Wrap Up – Tour 2024

American Matteo Jorgenson and Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay were, for me, the breakout stars of this torrid Tour de France. The American, who seems to suffer from an occasional lack of confidence, such as when he stated that “Mathieu van der Poel is so much more talented than I am”, after VdP had dumped him on a Belgian cobbled climb this spring – please! No one in history has gone up those monsters like VdP, it’s his specialty. Thing is, Jorgenson had just come off winning Paris-Nice, a race it would be impossible for VdP to conquer, so I hope that after this powerful Tour performance the Idaho native will begin to understand who he really is and what his potential can be.

Jorgenson showed his versatility this year by winning that most Belgian of races, Dwars door Vlanderaan, Paris Nice of course, second in both the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Romandie, and as we’ve just seen, was a one-man-army for his leader Jonas Vingegaard this July, absorbing both the Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss team roles. He was always the last man standing in the mountains for Vingegaard, all the while engaging in his duel with the excellent Canadian Derek Gee for a top ten overall placing. What’s more, it took perhaps the greatest racer in history to beat him on the Queen Stage. Jorgensen, who seemed to improve this entire Tour, rode to, including a crash, a marvelous fourth place in the final Time Trial – Gee was sixth so a real duel – to finish 8th overall, with Gee in 9th, a pair of fine North American performances. Jorgensen is contracted through 2026 with Visma / Lease a Bike, plenty of time for him to continue his steady rise and to develop that iron-clad confidence that he needs to reach his potential. It’s a joy to follow him.

Girmay, the first African Green Jersey, is not only fast but perhaps the strongest sprinter as well, as befits a Gent Wevelgem winner. It’s funny, but my local wine shop is run by an Eritrean family and after the joys of his 2022 season I had to constantly reassure them that he would come back to form. They are so happy now, always cries of joy when I enter the store. I particularly enjoy his sprinting style, hips so concentrated and moving towards his center: smooth as silk at 65-kph+. With Girmay as inspiration, and the certain impact of the 2025 Worlds being held in Rwanda, look for an Eritrean Tour winner within the decade.

 Three-months ago, Jonas Vingegaard believed he was on the verge of death after his horrific high-speed crash in Spain. 12-days in intensive care, his true condition a secret even from his family, the taciturn Dane quietly rebuilt himself in the short time left until the Tour start in Italy. With no races in his legs, he beat Pogačar one-on-one in the mountains, and defeated World Champion Evenepoel in the Time Trial to preserve his second place. Vingegaard inspired an entire nation with his courage, humility, dedication to family and the promise of what a healthy, properly trained and supported champion can do. Why do you think Pogačar won everything he could this Tour? Things could be quite different in 2025.

 Sir Mark Cavendish finished his career with a perfect sprint, giving him the record-breaking 35th Tour stage win. He could have gone home, as 35 riders did before him, but instead groveled through the monstrously hard final week of the race to honor and respect the Tour. His win was crucial to his Kazak team as they, in a sign of changing geo-political alliances, are in the final stages of an agreement with China to create a 50-million Euro super team with the goal of developing Chinese cycling. Having that record in-house will resonate with Astana’s new partners and the former World Champion, pro as always, came through with the goods to insure the future of his squad. One of the loveliest things I’ve seen was Phil Liggett jumping out of his commentary booth to go roadside and cheer on Mark in the final meters of his career. A fitting tribute from one great UK champion to the other.

 Will Remco Evenepoel ever win the Tour? He made great progress, third in his first attempt, won the White Jersey with a whopping 15-minutes lead, but the two ahead of him are also young, measurably stronger, and certainly on stronger teams. Transfer rumors are flying. Remco, who has polished his media presence from that of a brat to a surprising mature and thoughtful young man, would be a terrific Red Bull racer. And with Primož Roglič nearing the end – he hasn’t finished a Tour since Pogačar crushed his spirits in 2020 – all that Austrian money needs spending. I think the possible transfer represents Soudal manager Patrick Lefevere’s retirement plan, the whopping cost of the buyout guaranteeing a nice, comfortable old age for the tough-as-nails Belgian manager.

Richard Carapaz is a street fighter befitting his award, “Most Combative of the Tour”.  When he sees the moment, it rarely escapes him. Whether the Giro in 2019, the Tour de Suisse and Olympic Road Race in 2021, the Ecuadorian gets his prizes. The Best Climber of the Tour, dressed in Polka Dot, the reigning Olympic Road Champion, won’t be able to defend this title in Paris – the Ecuadorian federation chose another to fill the one, count it, one spot they are allowed in the race (is this even cycling?). Please don’t call the Olympics professional: they are anything but, at least where cycling is concerned.

 The rise of the super teams, ones with $60 million + budgets, begun by Team Sky (Ineos today) but now including UAE Emirates, Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, Team Visma/Lease a Bike, now Astana and perhaps Bahrain-Victorious, has caused considerable tooth gnashing in the press, “Cyclisme a deux budgets” (A play on “Cyclisme a deux vitesses”- that passive aggressive phrase accusing others of doping) and calls for salary caps. It should be noted in the argument that the Green Jersey is on the very small budget Intermarché-Wanty team, Jasper Philipsen’s Alpecin-Deceuninck team is hardly the in the $60 million range, yet both teams came home with three stage wins each. EF Education – Easy Post, who are always crying poor, came home with a stage win and the Polka Dot Jersey. Ineos, on the other hand, are empty handed. We all want more money for cycling, even what we consider big budgets make any other major pro sport laugh with derision,so blocking growth makes no sense to me. Once the marketing geniuses at Red Bull figure out cycling and learn how to properly promote it, watch financial interest grow exponentially. Cycling’s massive amount of television exposure and world-wide reach vs the budgets it attracts are way out of skew. Time to fix that and budget caps are the wrong way to go.

 Finally, the Golden Boy, the Yellow Jersey Tadej Pogačar. You haters out there, should he have soft-pedaled in the Time Trial? Maybe stopped at 25-meters to go and waited for 1:04” before finishing to give the Dane the win? Would that have been better? The Slovenian is a marvel, has made cycling so fun to watch – although Julian Alaphilippe must be given credit for introducing the new style of modern racing – and has an open, friendly personality to top it all off. He goes uphill, he goes downhill – how about that descent into Nice? – and races with passion, joy and an assassin’s instincts. All the boys fought like wolves from Florence all the way to Nice, the final road stage was like a prize fight, the Time Trial a real beauty. We are all so lucky to be able to enjoy this greatest generation of racing cyclists. Vive le Tour! Vive le velo!