The Hardest Days

 We’re at the end of the second week of this Tour de France, entering the Pyrenees with nine major mountains passes - Category 1 and HC – offered up on the menu.  I thought a brief overview of the current situation would be in order, to set the scene for all the drama and action to follow.

 First, Bauke Mollema, yesterday’s winner on the hilly Stage 14 from Carcassonne to Quillian, through the stunning beauty of the Aude region, is one of those riders who don’t often win – 17 victories in 14 seasons as a pro – but when he does, he wins big. Winner of the Tour of Lombardy, the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian, a Vuelta stage along with the Points title and 3rd overall, the Dutchman, famous for his ungainly style, is one of those riders who waits, watches then picks the perfect opportunity. He did that yesterday having made his way into the breakaway that, as always, everyone wanted to be in, a last chance before the mountains for the non-climbers. Mollema, who doesn’t use a bicycle computer and apparently annoys the other riders by constantly ask them where they are in the race, must have gotten the right response yesterday when he flew away from the break with 42-kilometers to go, winning alone with over a minute lead for his second career Tour de France stage win. 

 That breakaway improved the fortunes of several riders, beginning with Canadian Michael Woods, the former runner turned racing cyclist, who scored enough mountain points on the day to leap to the head of the Polka Dot Jersey Classification, unseating Nairo Quintana by four-points. Dutchman Wout Poels is one point behind the Colombian, so watch for these three to battle it out on the high summits in an important subplot that will affect the race and its movements. Quintana, who has purposely been losing chunks of time, to both rest and escape the watchful eye of the main Yellow Jersey contenders, needs to pull something out of this Tour and has no choice but to go on the attack.

 Guillaume Martin is saving French hopes with his ride of yesterday, infiltrating the breakaway to finish 6’23” ahead of the peloton, a move that catapulted him from seventh to second overall, now 4’04” behind Tadej Pogačar. Martin, who clearly stated before this Tour that he was chasing stages and not the GC, now finds himself defending a podium place. All of France is watching to see what he can do with this new opportunity.

 The Green Jersey Classification is in the pocket of remarkable Mark Cavendish, his lead of 92 point ahead of Michael Matthews insurmountable. However, Cav must make it through all the mountains to come, a bit of daily drama for us all.

 Is Tadej Pogačar untouchable? His slight wavering on Mount Ventoux has given his competitors hope, there’s a feeling that he’s not quite at ease on very long climbs and that he much prefers cold and rain to the intense summer heat. His team, constantly termed as “weak” have been surpassing expectations and, importantly, all of them are still in the race. The Pyrenees will offer both long climbs and heat, the Slovenian has been enduring the required ceremonial and media duties since capturing Yellow on Stage 8 and is admitting to a level of fatigue. 

 Lurking in third overall at 5’18” and just about invisible till now, is Colombian Rigoberto Uran, the 34-year-old veteran who’s been twice second in the Giro d’Italia. Uran is a deeply endurant rider, who’s been waiting for the Pyrenees and his team, also discreet this Tour, has shown to be quite strong when needed. 

 Then there’s the only man to have put Pogačar in trouble, Jonas Vingegaard, sitting fourth at 5’32” is handicapped by having only five riders left on his team. Luckily, one of them is American Sepp Kuss who will be on deck to guide the young Dane through the mountains. Was Ventoux just a moment that passed? Or does Vingegaard have more to offer in the mountains and time trials to come?

 Then there’s the enigma of Team Ineos and their leader Richard Carapaz. The team has never been on the backfoot like this, Richie Porte seems to be having issues, Geraint Thomas keeps crashing and hurting his already damaged body, and they’ve lost Luke Rowe, their road captain. Carapaz, in fourth at 5’33” has been trying attacks, being aggressive as is his manner, but nothing is sticking so far. He’ll just have to keep trying and trying again to at least make it on to the podium.

 That battle for the podium behind Pogačar will be the main interest in this final week to come, there are eight men within three-minutes of Martin and all believe in their chances. The fighting will be intense, and they are all hoping that during their battles the wunderkind Pogačar will have another moment of weakness as he did on the Giant of Provence.