Featured image courtesy of Thomas Samson/AFP gettyimages
The 108th Tour de France is over the halfway mark as the route moves away from the Alps, down along the south of the country within touching distance of the Mediterranean, and now ready to enter the Pyrenees. Stages 10 to 13 has seen history being made, a double ascent up Mont Ventoux and a team now without their showpiece but willing to make up for the disappointment.
Starting from Albertville and now in Carcassonne before the next block of mountains, week two of the Tour questions how much the GC men have got left after the stress of week one. Sprinters teams without a win will be desperate to score a victory and maybe just maybe a breakaway can succeed. If the carnage of week one was brutal then finishes into Valence, Nîmes and Carcassonne also carry the extra challenge of windy conditions. No yellow jersey contender or sprinter wants to be caught out by splits in the peloton, everyone on high alert makes it fast, furious and outright chaotic.
All the pre-race discussion before Stage 10 was whether Tadej Pogačar in yellow would cope with winds on the flat. His UAE team not the strongest so could any of his contenders take advantage? The answer is no. The wind did blow to dislodge a few sprinters such as Cees Bol but as far as the GC is concerned, Pogačar has got through the flat stages of week two unscathed. INEOS Grenadiers with Richard Carapaz and EF Education-Nippo with Rigoberto Urán are two names in with a shout of the podium, both were on the front lively and got through without any problems too.
It’s classic Tour de France when the race hits the south close to the Med and splits cause havoc. You only have to remember in 2016 when Chris Froome broke clear with Geraint Thomas, Maciej Bodnar and eventual stage winner Peter Sagan. That was a flat stage into Montpellier, the Tour de France can see yellow juke it out with green on a chaotic day.
This race is a circus of madness. When big days come around it’s the sense of anticipation that gets you. So when the organisers decided to return to the “Giant of Provence” this year with a double ascent of Mont Ventoux, the instant thought was this was going to be the stage of the Tour. It duly delivered.
First comes the bad news for AG2R’s Ben O’Connor already a stage winner at Tignes in the Alps, and looking set to be a possible GC contender. O’Connor sadly suffered on the second passage of Ventoux and others such as Movistar’s Enric Mas, Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko and Bora-Hansgrohe’s Wilco Kelderman also went backwards. Only Urán and Carapaz could really follow Pogačar but was also a 24-year-old Dane climbing better than we’ve seen so far. Jumbo-Visma have had a rotten Tour losing Primož Roglič and his would be domestique Robert Gesink but Jonas Vingegaard could now be their next hope to try and challenge for the podium in Paris. On Ventoux he made the decisive move, the yellow jersey followed but did show that he couldn’t follow Vingegaard’s wheel.
Moving up to third overall, the Danish climber has shown so much promise after supporting Roglič to win his second Vuelta title last year, and now has a genuine chance of taking the race to Tadej Pogačar. The Slovenian’s rivals have nothing to lose in the coming stages where as things stand, yellow looks unbridgeable and others are fighting for crumbs. Going home with nothing will be the reality for many teams after this Tour, that’s how it looked for Jumbo-Visma. While Jonas Vingegaard is riding stronger, the plaudits must go to Wout Van Aert too. One day after sprinting in Valence, a stage win for the Belgian national champion via two ascents of a Tour de France legend – tackling Mont Ventoux to win at the biggest bike race of the season, that is some achievement.
Milan-Sanremo under his belt, Strade Bianche, already two stages at the Tour before, it’s now three career wins in France for Van Aert. A supreme talent. A triumph for Jumbo-Visma when things were looking bleak.
The brutality of cycling has continued at this Tour. In week two so far we’ve lost Tony Martin, INEOS Grenadiers road captain Luke Rowe didn’t make the time limit over Ventoux and on Stage 13 it’s a sad end for the recent third-placed rider at the Giro, Simon Yates. Team BikeExchange have now lost their best chance at winning a stage, Yates himself well up for being in the breakaway as the Tour reached the Alps, his chances of now winning a stage in the Pyrennes over. Lucas Hamilton, another young talent destined to shine at grand tours for the future is also sadly out.
One team who hasn’t experienced a great Tour so far is Bora-Hansgrohe. Three-times world champion Peter Sagan did not start Stage 13, the Slovakian unable to contest the green jersey and will now be without a Tour de France stage win for the second consecutive year. Winning the points jersey at the Giro as well as a stage victory might have taken a lot out of him, but going into week two it was hard to see how Bora would win a stage.
But step forward Nils Politt. A flat stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes but with one significant climb that definately made the difference. A breakaway stuck with Politt attacking with 12 km to go, which just proves that not every stage on paper, flat it may be, suits a sprinter. Nils Politt is a rider who was tipped to do big things since signing for Bora at the start of this year. Already a runner-up at Paris-Roubaix, the German rider now has a first grand tour stage win, to do it at the Tour doesn’t get much better.
It also doesn’t get much better for a man who has made one the greatest comebacks sport has ever seen. Two more stages have been added to list tallied up by the Manx Missile himself. Two wins in Valence and Carcassonne now mean that Mark Cavendish has equalled the all-time record of 34 set by Eddy Merckx back in 1975. You still have to pinch yourself when you hear what Mark Cavendish has achieved. Before 2016 when he secured four stages to make it 30-career wins at the Tour, many thought that he was done. The rivalry against Marcel Kittel was looking to hard to beat for many, our cynicism now overlooked.
The mental toll, the Epstein-Barr virus and a change of team at Bahrain-Victorious for two years are all things Cav has been through since five years ago, and it is incredible that all these years since, Cavendish is taking more stages at the Tour de France. Quick Step under general manager Patrick Lefevere have given him a chance, Cav himself shocked to be here, grateful in fact, it’s just an incredible story.
To win a stage at the biggest bike race, an event that captures sport through all the highs and lows – 34 wins is astonishing, emotional and a delight to witness. Can he now go all the way to Paris and beat Merckx’s record? Cavendish won the green jersey exactly ten years ago and after Stage 13 he has a significant points lead at 279 compared to Michael Matthews in second at 178. Deceuninck-Quick Step will be doing everything they can to get Cav over the Pyrennes and make it to Paris. Team-mate and engine for the entire peloton Tim Declerq did suffer from a crash on Stage 13, so all hopes will be for the Belgian to recover and help Cavendish in the mountains.
Making the time cut in itself is now arguably the biggest challenge in Mark Cavendish’s career. You have to remember that it’s three years since his last appearance at the Tour, and others searching to distance Cav in the fight for green won’t make it any easier. Expect Team BikeExchange, now limited without Simon Yates, and Bahrain-Victorious to both put the pressure on. Michael Matthews and Sonny Colbrelli still have an outside chance to snatch points at the intermediate sprint.
It be a sight to behold if Mark Cavendish could beat Eddy Merck’s record and win the maillot vert on the Champs-Élysées.
What next? The Pyrenees is now the focus. Stage 14 enters the foothills and then Stage 15 reaches the highest point of the race at Port d’Envalira. The Tour visits Andorra for the first time since 2016, the second rest day will be a welcome one for Mark Cavendish et al, and after that the race for yellow intensifies. Before the high altitude summit finishes, breakaway opportunities will golden and the GC contenders have really got to pile everything on Tadej Pogačar.
Everyone behind the Slovenian has nothing to lose if they want to win this Tour. Pogačar has got through week two relatively unscathed with nothing to trouble him. Unless an absolute disaster happens, all he has to do is ride among the group of favourites without attacking. It sounds easy but for sure UAE and the young man himself won’t take things for granted.
If the Tour de France can be compared to the Eurovision Song Contest, before week two started so many teams where without anything to cheer about. So many teams will have no significant achievement to shout about but for Jumbo-Visma and Bora-Hansgrohe they will now definately not go without nuls points.