Stage fourteen and the riders set off for the 194km journey to Frances’s third largest city of Lyon ahead of a huge stage tomorrow culminating in a mountain top finish of the Grand Colombier.
Back in the SBS studio Tomo chatted about a Twitter exchange
between Mattie and Caleb Ewan with Caleb daring Mattie to be as excited for him
if he wins a stage as Colombian radio commentary was for Dani Martinez’s stage
thirteen victory.
With that excitement level challenge set Ewan will have to
BMX trick his way across the line in Paris and Mattie will have to scream so
hard he pops an eyeball.
Over to, you guessed it, the Plat du Tour kitchen and
Guillaume Brahimi was preparing his French-style fish and chips with thebutter.
The Couch Peloton was a little underwhelmed by the effort,
even with the artful arrangement of the pommes Pont Neuf. Where are the
dimmies, the potato cakes/scallops (it potato cakes thank you) and a pickled
onion from the jar on the fish ‘n chip shop counter?
Still, awesome work with the butter and the way Guillaume is
going, by the time the Tour reaches Paris he’ll be serving up a life sized bust
of himself created purely from herb butter.
News emerged earlier in the day from Fake Mike Tomalaris
with the announcement of his retirement. He’d hinted Twitter had been watching
his hilarious antics and was none too happy about it, but giving it some
thought - did the ASO assassinate Fakey? Bloody ASO, they have their tentacles
everywhere!
In the pretend Caravan of Commentary, discussion turned to
the issue of a concussion protocol in cycling after Romain Bardet’s crash and
abandonment after stage thirteen. I still wonder how, even if a clear
concussion protocol is established, hard it would be to implement given that
pro riders would rather press on even if both legs snapped off in a crash.
Mattie was looking ahead to tomorrow’s stage culminating at
the top of hors categorie Grand Colombier. Normally a climb like this would
attract thousands of spectators but not this year due to covid restrictions
with a ban on fans.
I can image that virtual Dutch corner will be fans dressed in
orange all on a Zoom call getting drunk and accidentally setting fire to the
apartment letting off safety flares.
Saturday night and Troll DJ was spinning the discs. A
‘barrage montage’ was accompanied by Dam(n) wish I was your lover. Well played
Troll DJ, well played.
The peloton made its way across some beautiful landscapes in
a part of the country known as, according to Bridie, “France’s Yarra Valley”.
Nice one Bridie, I reckon the Yarra Valley is a corker too.
Not quite the famous Loire Valley today, although the race
passes the town of Loire and the region boasts its fair share of chateaux from
the magnificent to ruins.
Looked like Chateau de la Faye was too much for the tradies
but nothing that the medieval Blockheads can’t sort out. Torture chamber/home
cinema anyone?
In the battle for the green jersey Sam Bennett still holds a
handy lead over Peter Sagan who is solely focused on getting it back. He made
up a little ground and Bora v Bennett is shaping up to be the love story of
this Tour.
Eagle-eyed Bridie landed the first roadside random mankini
sighting of the Tour. Fortunately, many of us were spared the sight and we were
hoping he was wearing a mask at least.
They're mad for hats at the Hat Museum.
The cycling godz were smiling upon the peloton and apart
from the wash out in Nice, and maybe some showers on one or two stages, the
weather has been great so far. If, and when, you can get there, early Autumn is
a fab time to visit Europe, especially the south.
Back on the road and Edward Theuns and Stefan Kung had been
out front for much of the day only for Kung to go solo and diesel up the
climbs.
Mattie thought with the look on his face Kung was auditioning
for the Luna Park entrance. I always thought Fabio Aru had a monopoly on that
competition but since Aru has abandoned the field is wide open. And with a nod
to the late Paul Sherwen a, “Job of work” to Kung from Mattie.
Meanwhile Troll DJ was playing the classic Troll DJ hits ‘n
memories with Jane’s Addiction’s Mountain Song. Things got a bit raunchy with
ABBAs Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight), but you know, whatever
floats your boat!
Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble
distinguishing Movistar from Astana in their respective light blue kits? I
think we need to start calling them Movistana or Asstar whenever they are
together from now on.
60km to go and as the riders passed through
Chazelles-sur-Lyon Mattie spotted a Chapeau or Hat Museum. Chapeau Mattie for
pointing this one out!
As the race approached Lyon attacks a plenty came,
particularly in the arm wrestle between Bora and Bennett. Bridie spoke of the
invisible riders and do any of the invisible riders happen to include Rigoberto
Uran by any chance?
In the end it was Danish rider Soren Kragh Andersen who
timed his move at the 3km to go mark to notch up his first Tour victory.
Primoz Roglic held on to yellow with a 44 second lead over
Slovenian compatriot Tadej Pogacar and nearly one minute over defending
champion Egan Bernal.
Will we see fireworks from the Colombian on the Grand
Colombier?
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