It’s a flat stage through South-Western France. Lots of sunflowers. Alberto Contador on the back of Wiggo’s Vespa, reduced to describing the ambulance following the Broom Wagon following poor Michael Mørkøv who rode 150 km on his own to arrive 8 minutes outside the time limit. And have they mentioned that it’s quite warm? By the way, in the spirit of public service and given the national heat emergency, I have done a bit of window cleaning and am about to wash the car, which is usually enough to make it rain. You’re welcome.
UNLUCKY 13
But the wheels start to come off the the race leader’s team: Primoz Roglic did not start the day, due to his injuries. Then around the time of another climate protest on the road, down went Stephen Kruiswijk (race number 13). Down and out – he was moved from the road to a stretcher to an ambulance and out of the race, a lot gentler than the gendarmes dealing with the protesters. So Jumbo-Visma were down to six riders. Then down went the yellow jersey! Panic. chase. (We’ll count the cost of the withdrawals in the Stat du Jour.)
Tell us about the race for goodness’ sake
A thrilling bunch sprint in the end won by Belgian Jasper Philipsen, with the omnipresent Wout van Aert just edged out on the bike throw. That makes it Belgium 3-3 Denmark for stage wins. The peloton only chased down a brave effort by the long-range local loner Benjamin Thomas, urged on by a crowd giving him the full “Thomas Voeckler” & longing for a French victory. Van Aert had been in the first breakaway. He looked like the last man standing to accompany the yellow jersey as his teammates crashed and then was there to contest the sprint. Moments after the finish, as the other contenders were dowsing themselves with water to cool down or falling in a disappointed heap, Wout was down on his haunches talking to his little toddler, as if he’d just parked up after the commute home. Cool Dad.
Team of the Day
Just one team achieved two riders in the top ten on Stage 15: Piles non comprises once again top-scored with Wout van Aert in 2nd and Mads Pedersen in 3rd. While those Thin Fat Boys remain comfortably at the top of the league (have we ever said that before, David?!) Mike’s team are just 156 velopoints behind Martin’s Le tour for sure in 2nd, while Iseabel’s Cela ne va pas bien se passer are doing well in 4th, just 126 points behind, with Dales Austrian Ostriches a further 33 velopoints adrift in 5th place. And with just 6 stages to go, it’s all to play for!
Stat du Jour
Where have all our riders gone? Only one minleague team has a charmed life and takes a full squad of 9 into the final week – league leaders Thin Fat Boys. Here’s how it stands:
Postcard from the Aude
Dimanche le dix-sept juillet Carcassone
Carcassone, where Mark Cavendish won his record-equalling 34th stage of the Tour de France. That was Stage 13 of the 2021 edition.
“SO, SEAN KELLY, DO YOU WANT A CUP OF TEA?”
“Well, Carlton, that’s always a difficult one especially on such a hot day when the roithers have to keep theeirselves hydreeted and its hard to get back to the cars to fetch the drinks and it all depends whether they can keep their place up near the front of the queue at the cafeteria and then it’s always a question about whether to have milk or not, but you have to be so so careful with dreary – diary – dairy produce as it might be hard to absorb on a long stage, so a lot of the more experienced roithers will have a biscuit and take the tea – as we say in cycling – black or without the meelk, but then the big big question is one lump or two or loose just loose sugar, as favoured by some of the teams, which they never used to when I was winning all the races – in the end it all depends on who has the spoon on the stage, which is say is a difficult one and it will all come down to… at the end of the day, I … err … I think oi’ll have an espresso.“