Old School Rules

Tadej Pogaćar’s stunning Time Trial win on Stage 20 gave him the Yellow Jersey that, again, barring incident, will be awarded to him on the Champs-Élysées as champion of the Tour de France. The 21-year old Slovenian will join cycling legend Eddy Merckx’s accomplishment of wearing three jerseys on the podium (for Pogaćar - Yellow, Polka-Dot Climber and White Young Rider) a feat accomplished by Mr. Merckx in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972. That was some bike ride. Pogaćar’s triumph was formed and guided by what can only be termed an old school support network best defined by his Director Sportif, the Australian Allan Peiper. None have a deeper cycling knowledge, real cycling, than Allan who began his schooling as a 16-year old, all alone in Belgium. As with any of we “English” as the Belgians termed us (American, Kiwi, we were all the same to them) Allan lived hand-to-mouth to survive, even stealing beets out of farmer’s fields on training rides for food. The Planckaert family, seeing this starving boy, took him in. Now, the Planckaert’s are something special, even in Belgium. Defining West Flanders cycling culture, the Planckaert brothers, Willy, Walter and Eddy, have won Tours of Flanders, Paris Roubaix, stages in all three Grand Tours and countless other races. They are all clever and mischievous as devils, incredible sprinters and brilliant tacticians. Allan was raised by wolves. Allan moved to the French system, and out of that amateur pro factory, the ACBB, came a ride on the historic Peugeot team followed by a move to the Panasonic team of Peter Post. Which is like having gone from the Red Sox to the Yankees. Those experiences at the pinnacle of French and Dutch/Belgian cycling cultures combined with his formation by the Planckaert’s gave Allan that unique and coveted knowledge of the sport. His Director Sportif career began in 2005 with Davitamon-Lotto, then came T-Mobile, Garmin, BMC and now UAE. Allan’s 45-years of high-level racing experience were on full display this Tour. I got a couple of glimpses of him during the Tour coverage, one an interview and once a shot from the team car. He was explaining a tactical situation in the interview and the way he did it was clear, concise and very bike rider. You could see how he must connect with his troops. It was the same in the team car when he was coaching Pogaćar via radio: calm and deliberate with none of the histrionics we saw in that Moviestar documentary. The calmness stayed throughout this Tour, adapting when they lost their two top Italians, Aru and Formolo, keeping Pogaćar within striking distance and patiently letting the Jumbo-Visma ride themselves into the ground. They knew what was going to happen, they’d done all sorts of recons and tests on that time trial course, knew exactly what numbers Pogaćar had to hit and how fast he could go. And there was none of this fanning the small gears that everyone is now doing: Pogaćar was using big-ass gears, powerfully turning them over in the old style. His was a triumph born of experience and craft, the team knowing they had a secret weapon and timing its unleashing to perfection. Allan almost didn’t make the Tour. He’s been fighting a recurring cancer for five years, his most recent attack and recovery proving particularly difficult. Yet, despite his just concerns of a weakened immune system being vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus, Allan’s love of cycling, his passion and belief in Pogaćar’s chances to win the Tour overcame all fears and there he was, back in command for the biggest win of his long, rich career that began in the potato and beet fields of Belgium. This will be Ernesto Colnago’s first-ever Tour de Erance victory. While it’s true that Eddy Merckx used Colnago’s in the early 1970’s, they were branded as Eddy Merckx. When the two split in 1974 over a young Italian named Gianbattista Baronchelli - Eddy wanted him as gregario and Colnago wanted his own champion - Colnago formed the basis of what is today UAE Team Emirates. After Baronchelli came the sprinter Giuseppe Saronni who has stayed with Colnago ever since, Saronni winning then guiding the team to countless victories, but never, officially the Tour de France. UAE Team Emirates is Colnago’s team, and all of that infrastructure, all of his deeply expert personnel, those decades upon decades of experience combined with that of Allan Peiper, has brought home the win, and launched a champion into orbit. We’ve just witnessed a masterclass in racing brought to us by the old school, by those who can truly feel the race, its flows and movements, and who know how to a manage a champion.