thus, Richard Carapaz the Jaguar’s mighty effort that had us all so excited bore no fruit this day. Usually, it is always better, from a fan’s perspective at least, to try and fail than to not try at all. But time shall tell if Richard Carapaz just wasted a mighty bullet on this effort over lesser hills that could have instead been used in the high Alps, on the double-Ventoux, or in the steep Pyrenees all still to come. Finally, alas! bringing up the GC rear—the biggest loser on the day—came in Primoz Roglic 9:03 after Mohoric, over 4 minutes behind Pogcar and the classic-GC rivals.
So, how did the UAE team fair on their first real day of ever trying to control the Tour de France for their leader of leaders Tadej Pogacar? In my opinion, I must say they had the worst control of the day I have ever seen from the leading GC team. But in their defense: 1. They were dealt one of the most unconventional scripts ever—because it was written by the Mighty Aces who tear up all scripts and convention. 2. The results and standings at the end of the day look pretty good for UAE. Roglic, the intimate top rival, has now been completely neutralized and his GC campaign is completely dead. With the catch of Carapaz in the final meters, any momentum or morale he was generating for Ineos is crushed for another day at least, and presumably that finale was much wasted energy for Carapaz who has potentially now revealed himself to be a top rival. But, but, just because they were dealt a weird script, still UAE may be nervous for their control was limited—forget not, their men were caught up in crashes in the early stages too, this Tour is a war of attrition for all. Additionally, though Roglic is defeated the Jumbo-Visma Wasps still have a prayer or two. Jumbo’s Danish climber Jonas Vingegaard performed stupendously in the Stage 5 Time Trial and was a match today, and will presumably go well in his bread-and-butter mountainous terrain. And at this point, when we are all in such uncharted territory the UAE team and staff would be ridiculously stupid to underestimate either of the Mighty Aces, Mathieu and Wout, who now sit 1-2 on GC, both over 3 minutes ahead on Pogacar. Yes, yes, after 7 stages, a week of racing we are in such murky waters with the strangest of stars to navigate by above us. Tadej Pogacar, the defending champion of the Tour, seems to have a good grip on all his conventional GC rivals, but his team looks fairly brittle, and they had absolutely no answers for the Mighty Aces. For any that were worried Pogacar had won this Tour on Stage 5, fear not, today has proven you were clearly wrong. Yes, yes, we are in such uncharted territory, we are witnessing such special showdowns, duels, and battles perhaps it really is just about time we all officially and canonically realize we are amid a Second Golden Age of cycling.
Cycling Odysseys 