A Day for Sprinters
Yesterday’s largely flat stage from Reims to Nancy was a welcome respite for much of the peloton, tired from their collective efforts in the team time trial and the crazy race into Epernay. The requisite breakaway took form, was allowed a controllable margin, while the field enjoyed the flat roads and sunshine they so deserved – especially with the looming tough stages of today and tomorrow.
Things began to heat up towards the end of course, as the sprinters smelled the finish line and got their horses in line to pull them to the inevitable chaos of a professional sprint finish. Team Ineos took to the front with the goal of keeping their two stars, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal, safe and away from the sharp elbows, which is when the race really became fun to watch. The Yellow Jersey, Julian Alaphilippe, channeling the go-it-alone style of the great Sean Kelly, left his team behind in the bunch to allow them time and space to set up sprinter Elia Vifiani, turned on his disco ball (sorry, I’m just going to have to stick with that one, it’s so on the money) and simply made the Ineos leadout train his own. There he was, on the end of their train, always with a good space around him – no one want to crash the Maillot Jaune and I’m sure as well that the Frenchman can be a terrifying presence in the bunch when he wants – knocking the last Ineos rider off the wheels and stealing all of their work for himself. Oh, he’s just a delight, so very good for our sport.
Wout van Aert hit the front with about two kilometers to go and turned on the afterburners in a jaw-dropping display of speed and power for his Jumbo-Visma sprinter, Dylan Groenewegen. But then the sight of the Yellow Jersey hitting the front grabbed our attention and the most expert team in the world, Decueninck-Quickstep, guided by that expert of experts, the Dane Michael Mørkøv with his bag of track racing tricks, launched their equally devilish Argentinian sprinter Maximiliano Richeze with Vifiani tucked in behind. The Italian popped out with 150 meters to go for a clear and perfect win, his first-ever at the Tour.
Oh to have been a fly on the wall on the Jumbo-Visma teambus for that long – it must have seemed long to them – ride back to their hotel. The result of Groenewegen 4th and the former Yellow Jersey Mike Teunissen 5th is enough to make any Director Sportif’s head explode, especially after the set-up performance of van Aert. Did the young Teunissen, who is supposed to be the Richeze for their team, simply get lost in the chaos? Or are there ego issues involved which seems probable. Groenewegen, who shut off his sprint when it was clear he couldn’t win, looked really, really fast. We’ll never know of course, and there in a nutshell lies the difference between Decueninck-Quickstep and everyone else. The team is on a roll, they are a true band of brothers and if there if there ever is any dissention, Papa Lefevere takes then behind the woodshed for a whipping and sets things straight.
Things become quite serious today as the race enters the Voges with a lumpy race to the Alsatian city of Colmar. Alsace is a fascinating place, having been gone back and forth between being German and French for centuries, with its own Germanic language and Franco-German culture. I heartily recommend a visit for anyone wanting an interesting European experience – great cycling too - and fondly remember my last visit there, during the 1997 Tour.
I was part of the ABC Sports/ ESPN crew and was a bit tired of the post-editing (we had been doing the first-ever, same-day coverage of the Tour since 1992, a fact that seems to have been edited out of any recent books and articles on Tour television coverage) communal meals with the team. The Americans weren’t exactly culinary adventurers, with one producer demanding spaghetti bolognese each and every night of the race. Tragically, the French take on pasta is, for a country that is so proud of their cuisine, miserable, and I just couldn’t watch him eat that pile of over-cooked brown mush again. So I escaped and found a real Alsatian restaurant – tricked the crew into not stopping there (“don’t come in, it’s terrible!”) – and delighted in a glorious, solitary, Alsatian choucroute, that steaming mound of prepared cabbage dressed with assorted sausages and charcuterie. Not to mention my liter of beer.
No choucroute for the riders tonight – directors, ja/oui! – after what promises to be a most interesting race, a meeting ground for the all-around strong men. Sagan looks to be able to pass the climbs with the best on this one, but Alaphilippe, who isn’t, so far, looking long-term at the general classification, is still in stage-hunter mode. I’m curious about Alejandro Valverde and his true ambitions, because he seems to be riding like an overall contender rather than a racer looking for moments of opportunity.