It Begins
I got up earlier than normal yesterday to see the start of the stage to Gap and watch how the inevitable breakaway was formed - and witnessed the brilliance of Thomas De Gent. The Belgian who, as we all know by now, is almost omnipresent in the breakaway action, simply went to the front of the bunch when they hit a long, uphill drag soon after the start, got out of the saddle and, without a concern for anyone or anything happening behind him, just started powering his machine. In the saddle, out of the saddle, smooth as silk, De Gent just rode hard in front while behind him, heads were twisting and bobbing, shoulders heaving, all the riders racing flat out to stay on his wheel. Cut to the helicopter shot and the sight of the peloton, 170 of the strongest bicycle racers in the world lined up single file, with gaps appearing in the snaking line as riders lost the wheels in front of them because of Thomas’s singlehanded force, was most astounding. Once he’d cracked the peloton and 33 of them were clear, he looked over as if to say. “Ok, I’ve done it, now, are you going to ride?” The racers behind started rolling through, taking their turns on the front to keep the break going and were never seen again.
European Champion Matteo Trentin spoiled Thomas’s dreams by winning the stage with a perfectly timed solo attack just before the final climb. The Italian is a remarkable professional, fast, but not as fast as the top sprinters, strong, but not as strong as the real powermen, his true strengths being consistency and intelligence. Trentin’s had seven top 10 stage placings in this Tour before yesterday’s win, his eighth Grand Tour career stage win, a pair of Paris-Tours with stage wins and top 10 placings in just about every race he’s participated in over the years. He knows exactly when to seize his moment and make the very best of it as yesterday, the first solo win of his long career, showed with that inventive win.
The expulsion of Tony Martin and Luke Rowe, two of my favorite racers in this Tour, was truly sad. Martin, aka Panzerwagon, has ridden himself into the ground for his Jumbo-Visma team, spending countless hours on the front banging out an infernal tempo, one day for the sprinters, the next for Kruijswijk, while the Welshman Rowe, the superb Ineos road captain, has expertly guided his two charges, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal, into position to win. Still, that was an ugly sight with Martin blatantly trying to knock Rowe off his machine. Rowe seemed the least guilty of the scuffle, but something obviously went wrong between them and in France, one does not menace violence of any kind, they just won’t accept it. Rowe paid for the image left behind by “bad boy” Gianni Moscon and his own punching incidents. The Ineos riders all must have known that they’d be under scrutiny and Rowe simply didn’t think. Both will be sorely missed by their teams in this, most crucial ending week of the Tour, and both are denied the great achievement of having reached Paris in this, the most popular Tour of the past 30-years.
The table has been set, as they say, now on to the main course. Three days of Alpine beauty and fascinating racing await us. I’m most interested in the enigmatic Nairo Quintana and the attitude of the Movistar, and of course the magical voyage of Julian Alaphilippe and where, and if, it will end. He’s had three days to pull himself back together and one thing we’ve – including the peloton – all learned is not to underestimate France’s great new star.
Matteo Trentin on his way to his first-ever solo victory in a professional road race.