Fighting Spirit

Here we are, three days from Paris, and still, no knows who is going to win this incredible Tour de France. Six riders remain grouped within 2’ 14” of the – most tenacious man in the world – Yellow Jersey Julian Alaphilippe, followed by a quartet of Spanish speakers from 7th through 10th, all sitting four to six-minutes out of the lead. Compare this mouth-watering scenario to what we’ve endured over the years – decades! – of the completely predictable, formulaic and most boring style of race that began with Miguel Indurain, then continued through Armstrong and Sky. I hope it never comes back.

Yesterday was again - one almost, but not really, becomes tired of hurling superlatives at the racers – incredible, passionate and most of all, intriguing stage of this Tour. In theory feared by the racers for its combination of length, altitude and placing in the final week when bodies and spirits are weak, the peloton bravely bolted out the start gates tempted by Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko who rode alone in front, almost begging riders to come up and play with him. Which 33 of them eventually did, including Nairo Quintana with two Movistar teammates to help and Romain Bardet with his own pair of guard dogs.

The breakaway surged to a whopping 7’ 30” lead over the peloton before the 14-kilometer ascension of the 2,360 meters-high col du Izoard, moving Quintana back up into striking position for Yellow, something that should have frightened Ineos, Jumbo-Visma and Pino’s Groupama-FDJ teams into action. Instead, and this is where things got really weird, the Movistar took up arms against their own teammate, using up their Mr. Reliable, Marc Soler on the front, whose efforts destroyed what was left of the peloton leaving just 19-men together at the top. 

What is going on with that Spanish team? Why did they not use Quintana to their own benefit, sit on the wheels and let the others do the hard work so they could profit towards the end? I have my own theory about the disfunction: Quintana is leaving Movistar, with Richard Carapaz, winner of the Giro this year, heading to Ineos. Mikel Landa, for whose benefit that team work on the Izoard seemed to be, has been linked with the Bahrain team, but not confirmed. I believe he’s blackmailing them into working for him in exchange for committing to a contract. Landa’s seething post-race interview when asked about Quintana certainly showed the no-love-lost atmosphere that clouds the team and is crippling their efforts. 

Back up front in the break, the most miserable man in the entire Tour, Romain Bardet -even the honor of a stage finish in his hometown couldn’t stop his spectacular and very public collapse – suddenly woke up and realized that the Polka-dot jersey was within his grasp. Tim Wellens, the Belgian who has been surpassing himself to hold on to the jersey since he grabbed it in Epernay on July 8th, just as Alaphilippe did Yellow, was in the break and did his best, but once things began to go above 2000-meters, the true climbers took to the fore and Bardet began to grab points and eat into his lead.

By the bottom of the final climb, the 2,642-meters high col du Galibier, the tension was incredible. In front, Lutsenko, who had ridden his guts out the entire stage, along with Bardet, Micheal Woods (great ride from him) and the unsung Damiano Caruso, were blown away by an attacking Quintana, who seemed to fly up the mountain, gaining strength as the air became thinner and his lungs remembered home.

Bardet surged from behind the Colombian to take the second place points on the top of the Galibier, putting him in Polkadot and quite possibly, because who knows anything in this crazy race, saving his Tour. 

The war was on in the group of GC contenders, still five-minutes behind. Ineos’s Jonathon Castroviejo rode his guts out on the front, taking the place of underperforming Wout Poels and Kwiakowski, with Dylan Van Baarle turning from a flatlander into a climber for the day. Soler was dropped – bravo Movistar – and Bernal attacked! The young Colombian absolutely flew up the mountain, in theory put into position to join Geraint Thomas after a counter-attack from his leader . Thomas did attack, but not strongly enough to shake the rest, and Bernal raced down the high-speed, treacherous descent to take over second place on the line by a mere five-seconds from Thomas. Those seconds will become of absolute importance for the rest of this race.

Alaphilippe finally cracked near the top but treated us to one of the most spectacular descents in memory, catching and flying right by the group of favorites to save his Yellow Jersey for yet another day. The man can ride a bicycle. 

Quintana won a glorious solo victory, moved up into 7th overall, 3’ 54” down on Yellow, one position and one-minute ahead of – my head’s going to explode – Mikel Landa, with two mountaintop finishes ahead. Apparently, the entire country of Colombia is enraged over the Spanish treason, there are massive social media campaigns to get people to close their Movistar phone accounts the “French will know how to honor such a great champion unlike those…” What a great race, this is what cycling’s all about.

Today should be the decider. The peloton will reach the “ceiling” of the Tour, the col de l'Iseran at 2,770-meters where the Souvenir Henri-Desgrange awaits the first to the top. This short, (130-km) violent stage, with its tough, mountaintop finish, combined with an exhausted peloton will finally give us an answer. Can Alaphilippe do it? He’s cancelled all of this post-Tour lucrative criterium appearances, a sign of deep exhaustion. Pino, off form yesterday, may have very well left it all on the road in the Pyrenees. Bernal seems the most on form, and this Tour, with all of its climbing and few time trials, while designed for Bardet, is turning out to fit him like a tailor-made suit. Remember those five-seconds, the most important seconds of this entire Tour.