Stage Eight

 

While the peloton ventured into the Alps, I circumnavigated them and dealt with the equally daunting task of getting around Lyons, an ordeal I never look forward to.  I began the day with fifty miles of tranquil cycling that would have been second to none if not for an off-and-on light drizzle.  It was more than manageable though with hardly any traffic to contend with on a Saturday morning.

It was almost a shock to the system to be out of The Tour frenzy and to realize one could still be in France and not have evidence of its presence wherever one looked, though that wasn't the case when I picked up my daily groceries at the E.Lecterc supermarket, sponsor of the climbing Jersey, as all the store personal were wearing the red polka dot shirts that are passed out along The Tour route and that the leader of the competition wears. 

I could at least relax a bit not having to get somewhere within a few hours.  I could just ride steadily without pushing it and reach Valence, Ville Arrivée for Tuesday’s Stage Ten after Monday’s rest day, well before the peloton.  I could, in fact, arrive Sunday evening, and once again be nearly two days ahead.

My carefree cycling ended when I reached Maçon and began a stretch that went on for over fifty miles of urban bustle emanating from Lyon.  I was lucky to find a fledgling orchard adjoined to a nursery where I could camp amidst the mayhem. 

Though I was off The Tour route, the day wasn’t without scavenging.  I stopped for what I thought was a French flag face mask, but it turned out to be a French flag cover for a car’s outside mirror, an even better find.  I came back with one three years ago after France’s win in the World Cup and they were a popular item with motorists along with flags on window antennae’s. Janina was happy to drive around with it for months until it became so faded that it was virtually a blend of beige.  This one, fresh off France’s tragic defeat several days ago to Switzerland in the European Cup, will please us both on our drive out to Telluride this August.  

I’ve at last  gotten far enough south that the sunflowers are in bloom.  The few I’d seen previously amongst the dominant vineyards, had yet to display their flowers.  

My rural cycling also included a couple of monuments to the Resistance, not as common as all the monuments to the WWI dead found in virtually every town, but a feature of the French countryside that can pop up any time, usually out in the middle of nowhere, unlike the WWI monuments in the center of towns.

I presumed that today would be a gimme finding a bar for The Tour, but the busy road I was on passed mostly French franchise food and hardware and toy and whatnot stores.  There were cafes and restaurants and hotels, but none offered a television.  There were short gaps between towns, so I pushed on to the next hoping for better luck until it was after five and I had no luck left.

I wasn’t particularly desperate to see today’s stage as it did not end with an uphill finish, despite three Category One climbs.  Often the contenders save themselves on such a stage for the next day when the finish will be on a mountain top.  And since it is the day before a rest day, everyone will be giving it their all.  Days such as today often turn out to be duds.

But that wasn’t the case.  Pogacar put on a devastating performance attacking thirty kilometers from the finish putting huge hunks of time into everyone, truly asserting his dominance, such as Armstrong often did on the first day in the mountains, letting all his competitors know they’d just be riding for second.  He didn’t win the stage, as that honor went to Dylan Teuns who’d gotten well up the road in a breakaway, but he distanced his only presumed competitors by five minutes and more, a staggering amount of time.  He might double that tomorrow and make a Merckxian mockery of The Race. That I won’t want to miss.

Pogacar becomes the third rider to wear Yellow in this year’s Race.  The previous two, Alaphilippe and Van der Poel lost 18 and 22 minutes today.  That wasn’t as bad as Thomas and Roglic, who came in with the group of no-hopers 35 minutes back, fully demonstrating they hadn’t recovered from their Stage Three crashes.  Uran, the Colombian who rides for the US team EF, is in fourth 4:46 back, so he is a candidate for another podium, having finished second one year.  The Ecuadorian riding for Ineos is in sixth 5:01 back, so he will be in the battle for the podium as well.  That is where all the attention will be focused, other than by how much Pogacar can win by.