Tag Archives: Bauke Mollema

2021 TDF Stage 20: The Second Golden Age Despite a Subdued Tour Ending

“Froome’s whole career has been built around winning the Tour de France. It is the biggest race in the world, it is the only race that transcends the sport, he cannot be blamed for that. But what does he think seeing Pogacar, Bernal, upcoming Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quickstep), Alaphillipe, the Mighty Aces, and the countless younger talents still surely about to emerge? Is Froome impressed that they do not just peak for July—or does he think they are spreading themselves too thin? Does Froome believe or understand or acknowledge that this new generation’s greatest strength seems to be their versatility?”

2021 TDF Stage 19: The Heroes Head Home

“Much has been seen and accomplished, life lessons and growth has been gained, but now the ordeal is on the cusp of being over: the longed-for return to normal life is on the horizon. Now these heroes return home out of the south like the hobbits on to the edge of the Shire at the end of Return of the King.”

2021 TDF Stage 18: Mountains Wrap Up with a Carbon Copy

“I cannot contain my frustration: what have these guys been doing the past three days? For the past two mountain stages, neither got into the breakaways, and both scored at most a handful of Points combined. And because of cagey tactics, yesterday without even trying for the Polka-Dots, Pogacar got himself into contention for that competition.”

2021 TDF Stage 17: Bastille Day Battle on the Col du Portet

“Truly, truly, I praise them with the highest compliment I, Patrick Santino, can give. Their ascent up this Col du Portet reminded me of my days of most yore: to the memories I have of Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador duking it out round for round on the third week Pyrenean climbs of the 2010 Tour. If you listen to my first Introduction episode you will understand why I hold those days in such mythically high regard.”

2021 TDF Stage 16: Last Ditch Efforts for Green

“But should one of the four KOM Hunters have escaped, at what cost would this have come for the final two rounds tomorrow and Thursday where more weighty and higher ranking mountains loom? We shall not find out, because the KOM Hunters called a truce. There would be no race for the Polka-Dots today…but there would be for Green.”

2021 TDF Stage 15: Kings of the Mountains on the Queen Stage

“Ah! Ah! It was one of those stages where the most obsessed fans began watching eagerly early, for the profile contained so many jagged high peaks surely it would be a fierce battle for KOM Points at the top of every climb! And the obsessed fans were right: all four riders at the top of the KOM Classification were in the breakaway today hunting for Polka-Dot Points”

2021 TDF Stage 14: The Vanguard Battles into the Pyrenees

“The vanguard is the leading company or unit at the front-and-center of the battleline….In cycling, such terms of ancient and medieval warfare can often easily be applied to the peloton, but they are always in a way twisted. For though the peloton travels together like an army on an Odyssey, the wars the riders wage are not against the locals whose homelands they are invading, but are pitched battles of civil war between themselves.”

2021 TDF Stage 11: Double Vindication on the Double Ventoux Stage

“Should people have earmarked certain stages for Wout Van Aert to win, he could have been considered a strong favorite for about 15 of the 21, and this Double Ventoux stage was definitely one of the 6 he was unsuited for. But we are in the Second Golden Age of cycling because the generational stars, the top showmen of the sport like this Wout Van Aert still surprise us. “

2021 Giro Stag 9: The GC Men Go on a Great Hunt (Written)

‘All of the following quotes are of course fictional, but perhaps he said like an English lord on Boxing Day: “Alright, boys, I think we have given them enough of a head-start. Let us give chase. Let us go a’ hunting the breakaway for the remainder of this day. Saddle up your steeds. I have a mind to win my first Grand Tour stage on this fine Sunday and perhaps make a Pink wardrobe change—but tell that not to the other teams who I wish to join us on this hunt, for we shall try to enlist their help on the chase first.”’