The winner of stage two at this year’s Tour has just signed a new, salary-enhanced contract at Cofidis – I wonder if his video editing skills were part of the negotiations?
Woah. As the riders head to the foot of the mammoth Col de la Loze, I thought I’d check in on this morning’s poll, to see whether you lot reckon this year’s Tour is still up for grabs.
And – in a rarity for the road.cc live blog poll – the votes are almost evenly split…
Mind you, those numbers might be very different in 40km…
So, it turns out Big Tex just wasn’t content with his long-held status as pro cycling’s pantomime villain – he’s carving out another niche as the bad guy of reality television these days, too.
As you may remember (despite the attempts to expunge it from your mind), everyone’s favourite seven-time Tour de France winner is spending this particular July on a simulated version of Mars, as part of Fox’s new celebrity competition show, where famous people – like actual famous people, like Ronda Rousey and McLovin from Superbad – pretend to be astronauts on the Red Planet, completing tasks to win a speedboat, or something (I may be getting my TV programmes mixed up).
Anyway, Big Tex is living up to his divisive reputation on the show it seems. On this week’s episode – and this is a sentence I never thought I’d write – Armstrong threatened to leave the show altogether after tensions escalated between the disgraced former world champion and Alex from Modern Family, Ariel Winter, due to a row over trans athletes.
So far, so very Armstrong.
The animosity emerged when Mellow Johnny plugged (sorry, I mean casually mentioned) his new trans people in sport-focused special of his The Forward podcast series– which we first mentioned last month on the live blog – to Rousey.
According to Vanity Fair, Armstrong (despite his claim that he only wanted to ask questions about the debate on his pod) told Rousey that a separate category for trans athletes is needed.
““Listen, this is real simple: You want to transition, let’s do it. You have your own category. We’re gonna have a whole new division. We’ll celebrate you just like we celebrate everybody else. Let’s go. What’s unfair about that?” he asked the UFC fighter.
> British Cycling updates transgender policy, introduces new "Open" category
However, LA’s take wasn’t greeted with much enthusiasm from his fellow contestants, with singer Tinashe (no, me neither) arguing that excluding trans people “from the same spaces and places that everyone else uses” is “not good for their mental health”.
“Actually, no, we’re not excluding anybody,” Armstrong jumped back in. “And, by the way, I sound like a right-wing lunatic. I’m not. I’m the most liberal person, but from a sporting perspective…”
Actress Winter then remarked that the banned rider was “ostracising the people who don’t fit in the categories”, while Olympic figure skater said Armstrong’s stance was “disheartening” and that the debate around trans participation in sport was “way more nuanced” than the Texan was making out.
Rippon also admitted that Armstrong’s remarks “have completely shifted the energy and have completely shifted the focus, and I will not ever forget them.”
Well, you don’t get this kind of debate on the Apprentice…
The next day, Armstrong – giving everyone an insight into what it must have been like sharing a team bus with him during his racing days – said he was leaving the show because he couldn’t work with Winter anymore, despite the actress trying to assure him that “we don’t see eye to eye on a human rights issue, that’s it.”
“Ariel, let me make this really simple: I don’t need the drama. I busted my ass for nine days, I’m gonna bust my ass on the 10th day, and I’m going to auto-select myself to leave,” Armstrong said, inadvertently mimicking the script of his now embarrassing Nike advert from back in the day.
‘I’m on Mars, busting my ass alongside C-list celebrities ten hours a day. What are you on?’
Ehhh, I’m on the live blog Lance, calm down.
Apparently there were no zipped lips gestures or comparing people to chairs, however, so at least he didn’t go the ‘full Armstrong’ of yore.
Anyway, after sleeping on it – and presumably after a quick call from Bill Stapleton, or whoever’s doing that job these days – Armstrong decided to get along with everyone, for once.
““Ariel and I just have very different styles,” he said. “I did want to leave, but, you know, maybe I’m not giving people enough credit. I mean, everybody’s different. Some people hold grudges, but I’ll stick it out.”
Almost as much drama as a day in the mountains at the Tour. Speaking of which…
Retired Giro d’Italia winner and world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin – one of the finest TT riders of his generation – knows a thing or two about racing against the clock.
So it says a lot that the Dutchman was so impressed by former Jumbo-Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard’s Tour-destroying 22km yesterday afternoon, that he described it to Sporza’s cycling programme Vive le Vélo as the greatest time trial in the sport’s history.
“We witnessed the best time trial ever in cycling," Dumoulin said yesterday evening after watching an effort so impressive that the yellow jersey admitted he thought his bike computer was broken, so high were the numbers being displayed on his screen.
“First of all, because of the lead that Vingegaard takes over the rest. But I also watched his descent and his flat parts and that was real time trial porn. It was fantastic to see. He took a lot of time uphill – his power must have been incredibly high. But also, his descents and his cornering were just sublime.
“The time trial is of course a completely different discipline than what we have seen in the past two weeks. Crazy things often happen there. But no-one could have imagined that it would be a hammer blow of more than a minute and a half. Not Vingegaard, and also not Pogačar. Everyone was amazed.”
You and me both, Tom.
(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Dumoulin then questioned Pogačar’s decision to swap bikes towards the end of the stage, though he believes that the Slovenian wasn’t on the type of time trial form that saw him usurp the Dutchman’s teammate Primož Roglič on La Planche des Belles Filles.
The former Tour podium finisher also believes that the technical expertise of his old Jumbo-Visma squad played a part in yesterday’s result, though it certainly wasn’t the deciding factor in one of the most dominant time trial wins in the sport’s history.
“Right now, Jumbo-Visma is the best team in the world in everything. They do everything so structured and prepare everything so well, especially on such a time trial day – Vingegaard and Van Aert’s bicycles are even made without paint in order to save 150 grams,” he said.
“I have the feeling that at UAE they are just a little less close to that perfection. All added up, that makes a difference. But to be clear, not a minute and a half. Those were mainly Vingegaard’s legs.”
As today’s Queen Stage finally enters a (relatively) calm period, you now have a bit of time to check out all the interesting, innovative, and downright strange equipment choices and setups we’ve spotted at cycling’s biggest race over the years:
> Weird, wonderful (and just plain wrong) bikes and kit of the Tour de France
Here at road.cc, we often get emails from insurance companies telling us about their latest study into the best or worst places to ride your bike in the UK, ostensibly as a means of convincing you to get a quote (presumably because you’re now frightened for your life after reading their ‘stats’).
This latest email, from Kent-based insurance firm Saga, promised to explore the UK’s “most cycle-friendly cities” – and let’s just say that the results, and the methods of achieving them, are interesting…
According to Saga’s research – which was based (rather mysteriously) on ‘external data’ and compiled using an odd and obscure algorithm based on a city’s cycling infra, rate of bike thefts and shops, cycling safety, bike sharing schemes, and the weather – Norwich came out on top as the UK’s most cycle-friendly city (just don’t tell them about the new Aldi or the shortcut-frequenting motorists in the city centre, eh?).
Meanwhile, despite scoring a 10 for cyclists’ safety – a pretty important metric, I’d reckon – London finished bottom of the pile, with a score of zero, for some reason.
(Can anyone work out that table? Because I can’t, although my brain may be addled by trying to keep up with this Tour de France stage…)
To add to the confusion, Belfast – the brunt of so many jokes on this live blog for its horrendous approach to cycling infra– popped up in third place on Saga’s poll, with a score of 9.28.
And just to cap it all off, according to Saga, Newcastle is the second-most bike friendly city in the UK – just over a year after another insurance firm named the city the second-most dangerous place to ride your bike in Britain.
Please someone, make it make sense…
It was pure madness on the Col des Saisies just now, as Jumbo-Visma completely ripped the race to shreds on the first climb of the day (either to prevent Pogačar bridging across to teammate Rafał Majka in the break, to move Sepp Kuss up the GC, or just to kill off the race once and for all – take your pick).
Their brutal acceleration on the upper slopes of the Saisies put the Ineos Grenadiers and fourth-placed Carlos Rodríguez into scramble mode, and has left riders scattered all over the Alps.
💛The @MaillotjauneLCL has joined the breakaway, with @TamauPogi
💛Le @MaillotjauneLCL a rejoint l'échappée, avec @TamauPogi#TDF2023pic.twitter.com/MjddOM5eZa
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 19, 2023
Polka dot-clad Giulio Ciccone, Julian Alaphilippe, and the impressive Krists Neilands have descended like demons to put a 20 second gap into the peloton, but the race shows no signs of settling down for the moment.
Madness, pure madness.
Oops. Tadej Pogačar’s attempt to mount a Lazarus (or Landis) style comeback on today’s Tour de France stage hasn’t got off to the best start, as the Slovenian crashed – uphill – on the Col des Saisies, the first big climb of the day, a classic lapse of concentration and touch of the wheels sending the white jersey to the deck.
🚴🇫🇷 | Er zijn nu ook beelden van de valpartij van Tadej Pogacar. Hopelijk valt het mee! 👑⛰️ #TDF2023
📺 Koers kijk je op discovery+ pic.twitter.com/aft4w6OBlR
— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) July 19, 2023
Fortunately for the race, Pog is back up at the front now and seems fine (except for a bloodied left knee), as Jumbo-Visma’s Dylan van Baarle continues to keep the pace high in the ever dwindling main bunch, with top ten contenders Simon Yates and Felix Gall currently just up the road in a super strong breakaway.
I told you it was going to be interesting…
Come on Jonas, it’s all well and good winning the Tour de France again, but it would be even more impressive if you filmed yourself while time trialling everyone else into oblivion, wouldn’t it?
Well, that’s exactly what Josh Reid – he of riding home from China fame – managed to pull off earlier this month, all while finishing first at the Pan-Celtic Race, the 1,425 mile self-supported ride through the Celtic heartlands of Britain, Ireland, and France, this year taking riders from the Breton port of St Malo to the finish in Llandudno.
Very cool. Now come on Vingegaard, here’s your chance to really impress us…
> Taming Mount Teide: Josh Reid travels to Tenerife for a bit of volcano bashing
As the riders amble through the neutralised zone, we’re turning our attentions away from the Tour for a bit, and back to some of the UK’s pointless cycling ‘infra’, with this fading, pitiful bike marking in Worcester certainly up there in the ‘uselessness’ GC…
I cycle over this everyday. It achieves nothing.
If we collectively agree we have major environmental, health and societal issues, and we also agree more walking and cycling (less driving) will contribute to solutions, we have to make it happen.
Enable and encourage. Now. pic.twitter.com/tJgUKU7NJI
— SHIFT (@goSHIFTscheme) July 19, 2023
I have form for asking this question just as the Tour gets turned on its head, but I feel it’s worth a poll this morning, especially following Vingegaard’s utter annihilation of everyone yesterday (and the almost universal acceptance that that was that), and less than an hour before Pogačar gets his chance at some rapid-fire redemption…
If UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogačar really do decide to rip the race to shreds from the gun this morning – which, let’s face it, is what all us neutrals want to see – they couldn’t have picked a better day to do it.
Because today’s route – 166km Alpine kilometres, featuring a cat two mountain, two cat ones, and a ridiculously high HC monster – is an absolute brute.
After 17 up and down kilometres, the riders will take on the classic combination of the Col des Saisies and Cormet de Roseland, where we could see UAE’s first ramping up of the pace.
After a bit of valley and the shorter, but still taxing, Côte de Longefoy, the riders will descend to the foot of the Col de la Loze, which at a whopping 2,304m is the ‘roof’ of this year’s Tour.
Pogačar suffering on the Col de la Loze back in 2020 (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
The Col de la Loze, you may recall, was the scene of Pogačar’s brief wobble at the 2020 Tour, when he was put under pressure by a Jumbo-Visma rider who seemed destined to end up in yellow in Paris, only for it to be yanked from him on the final Saturday in the Vosges (not that I’m saying history will repeat itself, or anything…).
This time, however, the riders will tackle the climb from a different approach, through Courchevel before reaching the ski resort of Méribel via a side road.
Officially, the Col de la Loze is a fear-inducing 28.1km, with an average gradient of six percent. However, it’s the final six kilometres – which average 10 percent and includes pitches of 24 percent – which will really worry the GC contenders (as well as any sprinters struggling to make the time limit. Just ask Bryan Coquard, last on this stage in 2020, who struggled so much he believed he was actually climbing up the sheer face of the mountain. “I wondered what I was doing there,” the Frenchman said.)
The pain won’t be over after the summit, however, as a rapid descent leads to the final, leg-breaking 18 percent climb to the finish at Courchevel altiport. Lovely.
It promises to be a brutal day, especially if this bad weather keeps up. And, unless the white jersey waves the white flag (UAE did make some noises after yesterday’s drubbing about targeting a Schleck-style 2-3 on the lower slopes of the podium with Pog and Adam Yates, though that could all be a ruse), we could be in for a cracker.
Looks like UAE Team Emirates’ rain dance paid off last night. That’s Pogačar weather, that is…
Our teams in France waking up to this today… 🤔 Remember what Tadej said about hoping for bad weather? pic.twitter.com/noNbmiGWrD
— Orla Chennaoui (@SportsOrla) July 19, 2023
Cancel your meetings, get your earphones on, and stash the popcorn at your desk – the Tour de France may not be over after all…
Good news for anyone – including the riders and staff at UAE Team Emirates – reeling from Jonas Vingegaard’s savage pillaging of the Tour de France yesterday afternoon… Because Tadej Pogačar believes that the battle for the yellow jersey is far from over – and that’s he’s going to come out swinging today.
After a race of fine margins and incremental momentum swings, the two-time Tour winner shipped an astonishing 1.38 to the flying Dane on yesterday’s hilly 22.4km time trial course– despite finishing second himself, far ahead of the rest – on what was one of the most bewildering days in the race’s recent history.
(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
But, just as the obituaries for this year’s GC race were being sent to the papers, one man, and an important man at that, believes that the 2023 Tour de France is far from over.
“It’s definitely not over, especially if it is raining tomorrow and then I can promise you it’s going to be interesting,” Pogačar said after yesterday’s stage, pointing to today’s four mountain monster to Courchevel, which includes the ‘roof’ of this year’s Tour, the Col de la Loze.
“There are two more really hard stages to come, I think the two hardest of this year’s tour. Anything can happen, anyone can have a bad day, and like I said, I hope tomorrow is my day.
“We will try to make a plan. It’s not easy to gain two minutes, a little bit less, but we’ll try.”
(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)
To be fair, if there’s anyone in professional cycling who could turn the tables following yesterday’s brutal defeat, it’s Tadej Pogačar.
Just when you thought it was all over, we could be in for a treat…