This is about cycling, but starts with a reference to the UEFA European Championships in football and a the typical gameplay in the game of soccer which revolves around possession and methodically working the football from the defence, trying to draw the opposition forward and look for gaps to make a rare attack. Arguable, the strategy of cycle has more subtlety and complexity and in the race for the yellow jersey, the Slovenian winner from last year, Tadej Pogačar has secured a 5 minute gap against the nearest competitor and with his consistent performance, his chances remain good that he will be presented the yellow jersey on the Champs-Élysées in Paris for the 2021 victory.
Perhaps the tour is already decided and it remains a matter of celebrating the stage wins and watching the fight for second and third.
The tour has been scarred with far more major crashes this year than is usual and this has also seen a record number of abandonments. From 181 riders starting the tour, 34 have pulled out including big names like Peter Sagan, Caleb Ewan, Primož Roglič, Jack Haig, Mathieu van der Poel, Tony Martin, Victor Campenaerts and Simon Yates… to name just a few. Team Arkea Samsic have seen 5 riders withdraw and on Stage 9 alone, 12 riders withdrew, seven of these missed the cut-off time while the majority of other riders have withdrawn following injuries.
The fight for the King of the Mountains
If the Tadej Pogačar is the protected GC leader and the other traditionally strong teams are focussed on chasing stage wins, where is the action? Not to suggest that Uran, Vingegaard, Carapaz, Australia’s Ben O’Connor and Kelderman are not each fighting for time, but there is another amazing challenge.. the fight for the King of the Mountains jersey.
After Stage 15, Wouter Poels of Team Bahrain Victorious climbed up the rankings to snatch the jersey from Canadian Michael Woods of Team Israel Start-Up Nation. But the previous KOM jersey holder Nairo Quintana of Arkea Samsic was also see racing up the climbs looking for points and trying to regain the jersey before ‘exploding’ again. He now sits in third with 64 points next to Wout van Aert of Jumbo – Visma.
Earlier we saw Wouter Poels in the polka dots, Matej Mohoric and the smiling Dutchman, Ide Schelling of BORA – hansgrohe who regained the jersey from Mathieu van der Poel who took the jersey on Stage 2.
Quintana fought hard to try and win back the King of the Mountains on stage 15. There are plenty of points up for grabs in the next three stages and the fight is on and should be decided at the end of Stage 18 but with one KOM point on Stage 19 and 21.
What about the Green Jersey Points Classification?
Mark Cavendish is having the tour of his life and has a comfortable lead for the points classification. Sure, he has won 4 stages in a tour before and the 34 total stage wins puts him equal with the record set by Eddy Merckx… but as a sprinter the hilly stages are tough, in the General Classification ranking for time he is almost at the end of the field and is needs to rely on his Deceuninck – Quick-Step team mates to drop back and help keep him up the hills to prevent him from missing the cut-off time.
Cavendish has 279 points and as nice buffer ahead of Australian Michael Matthews of Team Bike Exchange with 207 points and Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Fenix with 174 points.
For sprint finishes, challengers Peter Sagan, Caleb Ewan and even Arkea Samsic rider Nacer Bouhanni have withdrawn. Andre Greipel is still looking for the prize but the Deceuninck – Quick-Step leadout train has been so effective this year that the bunch sprints remain in their favour.
The last three stages favour a bunch sprint finish although the Tuesday Stage 16 features climbs but a flat finish that could be an option if the peloton can control the break-aways. There are plenty of points up for grabs however for Michael Mathews he now needs to consistently leave Cavendish in his wake. But for Cavendish there is still the chance for 35 stage wins… or more, if he can make it through the Pyranees in time.
For Bicycles Network Australia we will cheer on Michael Mathews of Team BikeExchange. But let’s not forget that Ben O’Conner of AG2R sits in fifth overall and fairly close (time-wise) to five other GC contenders behind Pogačar. There is a podium chance so even if the fight for the King of the Mountains remains exciting and Michael Mathews could challenge Cavendish for the green jersey, last years Tour de France proved that it is not over, until it is over.
Photos: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet
