After a well-earned rest day in Isere, Le Tour resumed for some brutal mountain stages in the French Alps.
Earlier in the day Tomo and his team and the Couch Peloton
were abuzz with the news SBS secured the broadcast rights for the Tour for the
next ten years. A no-brainer really
considering SBS *is* the home of cycling in Australia.
In a statement on Twitter Tomo wrote, “@LeTour could easily
have signed a lucrative deal with a commercial Australian network. But ASO is
grateful at the treatment and respect SBS has given to their event since 1991.
We treat the #tdf with TLC + not as a “throwaway” event held on the other side
of the world”. We on the Couch Peloton
couldn’t agree more.
Over to the Plat du Tour kitchen and Guillaume Brahimi
shared Tour snack tips on what to put on a charcuterie plate as an alternative
to cheese, although I doubt anyone in the Couch Peloton is sick of cheese yet.
From the drop of the flag teams were keen to get riders into
an early breakaway as they sniffed an opportunity for a stage win. Among the
breakies were Sebastien Reichenbach, Julian Alaphilippe, Richard Carapaz and
Lennard Kamna.
Alaphilippe gave a master class in bicycle mechanics when appearing to have a problem with the front derailleur, unclipped his right shoe
and gave it a couple of good kicks. Time for a bike change, and it’s a good
thing teams carry spares because with a surge in popularity in cycling, which
has led to shortages of stock in the bike shops, he could be hanging around for
a while for his order to come in.
Troll DJ fired up the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a bridge
montage with Under the Bridge, but the riders were ON the bridge, not under the
bridge and that was a bridge too far.
With all the attention on the young Slovenian Tadej Pogacar
in second place behind Primoz Roglic, attention turned in the SBS studio on how
you say ‘Pogacar’. We heard it from the man himself, just remember folks, ‘Pogacar’
is pronounced like ‘focaccia’.
First climb of the day was the Col de Porte, which is named
after Richie and is more famous than the lesser known Col de Cole Porter. Thank
me later.
Pierre Rolland was also among the big breakie bunch and
hunting for KOM points was the first over the Col de Porte and it was shame the
honour didn’t belong to Richie Porte.
Soon after the second climb of the day loomed and you just
know the ‘laughing group’ would revel in the thought of climbing Cote de
Revel...
The Tour chopper spotted the Grande Chartreuse monastery,
famous for its liqueur made to an ultra- secret recipe. Robbie and Mattie noted
that the monks have a vow of silence and those living through the Melbourne
Rona lockdown can relate to the monks who spend 20 hours a day in their rooms.
Hang on, this can't be Richie Porte...
On the ascent of Cote de Revel, Pogacar closely followed
Primoz Roglic and you could say the Pog is the Rog's shadow. Rolland meanwhile
was first over the top to collect more KOM points and now Benoit Cosnefroy was no
longer the Roi of the pois.
The Tour chopper flew past Fort du Saint-Eynard, perched
high on limestone cliffs above the city of Grenoble. Stunning.
One thing I must say about the Tour choppers is the TV
viewing experience wouldn’t be the same without them, not only for bringing us
the natural beauty of France but also the amazing architecture and historical
monuments.
Cathedrals and other religious sites are high on the
itinerary but one thing I haven’t seen are a lot of names ending in ‘Notre Dame’
but plenty of another kind. At first
first glance you’d say that's an Eglise or church, not a cathedral, but that's
only an assumption…
Back to the race and Quentin Pacher took off on the other
side of Cote de Revel but was caught by Alaphilippe, Kamna, Carapaz and
Reichenbach.
At the next climb, the category one Montee de Saint Nizier
du Moucherotte, the breakies had a handy thirteen-minute lead and there was no
chance of the peloton catching such a strong group.
Carapaz and Kamna led the climb but Kamna was too strong and
time trialled the remaining 18km to the finish at Villard-de-Lans.
Kamna crossed the line so early he had time for a shower and
shave before the yellow jersey group arrived.
Back in the yellow group Pogacar had a bit of a throw but
the Murder Hornets, who once again lead the peloton, kept the Pog in check and
the Rog held his 40 second lead.
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