Stage Six

As Yvon and I were biking up a narrow steep side road closed to motorized traffic to reach the Category Two Col de Hundsruck on today’s stage a cyclist came up from behind us and blurted, “I saw the article in today’s newspaper on you two.”  Yvon replied,  “We liked it, but it got George’s age wrong.  He’s 68, not 62.”  

That wasn’t the only mistake.  My coast-to-coast ride was in 1977, not 1979, but numbers aren't of much significance.  The journalist got the jist of my story, most importantly that I’m “crazy for the bike,” high praise, as the slogan for The Tour one year was “Fou de Tour.”   It was an honor to be included in the eight pages of Tour coverage in the region’s largest newspaper “Alsace.”  It was nice too to have put in print that I consider Thibaut Pinot a strong contender for this year’s Tour and my hope to win it, bringing to an end France’s long drought, especially after his strong ride today.

We arrived at The Tour route just as the last vehicle in the caravan was passing, the over-sized Vittel water truck with a woman atop spraying the crowd, hardly necessary on this cool, overcast day that had had periods of drizzle. It took us longer to climb the steep road than we had anticipated, but we had collected so much booty the day before whatever I had gathered today I would have to redistribute when I next rode road the route ahead of the caravan as I’ve done in the past. I was just sorry to miss the joy of people gathering Tour morsels as if they were gold nuggets.

The Skoda van distributing Green Jerseys similar to what Sagan is wearing as leader of the the sprint competition had obviously paused at this bend in the road and distributed its wares, as many were adorned in the sponsor’s garment.  A group of Belgians, one with an Eddy cap and another draped in the Belgian flag, were clustered around a table playing cards modeling their new favorite article of clothing. 

Amongst all the Green were a few fans in E. Leclerc’s polka dot climber’s jersey.

The roadside was packed and in tiers in some spots.

The phalanx of motorcycles preceding the riders beginning nearly twenty minutes ahead of them were going considerably slower than yesterday when they passed us on the flat, as they match the speed of the racers.  They almost looked as if they might topple over.  A lead group of fifteen riders was seven minutes ahead of the main group.  Both groups were maintaining a steady, unagressive speed.  It was too early in the stage with several tougher climbs ahead for the true racing to begin. There wasn’t even a grupetto of sprinters lagging way behind yet, just one lone Cofidis rider five minutes behind.  He received the largest cheers of anyone, with all urging him on, but to no avail,as he became the second abandon of The Race.  The first was someone who broke a couple ribs yesterday and did not start.  Five stages without anyone dropping out is a rarity.  

Alaphilppe’s team was leading the peloton up the climb trying to keep the lead group on a manageable leash.  They miscalculated by six seconds, the margin by which Alaphilippe lost the jersey.  The difference was actually the time bonus Giulio Ciccone earned for finishing second behind DylannTeuns, also of the breakaway group.  Ciccone finished one minute and 35 seconds ahead of Alaphilippe.

Alaphilppe had enoughnleft in the tank to make an all-out effort in the last few hundred meters to close the gap, but fell just short.  Yvon and I were back at his home to witness the final hour of dramatics on his large screen television with Pierrette.  There was loads of excitement on the final four-mile climb to the ski resort of La Blanche des Belle Filles.  The lone American hope Tejay Van Garderen got some air time he would have preferred not to have received when he fell off the back of the 30-rider pack of contenders and regained it not once but twice, but then exploded losing eight minutes totally dashing what hopes he had for the GC.  But his two teammates, Uran and Woods, hung tough and are now 9th and 10th overall.  

The greatly slimmed-down Valverde looked as if he was someone to be reckoned as he set the pace for the chase group of all the main players, but it turned out he was sacrificing himself for his teammate Quintana losing over a minute to the main threats when all was said and done.  Nibali and Bardet took similar losses, joining Van Garderen as the main disappointments of the day. The most impressive efforts for the day, besides that of Alaphilippe, came from Geraint Thomas and Pinot. Thomas came in fourth, after a final blistering charge, finishing only behind three who had been way up the road.  Pinot nearly matched him, finishing just two seconds behind, just ahead of fellow Frenchman Alaphilippe.  Thomas made a strong statement that he is indeed fit to defend his title, finishing nine seconds ahead of his teammate Bernal, who most have been picking to win The Race.  It’s way too early to make any final conclusions, but when The Race is done observers will look back on this stage and say they should have known.  

Today’s top two finishers are aberrations in the overall and will break the string of the Yellow Jersey wearer after this stage going on to win the overall, but Thomas and Pinot have certainly made strong assertions.  Bernal is hardly out of it, nor are Fuglsang or Porte or Landa, who all four finished nine seconds behind Thomas. Quintana was two seconds better than them, so may deserve to have been assigned the number one jersey by his  Movistar team ahead of Landa and Valverde.  Yates and Martín were just another five seconds behind the Bernal group and Uran and Woods four more, so they all can continue to harbor genuine podium aspirations.  Nibali, Valverde and Bardet have to be grimacing though over their performances and poor Van Garderen is definitely crying in his soup.  

It was a humdinger of a stage.  The next two will be somewhat holding patterns until the Massif Central, but Alaphilppe and his team might be able to wrest the Yellow Jersey back before the tough climbing stages ahead, just six seconds in arrears.  In the meantime Thomas can ride semi-relaxed as the highest placed of the contenders in fifth overall, 49 seconds back, four seconds ahead of Bernal and nine of Pinot.  It’s still anyone’s race.