Welcome to the Tour Mr. President
Président de la République, Emmanuel Macron came to the Tour yesterday following the action in the place of honor next to Tour boss Christian Prudhomme in the Race Director’s car. Whatever political differences there are in France now - Macron is generally accused of favoring the wealthiest 1% in his policies - were forgotten on the Tour’s day of national unity, especially by the French riders who raced full of fierce courage and pride, knowing that their president was watching them from close behind.
Stage 14 from Tarbes to the top of the Tourmalet was yet another in the string of hits that keep coming out of Prudhomme’s masterpiece of a race. The early break went before the two final climb, the cols du Soulour and Tourmalet, but were never given much rein by a motivated Groupama-FDJ, fully convinced of Thibaut Pino’s chances after his superb Time Trial the day before, the effort that put him back in contention for the podium. At least the podium as things turned out. Movistar, sensing weakness in Team Ineos decided to shake things up on the Soulour, putting their two strong men, Spaniard Marc Soler and Russo-Costa Rican Andrey Amador on the front, laying down a terrible rhythm that splintered the peloton, popping off some Ineos riders, Adam Yates and Dan Martin surprisingly early on. This was not going to be a good day for the English-speaking members of the peloton.
Romain Sicard, the French racer who came into the pro peloton 10-years ago with the most stellar of references (U23 World Road Champion plus the Tour de l’Avenir) but never been able to make his mark, began the French assault on the Tourmalet, jumping out of the break to lead the charge solo to the base of the 18-kilometer long, 2115-meter high, mountain. Élie Gesbert the 24-year old French rider on the Arkéa-Samsic team, also in the break, jumped out in turn, passing Sicard on the lower slopes to charge on alone, displaying a terrific style and power, holding off the main peloton for half the climb. French Champion (seeing a pattern here?) Warren Barguil, flying the national flag with his blue, white and red champion’s jersey, countered Gesbert to continue the French lead on this most famous climb, first done in 1910 and so deeply embedded in the legend of this race. It was not by hazard that Macron chose this day to come to the Tour de France.
Behind, the Movistar, using their old tactics – they are really missing their modern Team Director Max Sciandri in this Tour - bulldozed up the Tourmalet with Amador riding himself inside and out, World Champion Alejandro Valverde commanding the troops from behind Soler, all in service of Nairo Quintana who they were setting up for the long-awaited big attack from the Colombian. This is where things got ugly.
Riders can have bad form, it’s a terrible hard sport and I’m the very last person to criticize a rider for going slow. Poor Romain Bardet who has so tragically underperformed this race, the AG2R- La Mondial team marshaled all around him 20-minutes behind in the race he’s been supposed to win these past few years, is simply out of form. Nothing to do about it. But Quintana committed a cardinal, unforgivable sin. He was off-form, the bad time trial represented his true state of condition, but instead of letting his team know, even halfway through the race, he allowed them, including the war-scarred veteran and World Champion Valverde, to ruin their own individual and collective team chances by racing, full-throated to give him the springboard for the attack that never would and never will happen. He screwed his team, plain and simple. He’s leaving the team, and if I were directing, he’s be sent home and not raced for the rest of the year. The Spaniards, being the loyal people they are, sent Solar back to pace the Colombian to the finish, but it was a sad sight to see indeed.
It was in the confusion of Quintana’s collapse that the French Champion had mounted his attack, but the real damage was being done at the front of the – greatly diminished, a front group now rather than a peloton – by Groupama-FDJ’s 22-year old Breton, David Gaudu. Remember that name, the pint sized climber (117-lbs) won both the Tour de l’Avenir and the flatland Peace Race as a U23, and was 6th at Liege-Bastogne-Liege this year. Gaudu hit the front, banging out a hellish pace for Pino tucked in behind. Geraint Thomas, who had looked rough the entire climb, only one teammate with him and not for that long, was clearly hanging on by a thread with the Yellow Jersey Julian Alaphilippe not looking much better.
Gaudu eliminated Enric Mas, Valverde, Richie Porte and Barguil before the team of the Tour, Jumbo-Visma, hit the front. Laurens De Plus, George Bennett and Steven Kruijswijk, in that order, upped the pace even more, killing off Jakob Fuglsang and, like Ali falling to the mat, for the first-time ever in the history of Sky/Ineo Tour domination, their leader, in this case Geraint Thomas, was dropped. It was a jaw-dropping moment.
The French reunified in the final 500-meters taking back command as Alaphilippe – was he playing possum on the Tourmalet? – revived and back in control, let Pino attack then closed the door on Kruijswijk when he tried to follow, making sure that Pino had won before jumping away from the Dutchman to make it a French 1-2 on the day. The Yellow Jersey remains in French hands as it’s been since July 8th. What a triumphant day for the Tour, an ecstatic president – what better present could they have given him? – means continued governmental support for the race and a fantastic photo-op for a politician who needs some good news.
Today is another in the mountains. So many threads to follow in this most interesting of races. Is Thomas cooked? Is Alaphilippe’s disco ball finally running out of electricity? What will Movistar now do? Will Kruijswijk, at 32, finally deliver the Grand Tour he’s come so close to winning in the past? And how about Pino – he and his team look very, very good and with all of France pulling for him, so to speak, chances of a French win in Paris are looking better and better.