Stage seventeen and we’ve arrived at the Queen stage of the Tour, one in which much like the pieces on a chess board the GC riders will make their moves and shake up the standings.
With two brutal climbs ahead; the Col de la Madeleine and
the Col de la Loze, Tomo said Robbie was licking his lips in anticipation of
the stage but Robbie maintained it was because he’d finished off the catering.
All eyes in the SBS commentariat and the Couch Peloton were
on Tasmania’s Richie Porte who was sitting in sixth place on the GC and there
was an opportunity today to aim for the top three.
In the pre-race interview Porte looked relaxed. He said he
was, “Motivated, a bit like a duck under water, cool calm and collected on the
outside”. I’ve seen Porte’s swims on Strava and he’s not bad at it so he should
be alright today.
The big news of the day was defending champion Egan Bernal’s
withdrawal from the Tour. Tomo had questioned why Bernal would not press on to
Paris and give something back to the team mates who supported him.
Fair question but Bernal had been suffering back problems
and an issue with a knee. Today’s huge climbs would probably make things worse.
Bernal is the first defending champion to abandon the Tour
since Chris Froome in 2014. But the Colombian is young and like Froome he’ll
probably be back in the hunt for yellow next year.
Out on the road and after a fast start a bunch of riders
went off the front of the peloton including Julian Alaphilippe, Richard
Carapaz, Gorka Izagirre, yesterday’s stage winner Lennard Kamna.
As the moto cameras followed the lead riders, Robbie noticed
that Kamna was always eating. Riders constantly need to fuel their bodies on a
huge mountain stage, and reflecting on his days in the Tour, Robbie said he
felt like a, “Thanksgiving turkey in a feed lot”.
And with that Mattie threw to Guillaume Brahimi in the Plat
du Tour kitchen where he was preparing his Paris mash. Why Paris mash?
Guillaume said he was looking for inspiration when his mother sent him a copy
of the gossip magazine ‘Paris Match’ and that’s how his mashed spuds got their
name.
To successfully make the dish he dries off the potatoes in a
saucepan on the stove and when stirring in the milk and butter (of course) he
uses a “wooden spoon and guns”.
Not all heroes wear undies on the outside and cyclists don't wear them on the inside either.
In honour of today’s queen stage, Troll DJ brought out the Queen
hits. Heh, saw what you did there Troll DJ!
‘I Want to Break Free’ and of course ‘Bicycle Race’ got a
look in. Later, out came Queen and Bowie's ‘Under Pressure’, however, if the
forecast for possible bad weather was realised at the top of the Col de la Loze
it could turn to ‘Ice, Ice Baby’ for the peloton.
Back on the road and there was a rare sighting of Rigoberto
Uran and I'm still perplexed about how a bloke in hot pink kit can hide in the
peloton for more than two weeks and be third in GC.
For the riders in the laughing group today’s stage was all
about surviving the time cut and the Quick Steppers were all for getting Peter
Bennett in green to the finish.
Cosnepois was hanging on to the polka dots but only just and
the day before conceded that he’d probably lose his grip on the KOM
competition.
More tunes from Queen from the Troll DJ until it brought out
the Couch Peloton classic ‘Cows with Guns’.
So there you have it - in one night we had Guillaume's guns
and Cows with Guns.
First huge climb of the day and Carapaz was first over the
top of the Col de la Madeleine, but Tadej Pogacar picked up enough KOM points
to take the lead from Cosnepoid so now Tadej is the Polka Pog.
Back in the peloton and the Murder Hornets collected
musettes to feed the Rog who was determined to be at his best to defend himself
against an attack from the Pog sitting just 40 seconds behind in the GC.
With the Madeleine out of the way an even bigger beast awaited
in the form of the Col de la Loze, a 21.5km climb at an average gradient of
7.8% but the sting in the tail were the ramps at 24% and 18% toward the finish
line.
Alaphilippe and Carapaz started on the climb but soon riders
started to crack with Alaphilippe dropped. Carapaz went solo in a gutsy effort from
the Ecuadorian but was caught by Miguel Angel Lopez and Sep Kuss at 3km to go
but Lopez lived up to his Superman reputation and crossed the line in first
place.
The Pog was in hot pursuit of the Rog but Roglic came in
second across the line and with time bonuses increased his lead to 57 seconds
over Pogacar.
Great ride by Richie Porte, who at one stage had a virtual third
place spot on the GC but when the dust had settled, Superman was in third and
Porte moved from sixth to fourth and he’s got to be happy about that.
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