Big Sam is Back!
Belgian-born Irish sprinter Sam Bennett for Bora won a thrilling if slightly chaotic finale stage 2. Much was being made of his “drought” of wins since his last Grand Tour stage victory on the 4th stage of the 2019 Vuelta.
That’s a stage victory for four GreenWightRed teams: Cuchara de Madera aqui, Velo Espana, Dream Catcher and The Pain in Spain, so well done us! For Linda’s team that’s two in a row – sorry I forgot to credit the stage win for Robert Gesink who was ushered first over the line by the Jumbos yesterday.
So who did you choose?
Here are the most popular rider selections amongst our dozen teams – the chart shows the riders who have been selected by three or more of us:
It is no surprise to see Primoz at the top, though his form is a bit unknown after he dropped out of the Tour, alongside Simon Yates. Is it loyalty to the Mancunian twins, or the triumph of hope over experience? He’s come close to several Grand Tours since his last appearance (and win!) in 2018 La Vuelta. Maybe this time.
In the Skineos camp, more of us favoured Ethan Hayter than leader and Grand Tour winner Richard Carapaz. Perhaps a case of our eternal British bias, but he may just be the form rider having won the overall victory, a points jersey or stage win in every race but one so far this year. He is already wearing the white jersey for best placed young rider.
I notice that only(?) four teams included Remco the wildcard, who on his day appears to be the best rider in the world. But will he last the course? He’s dancing the Quick-Step with the shy and retiring Julian Alaphilippe in the rainbow jumper.
There was not one single selection from Groupama-FDJ or Team Arkéa Samsic
GreenWightRed Team of the Day
Today we feature the top-scoring and now league-leading Velo Espana who feature the stage winner and Jumbo-Visma‘s Mike Teunnisen. Here is Paul’s team, representing the Aaland Islands – which led me to believe it would include a lot of A’s: Almeida, Alaphilippe and Azparren was a start, but the evidence suggests that Mr Martin has abandoned the alphabetically inspired team selection and gone for quality, with a strong wedge of Quick-Step in there. (PS I thought Azparren is what you should take instead of Tylenol if you don’t want to fail a drugs test like Nairo Quintana at the Tour!)
When in ‘s-Hertogenbosch …
… be sure to roll up to the Bolwoningen at Den Bosch (which is what the locals call ‘s-Hertogenbosch, possibly because they find it hard to pronounce too). It’s a development of fifty spherical houses next to the canal. Designed in 1984 by an sculptor who got a government grant. Each 3-storey bolwoning (“ball house”) is made of reinforced concrete and fibre glass. None of those awkward corners or straight lines or right angles, they were all very 1970s).
Ten years ago the city was described by the cyclist union as having a lower bicycle usage than the rest of the Netherlands. I think today should have improved the stats a bit.