2021 TDF Stage 9: A New Tour Hero Emerges at the 2021 Rain Jacket World Championships

Cluses—Tignes, 144km

Well, the news to begin the day was that the Mighty Ace Renaissance Madman Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Primoz Roglic the Relentless (Jumbo-Visma) would not take to the start of Stage 9 of the Tour de France. My selfish armchair spectator resentment of riders prematurely dropping out of Grand Tours while they can still go on is no secret. But—and perhaps it is out of pure biased favoritism for these two dynamic and Day-Making riders—in these cases I cannot really blame them. Primoz Roglic is battered and bruised up beyond recognition, it seems clear there is no way he is going to heal this Tour. He has already proven his tenaciousness time and time again. And given his premiere status in the sport perhaps it really would be better for him to pack it in: rest up, heal, and come out fighting at another large objective to salvage his season. In the case of Mathieu, there were rumors he did not even want to start this Tour, that he only attended to please sponsors and organizers. For some four years, probably since he saw the Rockstar Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) try his hand in Rio in 2016, Mathieu Van Der Poel’s biggest sporting goal has been a Gold Medal at the Cross Country Mountain Bike race at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Had a pandemic not pushed back the games, surely Mathieu could have taken an unreserved full-tilt run at this Tour de France. But already in 8 days he has accomplished all his goals and dazzled the crowds. Now perhaps, it is a little shameful that this Renaissance Madman himself has instigated and wreaked so much havoc that after 8 hard days of racing that brought the peloton down to dire straits of exhaustion with still a fortnight left until Paris, only now this Madman says the time is right to abandon this Tour and pursue other goals. But he is a Renaissance Man because amidst all his conventional road accomplishments, still he can hop into any other cycling disciplines at will and perform at the highest level. Personally—and again perhaps it is biased favoritism—I cannot begrudge seeing Van Der Poel walk away to prepare for this one special goal that does have even more worth to him than his debut Tour de France. But as the stage unfolded and it became immediately clear that the other Mighty Ace Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was going to abandon all dreams of Yellow this Tour and not fight for GC any longer—though he began the day in second place Overall—I must say, then my heart started to sink. “Huh! Surely, UAE’s Tadej Pogacar shall take Yellow in an absurd cakewalk,” I said to myself. “All we can hope and watch for now is Quickstep’s Mark Cavendish’s stage record chase, maybe a decently interesting King of the Mountains battle for Polka-Dots, and then thrilling individual stages on the reg.” Ah! It is true that Pogacar may now have the GC sealed, which historically has often happened in the first mountain range in many editions of the Tour de France. But surprisingly, today at least did in fact turn into quite a GC battle that shall fondly be remembered. A battle where at least one bit player transformed into a hero and challenged the supreme one, the Young Beowulf Crowned King.

Tadej Pogacar’s UAE team once more let a large breakaway go up the road for the second day in a row, the Tour’s second day in the Alps. Tomorrow is the First Rest Day of this year’s Tour, but following the theme of this whole first week: this ninth day of the hellish first week would also be yet another harrowing affair. With hefty gains of elevation and large sums of points available at the tops of a Category2, a Category1, a Beyond Category, another Category2, and a summit finish to the top of another Category1 climb: this would be a proper day for the mountain goats to come out to play and clash swords for the King of the Mountains Polka-Dot Jersey competition. To begin the day wearing the Polka-Dots was Bahrain’s Wout Poels, a tall rider, but proven man of high quality in the high mountains. Yesterday’s nearly-man Michael “Rusty” Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) was up for another go for KOM Points and the stage win from the break for the second day in a row. And throwing his hat into the KOM ring, 8 years after winning the competition for his first and thus far only time in his career was that generational hero, almost patriarch, and foremost pioneer of this greatest generation of Colombian cycling: Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsaic). To the international cycling world, surely Quintana has lost his shine, and come down from his mid-2000-teens zenith; but the patriotic Colombians still love him even though he could not manage to be the first of their people to win the hallowed Tour de France. Many others made the break today as well including sprinter Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) in search of Green Jersey Points, the spritely firecracker Colombian Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo), Jumbo’s American Sepp Kuss on this 4th of July, Quickstep’s Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer and Champion of the World, Socrates Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), the Australian Lucas Hamilton (Team BikeExchange), and another young Australian Ben O’Connor who had newly joined the French AG2R Citroen team at the beginning of this season. Many of these latter named riders had little interest in the KOM competition, truly all their hopes lay in staying away to duke it out for the stage win. And once again, the UAE team indulged their desires: with 70km left in the stage, the breakaway leaders had a large 7:30 gap to the UAE-led peloton.

By this 70km to go point, the breakaway had been greatly reduced. Only a quartet of riders was left at the head of affairs, climbing the final slopes of the Beyond Category Col du Pre climb—Michael Woods, Nairoman Quintana, Sergio Higuita, and Ben O’Connor. Already many other men of the breakaway had fallen back…probably because it was yet another day of Biblibal weather. Yes, yes, many had on the indecipherable black rain jackets and many were violently shaking their arms sporadically throughout the stage. Numbingly cold conditions were simply salt in the wounds for this Alpine Queen Stage on the back of 8 days of exhausting racing. Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer had already dropped back to the peloton and fully stopped with the team car on the side of the road to completely re-dress in fresh warm clothing—soaked through was everything else, and he barely had feeling in his hands. Yes, yes, that is why on such cold days you see cyclists karate chopping thin air: the violent motion at least marginally helps to regain dexterity in the numb fingers and hands which are absolutely essential for shifting gears, braking on descents, and opening food and gel wrappers among other things. Soon after cresting the Col du Pre, Mike Woods dropped from the leading quartet, also probably from frozen exhaustion. As the now leading trio scaled the Category2 Cormet de Roselend, the physical act of riding uphill became the least of their many pressing concerns.

Once the trio crested this Cormet de Roselend climb, there would come a very long descent into the Alpine town of Bourg-Saint-Maurice, and from there the Tour would then turn to climb the 20+km Montee de Tignes climb. Yes, those who watched the rollercoaster ride that was the 2019 Tour de France remember the name Tignes, this was supposed to be the mammoth final climb summit finish to be tackled on the day cut short by the impassible roads buried in landslides and frozen with ice. After two years of waiting, finally the Tour was going to make it to Tignes this day. O! But this long descent before the equally long Tignes climb could not be underestimated. If the riders did not take proper care of themselves on the way down, surely the freezing conditions would sap their strength and health for the long final ascent. Thus it was time for the second annual Unofficial Rain Jacket World Championships.

If you watched the October Giro last year, surely you’ll remember watching what was the first inaugural Rain Jacket World Championships on the Mighty Stelvio. When both of Sunweb’s Jai Hindley and Wilco Kelderman—both riding and defending podium positions on that Queen stage of the Giro—had the hardest time in the world putting on their rain jackets while continuously riding their bikes before the descent down the Stelvio. It was shockingly brutal viewing at the time, all held their breath thinking the two men would lose their balance and crash as they scrambled and struggled to get their arms in the sleeves; and as the coat sleeves dangled down, they looked like they would surely get caught in the revolving wheels at any second. Some retired cyclist commentators were “tisk-tisk-ly” saying these guys should have been practicing putting on jackets while riding in their training camps. A fair point, because it is often lost on the audience how much skill is required and practice is needed just to be agile enough to grab food, drinks, bags, and clothing from the roadside and team cars as you continue riding; and dressing and undressing on the bike is another level even beyond that. But in the Stelvio case, the reason the Sunweb riders were struggling so mightily was because their hands were very numb. Can you imagine putting on a tight aero-contouring jacket with frozen fingers? What about with frozen fingers while riding a bike? Yup, that day on the Stelvio was deemed by multiple commentators the Rain-Jacket-Putting-On World Championships. After watching many of the riders struggle similarly today: why not make these skillful wardrobe-changes an annual unofficial World Championships to look forward to from our comfortable armchairs? Oddly, I did not see any frozen-finger struggle days that would qualify at this year’s Giro despite day after day of dreary deluge, so this Stage 9 into Tignes shall play host to the 2021 Rain Jacket World Championships that are ever unwinnable—only losable. But if there was a winner of these Worlds between the trio today, I guess it must have been Sergio Higuita, because I remember his struggles the least. Ben O’Connor was probably the biggest loser: it took him ages to change his gloves and coat. And though Nairoman was pretty adept at disrobing and suiting up midride, at one point he had to strip down to his last undershirt layer and put on the heaviest-duty winter cycling jacket the team had available for him. Now, if this is the first news you’re hearing of these events, I am sure you must be wondering, “Why didn’t they just quickly stop on the side of the road for a few quick seconds to do all this, instead of going at this for agonizing minutes?” And potentially, you also do have a fair point, this is what talented bike-handler Julian Alaphilippe did after all. There must come some sort of time or limit where it is just easier to stop and then spend the energy to catch back up once dressed. But if your rivals can put on the jackets while riding, surely you want to match them, because surely they won’t wait for you if you stop. And most notably today, at this point the trio had an 8:20 lead on the peloton led by Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team. Oh, and maybe I should mention this young Ben O’Connor started the day 8:13 down on GC.

Yes, yes, from yet another unlikely source, the Yellow Jersey was under attack. At the top of the Cormet de Roselend, Ben O’Connor was the virtual Yellow Jersey, at that moment he was leading the Tour de France. This Australian O’Connor came onto many cycling obsessed fans’ radars when he took a classy Tour of the Alps stage win over many headliner GC Grand Tour contenders of the day in 2018. He has shown talent in riding GC at stage races and Grand Tours before though the final results have not been equal to the flashes of potential. And in last year’s Giro he did manage to take a thrilling stage win for his old NTT team. But here at the Tour de France, riding for his new French team, in a position to take Yellow and even a stage: this was shaping up to be the biggest day in the 25-year-old Ben O’Connor’s cycling career thus far! But UAE was not just going to let this happen laying down, Young Beowulf Tadej Pogacar was in no mood to give up this Yellow Jersey he had just worked his ass off to move into yesterday. No, with the Rain Jackets on and the unofficial Worlds over, it was time game on for the finale of this stage. The lowly Ben O’Connor vs the full strength of UAE.

The first step was the long descent down…and Ben O’Connor received no favors from his Colombian breakaway companions. Quintana and Higuita, these two most diminutive of diminutive Colombian professionals, looked like dialed-in puppies on rafts navigating their way down Splash Mountain at the quickest speeds possible. The camera bikes could not keep up with these wet-descending masters, the freezing temperatures and wet roads did not seem to have any effect on their descending abilities. Colombia is situated on the equator, so it doesn’t have robust seasons of summer and winter. But surely many of these cyclists’ villages are nestled high up at 3000-to-4000m of altitude where freezing storming conditions are common. Yes, Quintana and especially Higuita blazed down this descent like little Evil Knievels…while O’Connor was not as confident. O’Connor took the sharp-wet turns much more cautiously. He didn’t completely bomb the straight sections with the velocity of a heat-seeking missile either. Perhaps his hands were still too cold, perhaps he just did not have the nerves of the Colombians. Luckily for O’Connor, behind UAE took the descent fairly calmly as well, because of or despite their rider Brandon McNulty riding off the road in a momentary lapse of concentration.

The tiny Colombians Higuita and Quintana had put 30 seconds into O’Connor as they reached the bottom of the descent. And as the climbing to the finish began immediately, neither seemed particularly interested to wait to regroup with the less-skillful descender O’Connor. At this point, O’Connor was certainly thinking more about the Yellow Jersey than the stage win, in fact at this point he may have been willing to gift the stage to one of the Colombians if they were more willing to work with him. But Ben O’Connor was the primary hero this day, and in this story Quintana and Higuita were ultimately just two more adversaries to overcome.

Whether they were yet officially on the climb or not, the entire last 30km of the stage were uphill. As a second step, O’Connor began recovering the time he had lost to the Colombians. With all the descending done, there was no more cautious riding left, it was absolutely time to empty the tank: Ben O’Connor was on a quest to achieve the greatest accomplishment in his sporting life. On their best days in the past, both Quintana and Higuita have looked like the greatest climbers in the world. But this background character turned underdog hero, Ben O’Connor was hunting them down like clockwork. Within 3km, with 27km left on the stage he caught the leading pair of Colombians. Then came the third step, the trio took on their last gels and drinks—the final fuel for the long final climb. Then a fourth step—not that any point-by-point plan was ever actually laid out—was to ride the climb full gas and just see what happens. At this point, O’Connor and the Colombians had almost 9:00 on the peloton, but behind UAE was actually doing their finest job supporting Pogacar thus far all Tour: Hurricane Hirschi had already done a heavy share of pacing on the early climbs, Mikkel Bjerg was still here and working despite sharing that early load with Hirschi, veteran Rui Costa was doing a great ride in service of Pog, and Davide Formolo and Rafal Majka had still not even needed to come to the front to work yet…and Young Beowulf Pogacar in Yellow himself looked very at ease. Yes, though O’Connor was virtually in Yellow by some-40 seconds, truly Pogacar could rip into that gap himself with another solo attack somewhere towards the end of this final climb.

With 22km left to climb and race, O’Connor and the Colombians’ gap was now 8:30 to the UAE peloton of GC favorites. O’Connor was offering a noble challenge today, O! but surely behind UAE would soon start the climb proper and this gap would really start to tumble. And yet, all of a sudden, without any warning to speak of—he must be a great poker player—Nairo Quintana completely cracked. The battery went dead, the lights went out, the wheels metaphorically fell off, he had completely bonked. It was no slow decay or agonizing scramble to hang on. In an instant, Quintana gently and politely swung over to the side of the road and completely dropped out of contention for the stage win. Behind, UAE was still eating into O’Connor’s advantage. They had now dropped the gap down to 8:00 to put Pogacar virtually back in Yellow, but now O’Connor had one less rival to contend with for the stage win. With some 19km to go, the black rain jacket came off. O’Connor was warmed back up, and it was time to show off the AG2R Citreon Jersey again in this finale to the sponsors’ delight. Yes, O’Connor unveiled the White Top with Brown and Red Lettering just in time as he ratcheted up the pace with 17km to go…an acceleration that put away his last Colombian rival, Sergio Higuita. By now, O’Connor only had a 7-minute lead on Pogacar and the UAE peloton. Yellow seemed now out of reach, but now O’Connor was on a crash course for a Tour de France stage win with a high place on the General Classification to boot.

And would you believe it, as UAE burned up their men pacing on the front of the peloton, with 13km to go Ben O’Connor reversed the tide. His gap to the peloton began to go back out. From 6:50 with 14km to ride, his lead shot back out to 8:00 once again with 8km to go. O! To see performances such as these are what cycling is all about. Before today, Ben O’Connor was a promising but-firmly-only supporting actor in this Tour de France drama. He had crashed and lost time at some point in the first week, and his dramatic role had been diminished even further. But now he was seizing his chance, now he was writing himself a bigger part with more lines—maybe even a solo musical number—in this Tour de France script. It was inspiring to see. Surely such a ride as this will motivate many an Australian in the amateur ranks all that much more to go on with the grueling ass-kicking training regime, because maybe one day they could ride like Ben O’Connor and have the greatest day of their cycling career as well. Yes, O’Connor matched and bettered the effort of that UAE squad for the middle kilometers of that infinite climb to Tignes. With 7km to go, O’Connor had the lead back out to 8:14 on Pogacar; O’Connor was virtually back in Yellow by 1 second.

It was an amazing effort and accomplishment for O’Connor just to even provisionally take Yellow again, by that point all of Pogcar’s UAE teammates had been burned. But with Pogacar isolated, onto the front came three Ineos Grenadiers to set the pace and probe for any chink in Young Beowulf Pogacar’s armor. It was the Grenadiers that actually ruined O’Connor’s Yellow dream, but luckily upfront, no one was within a mile of stopping O’Connor from taking AG2R’s biggest win of the season. To take Yellow and the stage would have been the ultimate, but to just have one or the other was great reward: a culmination of a career, a fairytale come to life for any professional cyclist. Though he would not take Yellow, Ben O’Connor would take the stage win today and move up to second on GC Overall. Behind, in the final kilometers with no teammates left and a few GC rivals around him audacious enough to try some attacks, once again Young Beowulf Tadej Pogacar figured the best defense was offense. For the second day in a row, Young Beowulf rode away from all opposition with relative ease. Pogacar would end up finishing only 6:00 down on O’Connor, and a further 30 seconds ahead of any GC rivals he had dropped in the closing handful of kilometers when he attacked.

Yes, Young Beowulf Tadej Pogacar has now extended his iron grip on this race. Ben O’Connor was the only one who made any gains. But as O’Connor moves up to only 2:01 back on GC and the rest of Pogacar’s rivals are now over 5:00 down, this O’Connor will be constantly watched and marked by Young Beowulf who is very eager to seal up his second Tour de France. Though O’Connor’s ride today was impressive, glorious, and heroic, it probably is not fair to expect him to challenge Pogacar much more than he has. This was O’Connor’s day, he will be lucky to string together a good GC run to hold his podium place—that would be a phenomenal result actually. Yes, because of Young Beowulf’s dominance already many are shifting their goals to simply just take second or third on GC this Tour. And that should actually prove a great battle. Sonny Colbrelli, the sprinter hunting Green Jersey Points, somehow managed to take third on this stage, the competition for Green is completely ON. And the KOM competition seems to be coming along nicely, especially with Nairoman donning the Polka-Dots tonight. And for the third day in a row, I will say: this is the Second Golden Age of cycling, who knows what will happen this Tour or in any of these great bike races. Maybe similar rebellions to the young king’s rule shall keep uprising. Maybe, just maybe, Young Beowulf Pogacar’s victory is not sealed air-tight.

2021 TDF Stage 8: Young Beowulf Restabilizes His Rule

Oyonnax—La Grand-Bornand, 150km

In absolute shambles and disarray, the Tour crawled on its hands-and-knees into the first Alpine Stage, the first real mountain stage of this Tour de France. The list of casualties, the body count, and the number of only semi-recovering wounded warriors were are all tremendously high after a week of racing at this Tour. Crashes from spectators holding signs, crashes from nerve-racking traffic furniture, crashes from blind corners and twisting lanes, crashes simply from ferocious fights for positioning. And the Monument-length stage yesterday was raced full gas under the impetus of the stage winner Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) and the shredders of all scripts, the Mighty Aces Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma). They offered no quarter to anyone looking for a transition stage to nurse their wounds or form. And now today, into the Alps it was a brutal wet one. Immediate casualties included Jumbo’s Fallen captain Primoz Roglic the Relentless and the Grenadier Geraint Thomas the Tank Engine, both were nursing some of the worst wounds in the peloton, both would finish at the very back of the gruppetto. A gruppetto really did form immediately on this stage, ready to perfectly measure their efforts to make the time-cut for the stage’s end. But anyone not injured, anyone feeling just half decent, anyone able-bodied enough to help a General Classification (GC) team leader suited up for yet another battle despite the 7 days of racing already chalk full of carnage.

There was not a moment of calm on this stage, no breaks from the action whatsoever. Once again, UAE massively struggled to maintain any semblance of control for the entire first half of the stage. Attacks and breaks were materializing and dissolving like schools of fish in lake teeming with life and activity. At many times, Tadej Pogacar himself—UAE’s defending Tour champion, currently wearing the White Jersey of Best Young Rider and sitting second on GC—tried to make the front splitting groups going up the road, seeming to think that a more reasonable option than relying on his team to get a grip on the race. This entire time, though Van Der Poel was still in Yellow, he did not have a single Alpecin teammate around him. The entire Alpecin team is made up of sprinters, lead-out men, heavy Classics men, and this Renaissance Madman; none of them have any sort of high-mountain climbing prowess. Van Der Poel’s only hope to hold Yellow was to hang on and follow the peloton and specifically archrival Van Aert as best he could. Van Aert’s Jumbo team support was also depleted. His Jumbo teammate Sepp Kuss was attempting to mix it up in breakaways off the front. Wout’s other Jumbo teammate Jonas Vingegaard is also decently placed on GC, and with his much lighter frame he is a much better long term GC bet for the squad. Thus though Wout Van Aert began the day second on GC with over 3 minutes’ lead on Pogacar: he did have free range to seek Yellow for himself, but no team support would be available for today at least. Van Aert, with Van Der Poel, also just continued following the peloton of GC favorites, even when a larger break of climbers and threats to their GC positions went up the road.

This de facto main breakaway for day could not have established itself legitimately until after halfway through the stage. Even once this break was away getting 4 minutes on a GC-peloton finally being loosely controlled by two or three of Pogcar’s UAE teammates, still this breakaway was in constant flux. There were many big and lesser names in it, too many to rattle off once again—surely they would only bog down the reader and listener. Most notably, the tall Dutchman Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) was adamantly hunting down copious amounts of KOM Points available on this first proper mountain stage containing three Category1 climbs. Yes, yes, at the end of the day Wout Poels would don the Polka-Dot Jersey on the first day the battle shifted from a King of the Hills to the boda fide King of the Mountains competition. On the descent after cresting the first Category1 climb of the day and this Tour, Team DSM’s Soren Kragh Andersen—winner of two stages in last year’s Tour—and Teisj Benoot went on the attack. But none had breath to marvel at their wet-descending skills, all anyone viewing could do was hold their breath. Astana’s Ion Izagirre, a high-quality descender, had to pull out on too wet a turn straight into someone’s driveway instead of risking sliding out. Pulling out such time on the descent, Kragh Andersen was at one point into or close to the virtual Maillot Jaune, but as they hit the bottom of the last two Category1 climbs of the day, the complexion and plot of this stage and this Tour all drastically changed.

The finale of this first Alpine stage would encompass scaling the Category1 Col de Romme—an 8.8km climb averaging 8.9%—followed by a very short decent and then straight up into the final Category1 Col de la Colombiere climb—7.5km in length averaging 8.4%. Finally, over the top of this would be a 15km descent into the finishing town of Le Grand-Bornand where Quickstep’s Julian Alaphilippe the Musketeer won his first ever Tour stage in 2018. As the breakaway hit the lower slopes of the Col de Romme, it was Michael “Rusty” Woods—the one of Athletics Middle Distance Sub-4 Mile fame—who immediately began chasing down the leading DSM duo. Teisj Benoot was already finished, spent, and going metaphorically backwards. Kragh Andersen would be a tougher man to chase and crack, but this Rusty Woods was up for the challenge! The rest of the breakaway chasers were either pulling the plug on the day, or scrambling to find an answer to Woods’ ride. And behind, UAE was leading the peloton of GC contenders that still included both Mighty Aces, Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van Der Poel.

As the Canadian Mike Woods was riding past Kragh Andersen solo at the head of the Tour, Tadej Pogacar was down to just the American Brandon McNulty and the Italian Davide Formolo for team support. With only some 40km left in the stage that were all either serious climbing or high-speed descending, Tadej Pogacar must have decided the time was right to stamp his authority on this race. Though he seems on friendly terms with them, surely after a week of dealing with the antics and audacious tactics of the Mighty Aces, Tadej Pogacar had had enough. On this first proper mountain stage, it was time to put the Mighty Aces away to trouble the GC no longer. Young Pogacar had McNulty and Formolo ratchet up the pace as high as they could to shell out as many riders from their peloton as they possibly could. Dutifully the American McNulty began the shelling, riding with all his might. And with 33km left in the stage, it was this Brandon McNulty that had the honor to drop former Tour champion Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) the Shark of Messina…and among others, the first of the Mighty Aces Mathieu Van Der Poel the Renaissance Madman wearing the Yellow Jersey. Mathieu won on Stage 2 and took the Yellow Jersey, he has rode bravely to defend and increase his lead in it for 6 days now. But surely then, with still so much climbing left on the stage, his stint in Yellow had been accomplished and would now definitively end for this Tour. Mighty Ace archrival Wout Van Aert began the day only 30 seconds down on GC, having proven to be a better high-mountain climber already this year and in seasons’ past, surely Wout would finish more than 30 seconds ahead of Mathieu on this day. Ah! But with 32km to go, McNulty had swung off job done for Pogacar. Davide Formolo had come to the front to set the pace, and like McNulty in quick succession he also started shelling out many top climbers renowned in professional cycling. And this Davide Formolo was the one to drop the other Mighty Ace Wout Van Aert, The Swiss Army Knife of the peloton. Though his archrival Wout was dropping, Mathieu in Yellow really had already pulled the plug to pack it in. To ride for GC the entire Tour was never Mathieu’s intention. In fact, Mathieu was almost even against attending the Tour altogether, for it comes on the eve of the Olympics which he has been training for in attempts to win a Gold Medal in the Cross-Country Mountain Bike race, for years the Mountain Bike appointment has been booked on his calendar. To dig so deep riding for GC for three weeks could surely throw all those preparations awry, if they haven’t been already by this brutal week of racing. But, but, meanwhile just up ahead, the other Mighty Ace Wout Van Aert had to ride this out, Wout was not yet fully put to the sword. Wout’s dream of donning Yellow like his Mighty Ace archrival was not yet extinguished. Van Aert is relatively a very heavy cyclist, at last year’s Tour and this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico the cycling world was shocked to see him riding up the mighty climbs so strongly and even at times competitively for Jumbo-Visma team ambitions. Having free-range and a 3-minute cushion on Pogacar and any other conventional GC contenders, if Wout could measure his effort potentially he could limit losses enough to stay within 3 minutes of Pogacar, and then—with Mathieu already pulling the plug—he could now finally move into the Yellow Jersey. Ah! But within 2km, with 30km left on the stage, UAE’s Davide Formolo had given everything he had for his team leader, Tadej Pogacar. And thus, surely part of the same master plan, the Young Pogacar wearing the White Jersey enacted the best tactical defense he could contrive: an all-out full-gas attack!

If you listened to my Stage 5 Time Trial report, I mentioned the Tour organizer’s nightmare where Big Mig Miguel Indurain and the Texan Lance Armstrong would so thoroughly dominate a first week Time Trial that they would have already built up an insurmountable lead on GC. So often did they too quickly seal those Tours, the current Tour Race Director Christian Prudhomme has avoided any sort of decisive first week TT for a decade. This year Prudhomme’s route design included a first week TT that seemed to have been decisive but did not seal Pogacar’s victory—especially not with the Mighty Aces’ breakaway antics yesterday. But there is another historic Tour Race Director nightmare that is less avoidable. Whereas a first week Time Trial Stage need not be held at all, inevitably there must always be a first proper mountain stage about a third of the way through every Tour de France. The danger is always that one mighty alpha in a class above the rest could win the race in the first big mountain range—the Alps or Pyrenees, whichever comes first—before the Tour is even half over. In recent Tours, the only strategy Prudhomme has attempted to combat this too-real nightmare is to slightly subdue outings into the first big mountain range of each Tour. Thus, last year’s Tour only spent two days in the Pyrenees on the race’s second weekend, and thus this was the first of only two days in the Alps this Tour. Surely, today’s stage ended with a descent with the hopes of a small GC group finishing together with things remaining tight for Yellow for the next mountain days to come. But as stated, after a week of brutal racing because of crashes and audacious tactics, Tadej Pogacar did not get the message from Prudhomme about slowly developing the GC hierarchy over the course of the three weeks. With no team support left, Tadej Pogacar was prepared to take a commanding lead of this race on this first mountain stage alone, no matter the ideal designs of the stage. Yes, yes, with this double-punch up the Romme and Colombiere to be ridden in basically one combined effort, Tadej Pogacar had enough terrain to dash all hopes of his rivals and any who wanted a tight GC race all the way to Paris.

With 30km to go, Tadej Pogacar attacked the peloton of remaining favorites…and today O! surely he rode with the strength of Young Beowulf. Only Richard Carapaz the Jaguar of Tulcan (Ineos Grenadiers) could follow Pogacar’s Beowulfian acceleration for any length of time. Yes, yes, throughout the 2019 season the young Pogacar came onto our radars—another of the talented teenagers skipping the Under-23 ranks. But it was over the course of the 2020 Tour where for three weeks, we saw Pogacar daily enact a Beowulfian “Rise.” In the Anglo-Saxon epic set in that people’s ancient homelands in present day Scandinavian lands bordering the North and Baltic Seas, the Rise and Fall of the title warrior is chronicled. Surely, surely, so mighty of a king must the real-life Beowulf have been: his descendants who migrated across the North Sea centuries later were still composing lays and legends about what must have been a mythic Rise and Fall worthy of his middle-aged kingly accomplishments. The Rise of Beowulf took place at Heorot, ally King Hrothgar’s great hall. It was there Beowulf had sailed, coming as the only mighty one with hope of defeating the evil monster Grendel and his equally monstrous Mother beneath the lake surface. When Beowulf left for Heorot, he was only still yet an upcoming warrior on the cusp of manhood. When Beowulf returned home from defeating Grendel and his Mother, he was more than the “New Sheriff in Town,” he was the new Young Warrior King who would bring unrivalled prosperity and protection to his kingdom for the next 50 years. Such parallels of Rising can be seen in Pogacar’s career-narrative thus far as well. Surely his 2020 Tour victory of Compatri-cide, of Mentor-i-cide, of metaphorical Fratricide was no less a character-defining feat than Beowulf’s slaying of Grendel. And thus it is: Tadej Pogacar has earned the “Young Beowulf” moniker not just because of his impressive riding-strength, but more so because of this parallel epic and mythical Rise. Whether Pogacar has slain Grendel’s Mother yet or not remains to be seen or discerned, but today on the Tour de France O! surely he took up that all-successful role of Young-Beowulf-Crowned-King. Today, today, he waved his scepter at will ordering affairs as he wished, stamping his kingly authority on all Tour GC matters.

Within a kilometer, the Jaguar Richard Carapaz was dropped and punished for his attempts to follow Young King Beowulf. But Richard Carapaz was not the only one to be put in his place by the Young King freshly sitting upon his throne. Though they had over a five-minute headstart, Young Beowulf Tadej Pogacar chased down the entire breakaway up the remainder of the Col de Romme and the Col de la Colombiere. Mike “Rusty” Woods was eventually caught in the final kilometers towards the top of the Colombiere by Bahrain Victorious’ Dylan Tuens—the man who won in 2019 on the gravel-extended La Planche Del Belles Filles. Despite being so close to the top of the climb, Woods could not hang onto Tuens’ high pace. But behind Pogacar was coming even for these men who were all the way at the very front of the race; even they had trouble escaping from him. Young Beowulf Pogacar would catch Mike Woods in that last kilometer before the summit of the climb. Pogacar would crest that summit less than 15 seconds behind stage leader Tuens. Tuens only managed to hold off the regal Young Beowulf, because he took many risks on the descent whereas Pogacar took none. Yes, yes, Pogacar had already made all sorts of gains for the day, he did not need to take any descending risks that would comprise what he had already achieved. By the top of the Colombiere Pogacar had put 3 minutes into Carapaz and any conventional GC riders within a stone’s throw of him, and almost 5 minutes into Wout Van Aert. Yes, surely Pogacar had now dashed Van Aert’s hopes of moving into first position on GC and taking over the Yellow Jersey.

Bahrain’s Dylan Tuens would go on to win the stage by some 45 seconds ahead of Michael Woods and Ion Izagirre who caught Pogacar and then out sprinted him in the finale. The finishing sprint was of little concern to Pogacar who had taken his cautious time on the descent. Other riders from the breakaway trickled in one-by-one, but all Pogacar’s conventional GC rivals that are left came in 3:20 after him—the likes of the Jaguar Richard Carapaz, Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko, EF’s Rigoberto Uran, Jumbo’s Jonas Vingegaard, Bora’s Wilco Kelderman, Movistar’s Enric Mas, and Groupama’s David Gaudu. Finally, just under 5 minutes after Pogacar had finished, Wout Van Aert the Mighy Ace crossed the line to solidify the current GC Top Ten. Young Beowulf Tadej Pogacar moved into the Yellow Jersey this evening having taken the race lead. The conventional GC rivals just named are now nestled somewhere between 4:30 to 6:00 behind Pogacar. Meanwhile, remarkably Wout Van Aert still remains second on GC at only 1:48 down on Pogacar: this Mighty Ace’s quest to don the Maillot Jaune is not dead yet.

Yes, yes, at this moment it seems this Mighty Ace Wout Van Aert The Swiss Army Knife of the peloton, is the greatest challenger, perhaps even the last-hope-challenger to Young King Beowulf’s dominion this Tour. On this first mountain stage Pogacar has declared to all he is the strongest rider, the King with an Iron Grip, the Public Enemy No. 1, and by-far-and-away the man to beat this Tour. But the UAE squad around him have not yet proven they are the strongest team at this Tour. Now, no other team has proven stronger than UAE either. But, but, Van Aert is still in striking distance to at least continue his GC quest for Yellow. Yesterday Wout instigated a 30-man breakaway on the flat that put 3 minutes into King Pogacar the Young Beowulf. With Pogacar being such a strong Public Enemy, perhaps Van Aert or another GC rival really could find enough friends to help pull off similar breakaway coups as we saw on Stage 7. We are in the Second Golden Age of cycling after all: such wildly unrealistic daydreams like this come to life on a daily basis nowadays. Pogacar’s Beowulfian Rise seems to have been completed last year, his regal reign began then and there, now he must defend the throne. And now the unconventional top threat to his kingdom comes from the Mighty Ace who is The Swiss Army Knife of the peloton. To what lengths shall Wout Van Aert go to draw the score even with his Mighty Ace archrival Van Der Poel? Almost purely out of desire to not be outdone by Mathieu, shall Wout mount a full-scale GC rebellion to challenge Pogacar’s Beowulfian dominance?

2021 TDF Stage 7: Uncharted Territory

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.

2021 TDF Stage 6: Record Watch

Tours—Chateauroux, 160km

Like his Lotto Soudal teammate Brent Van Moer, today Roger Kluge made a valiant effort to stay away in the break with the help of Golden Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citreon). The day was long and flat, the final approach towards Chateauroux was incredibly straight. The direction was right for a perfect cross-tail for almost the whole day. Had the breeze been stronger, this would have been a nightmare of a day for the riders who cannot handle crosswinds. For some 50km the peloton was breathing down the necks of this leading duo, but just when the catch seemed inevitable—within 25 seconds at 14km to go—Kluge and Van Avermaet made things interesting and went down with a fight. They were not caught until 3km to go. Quickstep, Alpecin, Bahrain, and DSM all set riders to the front to bring them back. The weather was fine, the crosswinds had not materialized, today was a day for the sprinters to have their fun. And who had the most fun railing the corners and sprinting into the heart of Chateauroux?

The man who is undefeated here in Chateauroux. The man who took his first ever Tour stage win here in Chateauroux.

Wearing the Green Jersey as leader of the Points Competition, Mark Cavendish was ideally placed for the entire finale by his Deceuninck-Quickstep team. For the entire final 10km they were towards the front doing the lion’s share of breakaway reeling-in like master fishermen, and yet they conserved their men well enough to not burn them all too early and leave Cav isolated in the final kilometer. With 2km to go, Cav still had three Quickstep riders in front of him at the pointy-end of the peloton-arrow. What must it be like for Mark Cavendish to have the World Champion Musketeer Julian Alaphilippe as a Quickstep teammate doing grunt-man lead-out work in his service? What must it be like for Julian Alaphilippe to be a supporting actor in this real-time fairytale Cav has created in the twilight of his career? With 1,200m to go, Alaphilippe swung off the front job done, all energy spent. In the final kilometer, the Madman Mathieu Van Der Poel in the Yellow Jersey rode as the third-to-last-man to draw the Alpecin-Fenix lead out train even with Cavendish’s Quickstep train. In the last 400m, the trains on opposite sides of the road merged together to form one pointy arrow of the peloton again. At this point, Cavendish actually dared swing off of Quickstep’s unrivalled master lead-out man, Michael Morkov to slot in behind Alpecin’s Jasper Philipsen who was being led out by the Alpecin winner of Stage 3, Tim Merlier. But with 200m to go, before Merlier had even finished his lead out for Philipsen, Cav in Green was coming around them both. For the quad of Turkey stages Cav won this past spring, it was this same Philipsen he was regularly getting the best of…and it was this same Philipsen that took second to him on Stage 4 as well. Yes, yes, Cavendish would nip Philipsen again today, and as if by destiny he remains undefeated in Chateauroux.

It is clear to all: we are witnessing legendary events. Mark Cavendish the Manx Missile has just won his 32nd Tour de France stage. The nostalgia for the HTC days of a bygone era have not yet and will not ever dissolve for the remainder of this Tour—especially not here where Cav took his first Tour stage 13 years ago. But with this win, sound the alarms, be on your guard. For the entire next fortnight with the intensity of a wartime coast guard, we are now on watch. Not for enemy fleets, submarines, or armadas of fighter jets and bombers; no, the entirety of the cycling world is now on Record Watch.

The Belgian Eddy Merckx the Cannibal, the GOAT, the Greatest of All Time holds the Tour de France stage wins record with 34. Mark Cavendish is now two away from tying, three away from breaking that record. And Cav does seem to genuinely hate the subject. In the immediate post-race stage winner interview, Seb Piquet only alluded to the topic and Cav exclaimed “Don’t say the name. Don’t say the name. I’m not thinkin’ about anythin’. Again. I’ve just won a stage of the Tour de France. If that was my first stage, if that was my thirty-second stage, I just won a stage of the Tour de France. And, eh, that’s what people work their whole lives for, you know? I’m very, very happy, that’s all. If I’m good enough to win 50 more, I’m good enough to win 50. If I’m good enough never to win again here, so be it, I’m not good enough to win again here. Em, it’s the Tour de France.”

For a rider who has been known to be boisterous and swaggering throughout his career, I find that response incredibly grounding and potentially even humble. Perhaps I am biased, as has been stated after all, Cav was my original favorite rider over a decade ago. But it is impressive to see him not let all of this go to his head, even now he is simply just enjoying the moment and masterfully focusing on the task at hand. From what I have learned, Cavendish is one of the better students of the sport: he knows the history, the weight, and the prestige of cycling’s greatest races. He thoroughly understands it is the achievement of a lifetime just to win one stage, let alone 32. From his perspective, it is unfair to jump the gun and begin looking onto the next massive goal. I do not think Cav says this to shy away from pressure. Surely, no one puts more pressure on him than Cav himself. If it wasn’t for his own self-confidence and immeasurable drive, he could have simply retired years ago without incurring injury after injury. Now he is back at the top of his game, and he is correctly enjoying every moment of it.

That is all admirable and well-and-good for Cav, and it’s not like he is now content and will no longer try to win. For the rest of us though, we are on Record Watch. Just like those heady days of 2009, 2010, and 2011: Be on your guard, do not dare miss a sprint stage. With the dangerous possibility that UAE’s Tadej Pogacar has already wrapped up this Tour de France before even moving into Yellow, on the very first real GC test, for the rest of this Tour this Cavendish record chase shall be a story. The long flat days are no longer transition stages, but days of historic possibility. There are still five sprint opportunities that suit him, the penultimate sprinters’ chance does not come all the way until Stage 19, and the last is of course on the final stage finishing on the Champs Elysees. Cavendish and the entire Quickstep team are firing on all cylinders, to use that cliché buzzword, they have synergy; they are on a roll—with cycling that can even be taken literally. For now, they are still going from strength to strength. In chess, good moves compound, the rich get richer; such is the way of cycling sprinting as well, especially for the greatest sprinter of all time. Cavendish’s fairytale comeback is already completed with or without the record, everything from here on out is a pressure-free bonus. But for all of us who have been Cav fans for over a decade: we can now genuinely dare to dream that the Greatest Sprinter in the History of Cycling could possibly break Merckx’s 34 stage record on the Champs-Elysees perhaps while even wearing the Green Jersey. And should he do that, I would hope Cav would then retire there on the spot. Such an ending, such a sendoff would be in the running for the greatest literal ride off into the sunset in the history of all sport.

2021 TDF Stage 5: In A Class Above the Rest

Change—Laval, 27km ITT

There was that rarified Grand Tour—or more particularly Tour or Giro—air to this Time Trial. Quite frankly in one week stage races it is an anomaly for a Time Trial Stage to actually hold my attention, let alone keep me at the edge of my seat. When the Time Trial is the first day of a stage race there is rarely a coherent flow to the starting order. Not all the General Classification (GC) contenders are grouped together, nor the Time Trial specialists, and interspersed are loads of riders who are just trying to take the TT as easy as possible to better serve the team in days to come. A TT midweek of a weeklong stage race usually just comes off as a business day hassle, especially if a proper mountain stage has not been tackled to establish a legitimate GC pecking-order: I will not watch to be entertained, but to be an amateur cycling scout trying to glean insights into riders’ form. Finally, a final day TT of a weeklong stage race can be excited if the Overall GC win is still up for grabs, but even often then the magnitude and gravitas of the TT is not emphasized. That all changes at every TT at the Giro and Tour…and perhaps the Vuelta if the right circumstances are met. When the Giro and Tour routes are announced, one of the immediate questions all ask is how much TT-kilometers there are this year. They see how many Time Trials there are, and where they are placed on the route. Is there a Prologue or Opening Stage TT? Is there a dramatic Final Stage or Penultimate Stage TT? Is there a TT in the third week? How much elevation change is in the course? Very quickly, at the Giro and Tour, the race strategy is built around the Time Trial stages. The good time-trialists and their staffs begin to calculate how much of a lead they can build in a first week Time Trial, and then how much time they can afford to lose in the mountains before a final Time Trial in the third week where they can make up the losses to purer climbers. Those who cannot produce a good Time Trial are doing the opposite: how much do we expect to lose in the an early TT? In a final TT? How much time must we find in the mountains to counterbalance this?

In this very symmetrical and traditional 108th Tour de France, there are two Time Trial Stages. The first here today on Stage 5, and one of similar length all the way at the end of the Tour on the Penultimate Stage 20. Besides the occasionally 15km or less opening stage Time Trial, for the past decades it seems Tour Race Director Christian Prudhomme has shied away from first week individual time trials. Perhaps this was from the nightmares they caused in the Indurain and Armstrong eras. In those days, amidst or after a full week of flat sprinters’ stages, a proper long and flat time trial would be tackled before any serious mountain ranges were traversed. The idea being: this would establish an early GC pecking order, this would give the GC-climbers impetus to attack in the mountains immediately to open up the race. It is intriguing thinking, but it proved too optimistic. Year after year, Miguel Indurain in his era, and Lance Armstrong in the era after would thoroughly dominate this first week time trial to build up a multi-minute lead on their top GC competition before the first mountain ranges were even crossed. Then in the mountains, the idea of seeing the GC-climbers attack would fail to launch as Indurain and Armstrong with their strong teams would keep everything reasonably in check that no GC contender could actually put a serious dent into their lead. Yes, this led to uncompelling GC campaigns for much of the Indurain and Armstrong eras: the most interesting Tours were at the beginning and end of these eras when dominance was being established or power was shifting. So how would this Tour fare with the first reintroduction of a proper first week Time Trial for more than a decade?

As stated there was that heightened sense of intensity and purpose to this TT all day, no business-end procedural feel, but a crucial day of examination. In the European Champion’s Skinsuit, the Swiss Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) set an early best mark of 32:19 for the 27km rolling Time Trial that was Stage 5 of the 2021 Tour de France. With many specialized time-trialists already finished for the day, this seemed it would be the time for any top GC rider and The Swiss Army Knife of the peloton, Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), to beat. The course was by no means pan flat, and it was fairly technical with a handful of tricky corners to navigate. Luckily there were only a few crashes today, but the bigger intrigue was how the riders who have already crashed heavily would fare today.

It was Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) who kicked off affairs for the true-blue Overall Tour contenders. For of course with his time loss from the Stage 3 crash, he was the GC contender most already behind the eight-ball. How would the injuries affect him? We all saw on social media how bandaged up his entire left side was. Was he riding to take back time on his rivals, or just to hold his own and limit his losses? Roglic came out of the gates swinging. He proved his Relentless nickname once more. Up, down, all around. He scorched through the first half of the course and it did not seem he had any sort of injuries. Roglic’s progress slowed in the second half, but given the injuries he came in a highly respectable 25 seconds down on Kung to set the GC riders’ benchmark.

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) who had suffered from a dislocated shoulder on Stage 3 could not best Roglic’s performance, he came in over 30 seconds behind the Jumbo leader. His Grenadier teammate Richard Carapaz the Ecuadorian climber fared even worse: a full minute behind Primoz Roglic. Richie Porte proved best of the Grenadiers, but still even he was bested by Roglic by 10 seconds. Beyond the Ineos Grenadiers, Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo) would probably walk away from the day with an average performance, ten seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas. Total Energie’s Pierre Latour would probably consider this a good outing for himself, finishing in that Thomas/Uran pack. Roglic’s teammate Steven Kruijswijk the Human Coat-hanger cannot be happy with his performance, nor could Bora’s Wilco Kelderman, nor either of Movistar’s GC riders Enric Mas or Superman Lopez. Of course there were remarkable time trial performances from lesser domestiques, but it seemed many of the GC riders were coming up flat. Roglic had held his own or took back time on them, and all that remained was to see how well the other mighty Slovenian would go, and who would keep or take the Yellow Jersey between Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), his archrival Wout Van Aert, and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep)—three of the top showmen of the sport.

Julian Alaphilippe put in an average or slightly below average performance. Perhaps there was some control and measurement to the performance, but there was absolutely no Zip, and little panache compared to the 2019 Pau Time Trial he unexpectedly dominated. Alaphilippe would finish around Rigoberto Uran 1:11 down on the winner of the stage. Julian was second on GC to begin the day, and with this performance he is still in a good GC position. Was he tired from the wild opening days? Winning on Stage 1, defending Yellow on Stage 2, surviving crashes on Stage 3, and supporting Quickstep teammate Cav on Stage 4? Or was he riding controlled to not over exert himself so that he can mount a real long-play GC campaign. For him to carry the weight of Yellow for the entire Tour as he attempted in 2019 would prove another massive weight and fanfare exercise. Perhaps if he really wants to take a shot at winning this Tour Overall, he must maintain a high place and yet also bide his time for a deeper run into the race. We shall continue to keep tabs on Julian Alaphilippe’s mysterious or day-to-day GC campaign, but today he was overshadowed by others.

Ah! Ah! How I hoped to write about the showdown for Yellow between the Renaissance Madman and The Swiss Army Knife of the peloton. O! For surely such titles and monikers need some more fleshed-out distinction for the casual listener—yes, both imply massive versatility and range, but what’s the intricate differences between them? How sweet it would have been to chronicle another definitive chapter in their career long rivalry-saga: the day Wout Van Aert took the Yellow Jersey off the shoulders of Mathieu Van Der Poel in the time trial discipline which Wout has proved himself a master in recent years. To see these archrivals each take Yellow for the first time in the same Tour surely would be a thrilling sight. But this did not happen today at least. Wout rode well, but there was no winning air, no larger-than-life quality today; he seems to be missing that extra something special so far this Tour. He finished a respectable 4th place on the day, only 11 seconds behind Stefan Kung who has been a top time trial rival all season. But, but, in an act that allowed him to solidly maintain the upper-hand in the already decade-long rivalry: Mathieu Van Der Poel the Renaissance Madman with the Yellow Jersey on his back put in the Time Trial ride of his life. Van Der Poel was the last off for the day. His mechanics and his team staff had worked large amounts of overtime to get the finest equipment in the world shipped in and prepared overnight on his TT bike so that he could give his best defense of the Yellow Jersey. Van Der Poel rode his heart out, with the strength of two men as is so often the case for many who wear the Yellow Jersey. In my opinion, Mathieu Van Der Poel is the greatest bike handler of all endurance-cycling disciplines, finally it was time to show those skills for the first time on a time trial bike. Of course, Van Der Poel has ridden time trials in the past, but never has he been in such a weighty position as this. As I was saying at the beginning, always they have been a throw-away business day for him to go through the motions, this was his first TT examination. He gave it everything, he railed the corners, took time when the road pitched down, accelerated and gobbled up the rises. The fact that the cyclocrosser Wout Van Aert is good at high intensity time trials often of similar duration to a Cross race: in reality should never have been a surprise to anyone. Thus today, as Wout Van Aert apparently said in a finish line quote: this was the first TT Van Der Poel has ever had to do full gas…it was no surprise Van Der Poel also put in a studly performance as well. Yes, yes, Wout Van Aert looked standard or slightly above average, he looked controlled but spent from an evenly measured effort. But Van Der Poel looked the like ferocious Madman he is riding against the wind for his life; boxing and smashing his way up every hill, with as much intensity and urgency as one could possibly have. And despite these contrasting styles today: Mathieu Van Der Poel still finished within 1 second of Wout Van Aert. Ah! Ah! They really do feed off each other, their fates really are inseparably intertwined; and I have said it before, and I will say it again: I do believe they are both better off for it. Now with all of that said, part of the reason Van Der Poel rode with such apparent urgency and intensity today was that another really was on his way to stripping the Yellow Jersey off his back.

The ride of the day came from the stage winner, by process of elimination by now you must know of whom I speak: the defending Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE). He was on course around the same time as Wout Van Aert. Van Aert actually started after him which is perhaps why Wout’s TT seemed a relevantly subdued and quiet affair: by the time Wout set an impressive time at the Intermediate Time Checks comparable to Stefan Kung, Tadej Pogacar had already just ridden through and blown them all out of the water. At the beginning of the day, Mathieu Van Der Poel had a 39-second GC lead on Pogacar, by the end of this time trial Van Der Poel’s gap was cut down to just 8 seconds…and Van Der Poel had put in a Top Five ride on the day. Yes, yes, for the second time Tadej Pogacar has absolutely smashed a Tour de France TT, he beat second place Stefan Kung by 19 seconds to finish in a time of 32:00. And with this performance Tadej Pogacar has confirmed he is the man to beat this Tour de France.

His ride today was not really much of a surprise, because no one shall ever forget his La Planche TT from last year. The head scratcher is that his Time Trial performances in the Spring Stage races have not been in that La Planche stratosphere. Perhaps he has just raised the level of his game for this Grand Tour? Thinking the best defense was offense today? Either way, with such a performance he cemented that rarified Grand Tour TT air, he showed off that infamous compatriot-slaying form from last year. Van Der Poel may still hold Yellow by 8 seconds, but now Tadej Pogacar is at the top of the pecking order: 28 seconds on Van Aert, 40 seconds on Alaphilippe, 1:20 on Pierre Latour, 1:21 on Rigoberto Uran, 1:36 on Richard Carapaz, 1:40 on his Slovenian “older” brother Primoz Roglic, 1:46 on Geraint Thomas, and any other wannabe GC rider is already over 2 minutes back. Yes, for the past week leading up to this race Tadej Pogacar has had that Young Beowulfian spirit about him. His heroic rise was well documented and seen over the course of last year’s Tour de France where he went from talented boy star to the proven champion. He has entered this Tour with the expectation to build up his legacy or even establish his dynasty. And now today he has finally entered that frontier of being the undisputed marked man: every single target is on him. He has the commanding lead, this year he shall not ride on the Jumbo coattails. As was expected before the race began, he and his UAE team now take on the full weight of the defense. It is up to the Grenadier Armada perhaps in conjunction with the Jumbo-Visma Wasps to slay this marked-man Tadej Pogacar. Does Pogacar have the strength and tactical prowess to defend his advantage all the way to Paris now—as Indurain and Armstrong did of old? Is he really a class above the rest, like he showed in this TT? Or will some sort of coordinated GC effort against him from all his rivals prove too much for the still young Pogacar and his yet unproven UAE team? Yes, yes, in a way the Tour de France has now really just begun: for the next fortnight Pogacar and the UAE team shall be put to rigorous test after rigorous test. Perhaps the rivals shall not be able to coordinate a proper challenge, and like many of the Indurain and Armstrong Tours the red-hot favorite has already won the Tour before it really got going. But should his rivals play their cards right and throw everything at him, Tadej Pogacar really will need that Young Beowulfian strength to begin establishing his dynasty.