Yeah, I read the original article, a few derivatives of it, and Gaudu's interview before NC. They guy gives the feeling that he is adopting the stance of a few football players: I've signed a contract, and as long as I show up on time and do my hours, they can't fire me.
He gets paid over a million € a year (over 100.000 € a month), and it will go on until the end of 2027... It is just crazy that the idiots in charge, who offered again this contract last year, didn't propose him a contract with a large variable part, so that he could get again this type of income if he performed, and would cost them much less if he couldn't or wouldn't.
Several years ago, when Pinot was still around, I got insulted by all FDJ fans when I said I could see Gaudu 'pinotising' really fast, i.e. would get more and more unreliable / unavailable. It was a double capital offence, as I was at the same time telling that the old darling Pinot was unreliable, and that the new darling was going the same way, and faster.
I mean, the signs were all there: problems in early spring because it was too cold, problem in late spring because there was too much pollen, problem in summer because it was too hot, and when he wasn't ill he was crashing all by himself. In between, he was only showing up on races 'for testing himself',meaning he wouldn't try to win anything, but just try to follow the other leaders and get dropped as late as possible, to assess his level before another race (where he would again get unwell or fail in other ways). Like with Pinot, you know that this type of rider will always have a problem, even when they are close to the goal and the road looks clear: it becomes a running joke (like Pinot since the Vuelta 2016).
And he was big-headed and big-mouthed, with a gang of gamers followers because he was spending a lot of time on Twitch (or whatever it is called, something like a youtuber anyway), and there were already signs all this didn't go well with every other rider.
French riders were already getting overpaid before the inflation of riders' income (possibly because the teams don't want to miss the next French to win er... any 2.WT), and it kept going.
I we get back to Pinot and Bardet, Pinot was getting paid over 2 millions € a year, even in the last years when he basically couldn't ride. I don't know how much Bardet made, but I assume it wasn't too far. After all, Pierre Rolland was making close to 1 million € already several years earlier, when he left Europcar for Cannondale, and he wasn't hyped as a French GC rider like the other two were (and it was 10 years ago, i.e. just before the salary madness pushed by the arrival of the UAE team).
I have already said it, but I will repeat it because it is important to get the facts straight: this pair of riders was vastly over-hyped. They almost never rode as domestiques, they always were leaders and they basically never rode with another leader; and yet their honours list is abysmal compared to what they earned. The only stage race they won is Trentin (Alps), only once each. Each also won only 2 one-day races in more than 12 years as professional WT riders... Even in his last year, where he rode much better and eagerly than previously, desperate to win anything, Pinot didn't manage to score a single victory: even on tiny races, there was at least one rider to beat him. Jerseys on Grand Tours? Phshaw! Only Bardet wore one, gifted by a young teammate, for a single day, and lost it on the 2^nd^ stage of his last Tour of France. Pinot never wore Yellow, Red or Pink for a minute in 12 years.
So, having this as a reference point, The Gaudu case is even worse. Not only he never won a 2.Pro like the two others did, but he never won any stage race, not even the crappiest 2.1! Did he make it up with one-day races? No, his results are abysmal there too: he only won 2 very French races: Boucles de l'Ardèche before another Frenchman, and Tour du Jura before two Frenchmen (1.1). At least Pinot won the Lombardia once (I wouldn't count Milan-Turin as on that day Gaudu was used to bring Pinot's contender, M.-A. Lopez, to the ground 🤣). Did Gaudu bring a Mountain jersey home? No, it was never worthy of him (same attitude problem at Pinot's, who only grabbed the Mountain jersey because he didn't manage to get anything else and got a little bit lucky with that jersey). He wore the Red jersey for 1 day only, last year when he got position within the peloton to take it from Vingegaard who was in the same time and didn't want it so much.
So, in 10 years (!) as a professional rider, the only things he can show are basically stage victories on stage races... And yet he gets paid something between 1 and 1.5 million €... and renewed at the same price!
As last year, because of the heat, the organisers shortened the distance by removing... the first, thus the coolest lap.
In the pro men race on Sunday, there will be no less than 33 FDJ riders, and the whole Total team (28 riders), out of 140 part-takers! Favourite is Grégoire.
It went as expected: FDJ controlled every group, and Grégoire easily dropped all other guys in the steep 1 km climb just 2-3 km from the line. In the absence of other favourites, all possible outsiders who weren't affected by heat produced their efforts earlier, often at the strangest times (no earpiece ⇒ no brain), and the main 'fresh' contender remaining in the last lap was perhaps Delbove (Total, formerly St-Michel–Auber)...
First Conti riders are Mariault and Vezie(CIC): 9^th^ and 21^st^.
It was Gaudu's sole racing day in probably 2 months or more; he was dropped by the peloton and withdrew after only 60-70 km... 🙄
L’an dernier, le parcours élite hommes avait été raccourci d’un tour en raison de la chaleur. Dans leur grande intelligence, les organisateurs avaient supprimé le début de la course, et donc la course avait été concentrée sur les heures les plus chaudes… He oui…
I've watched the amateur races, and the circuit isn't very sexy. It is only 16 km long, and meanders through a countryside overpowered by the heat and by disorganised urban creep. Women will ride it only 6 more times, but men 14 times (supposedly): way more than enough to get sick about it...
In the pro men race on Sunday, there will be no less than 33 FDJ riders, and the whole Total team (28 riders), out of 140 part-takers! Favourite is Grégoire.
Meanwhile, there will only be 40 pro female riders all together on Saturday... (there were many more on the amateur female race). edit: only 36 female riders started, and 25 finished.
En l’absence de Seixas et de quelques autres coureurs de Décathlon et d’ailleurs, Grégoire (FDJ) sera le grand favori au vu du parcours et de l’habituelle surabondance de coureurs FDJ (ils étaient 26 l’an dernier…).
Et cette année il y aura 33 coureurs FDJ au départ, soit 23,5% des 140 inscrits au total !
La seconde équipe en terme de présence sera Total, qui est une équipe Pro Team 100% française, et qui aligne tous les 28 coureurs qui la compose !
À côté de ça, samedi, la course pro féminine ne sera disputée que par 40 coureuses, toutes équipes confondues...
A few women suffered from the heat on a shorter version of this stage, in the morning already...
Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) waited for the last climb to attack. I thought he would have attacked in the last part of the previous one. In fact, it was a stupidly strong relay by a Decathlon domestique (Benoot🇧🇪?) who dropped his own leader Riccitello🇺🇸 and left only Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) and the Slovenian. So, Pogatchar🇸🇮 saw that gap and accelerated, the Ecuadorian followed a little bit but was dropped after only a few hundred metres.
At the front of the breakaway, L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain) was giving everything he had, shaking everything for 4 miles, with a faraway look. He had a 2 minutes gap in his favour, he climbed faster than any other rider from the peloton not named Pogatchar, and yet he was caught and dropped like he was nothing. He was really distressed after the finish.
Like yesterday Van der Poel was completely empty when he arrived and it took him ages to recover. Meanwhile the Slovenian, after the line, looks like he is looking for a partner to play a couple of sets on a tennis court, before heading for the nearest dance hall. It is a big change with the Tour of Romandie, where he was paying for his efforts, like a human being. Anyway, 3 stage victories for him, and it would have been 4 if his team didn't try to get Narvaz to win on stage #2.
Only 1 stage out of 5 (this stage #2), the Mountain and the Youth jerseys escaped UAE.
The sprinters’ stage, unless a few teams want to make their life hard in the first half of the stage. After all, this stage presents basically as much elevation as the first two stages.
And sprinters failed 😃
Another victory for UAE, through Narvaez who probably had to make up for his failure on Stage 2. Congratulations to Meurisse🇧🇪 who stayed with him and made a 2^nd^ place, just one wheel before the enraged peloton sprinters.
Stage 4 ITT
Van der Poel (🇳🇱 Alpecin) gave everything he had in the hot weather, and was winning until the last second of the race. The last rider of the day, informed of the times, beat him by... 0.04 second! Another victory for UAE, with of course the Yellow jersey bearer, Pogatchar🇸🇮.
Gaudu still appears on the startlist, but I heard he may not show up.
He didn't show up indeed.
The walls/hills on the first two stage were underused, so they both ended in sprints (while the two pure sprinters crashed and withdrew in the middle of the first stage...)
Piganzoli (🇮🇹 Visma) looks like an obvious favourite
On the first stage, he did a crappy attack on the flat where he didn't gain 1 yard gap over the other riders; on the 2^nd^ he tried to go for a time bonus but failed at getting any.
Yet on the mountain stage, he did exactly as planned. Nothing happened in the first climb, but in the second the Visa train broke the peloton in many pieces, and then he made a clear attack, and that was it. Chaser maintained the gap for a while, but then his advantage grew. He also kept his advantage on the 20+ km of bumpy final circuit. The circuit didn't look like much on the profile, but it was actually pretty hard and interesting, never flat).
St-Michel Auber won the Mountain jersey! I name the team, because while Delacroix🇫🇷 did the little points at the beginning, then he was dropped and it was 3 teammates of him who where pulling the peloton in the Hourquette of Hancizan so that no one else would score big points there, and 2 of them passed first. They were also lucky that Piganzoli🇮🇹 didn't want the points, because he finishes just 2 points behind, while he had let the 2^nd^ St-Michel and one of his teammates pass the pass before him. Visma seem to let smaller guys win secondary stuff most of the time, unlike UAE.
First, it was one of those 'between two stools' peloton chases we've witnessed this year. You're never sure whether they want to catch the breakaway or not.
Then, UAE wanted Narvaez🇪🇨 to win. They had McNulty🇺🇸 pull for the whole first of the two twin climbs. But after half of the climb, or even sooner, the American wasn't dropping anyone any more and he wasn't closing the gap with breakaway any more, he was too slow, yet they kept him in first position. In the second climb, Narvaez🇪🇨 tried to go as planned, but he couldn't. So Pogatchar🇸🇮 finally tried his luck, but despite the help of a surprisingly strong Vacek🇨🇿, it was too late, there wasn't enough of the short climb left, nor enough of the last flat section, and they died just a few seconds behind the breakaway.
In the breakaway, Grégoire (🇫🇷 FDJ) was dropped in each climb, each time there was a strong acceleration by another rider; yet he managed to come back each time, and then he was the fastest in the sprint, as expected if he came to the line with those other guys.
Grégoire🇫🇷 is not (yet?) as good as Alaphilippe🇫🇷 was (by the way, he was today in the breakaway too but was definitely dropped in the first climb), but he ressembles him in how they both can go and remain a long while in a pain zone beyond their normal capabilities, when crunch time comes. One difference is that Alaphilippe🇫🇷 was using this ability to sustain his attacks, while Grégoire🇫🇷 is a very passive rider and mostly uses it to stay in or come back into his group.
Also, Grégoire🇫🇷 got a fine and a yellow card for getting help from his car while he was in a feeding zone. So, we have here another explanation for his coming back(s)... 😮💨
🤣, day #1 and Pogatchar🇸🇮 takes the time bonuses at Intermediate Sprints and attacks with more than 70 km to go...
Oh dear, it was a butchery. All the favourites I had picked in my presentation are gone 😆
Beside (and far behind) the Slovenian mutant, only Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) and Bagioli (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) produced rather impressive performances. The Italian would have closed the 1mn30 gap with the Ecuadorian who had gone away much earlier, if there hadn't been that last short but very steep climb which allowed Carapaz🇪🇨 to gain again 15-20 seconds, enough to finish 2^nd^.
Coming back to my wonderful expertise:
Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) continues his mission, coming on races he hasn't already won to fix this mistake. There won't be much competition for General Classification, as Pidcock cancelled his participation: L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain), M. Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco), Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora), and perhaps Riccitello (🇺🇸 Decathlon) or Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrain) if they finally feel better. We may get interested in what the 3^rd^ Bahrain rider, Eulalio🇵🇹, can do here after his great Tour of Italy.
L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain) : +13 mn
M. Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco) : +13 mn
Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrain) : +21 mn
Eulalio (🇵🇹 Bahrain) : +24 mn
Only Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora) and Riccitello (🇺🇸 Decathlon) didn't do too bad, without doing particularly well either: in the second group at 4′30″ (the Slovenian a little bit behind, dropped in the finish). They can both aim for top-10 or even top-5.
Route d'Occitanie (formerly Route du Sud), 🇫🇷 2.1, 18–20/6/2026
So, this is another race that had to reduce its span, down to 3 days this year while it was 4 days.
Yet, the course seem well balanced, with the first two stages which may appeal to both punchers and sprinters (and breakawaymen for the first one), and the 3^rd^ stage which is a mountain stage in the Pyrenees but not too hard and with a bit of bumpy flat in the end, looking more open than your usual regular hard mountain stage.
The field is naturally weak, so Piganzoli (🇮🇹 Visma) looks like an obvious favourite after his 8^th^place on the Giro d'Italia, should the fate of the race be decided in the climbs of the last race, which doesn't completely look like a given.
Gaudu still appears on the startlist, but I heard he may not show up.
You were supposed to be the new Hinault, not the new Pinot 😭 😭
Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) left no chances to the others, clinical. Lidl-Trek rode all day long, he just had to finish in the last climb after a short relay by Sivakov.
Van Gils (🇧🇪 Bora) came back from holidays, and stayed with Tuckwell🇦🇺 and helped him finish on the 2^nd^ step of the final podium!
Caja Rural confirmed its good performance, with Para🇪🇸 and Castellon🇪🇸 making it again in the top-15 of the stage, which allows them to score a 9^th^ and a 11^th^ place in the final GC.
The invisible man G. Martin (🇫🇷 FDJ) curiously manages to score a top-10 too. Not sure how, he never did better than 15^th^ on any stage 😄 In the same team, Braz🇫🇷 was in the breakaway one more time and quickly secured the Mountain jersey. Quite an achievement in theory, except that I would have liked that someone contested the points at least once this week... Anyway, he made it an objective and he got it, that's so much better than what FDJ accustomed us to do along the years, always neglecting secondary objectives to (not) catch the big one.
Yet another failure for Vauquelin (🇫🇷 Ineos). He and his team were very active today, but in the end he finishes far and drops to 15^th^ place in GC.
At Decathlon, Bisiaux🇫🇷 could not make up for Seixas🇫🇷's withdrawal and secure an honest GC ranking. He was in the breakaway but was dropped twice, and then couldn't stay in the peloton either. He finished behind domestiques who stopped riding when the last climb started. Close to top-10 this morning, he got kicked out of top-20... It is a terrible final assessment for Decathlon's week: by putting all their eggs in the same basket, they lost everything, as I feared before the week-end started. They were nowhere on stages (bar a 3^rd^ place on the 1^st^ stage by Bisiaux), they are nowhere in secondary classifications, and they are nowhere in final GC... In UCI terms, that less than 100 points in 8 days, for a team which aimed at final victory...
Tuckwell🇦🇺, beaten on GC, couldn't get the Youth classification either, for all 3 members of the present GC podium are eligible to Youth classification... I hope it could finish to demonstrate how pointless the U23 category has become, and that it is time for UCI to reform it, as well as for race organisers to suppress the Youth jersey and replace it with amore interesting secondary classification.
Coming back to Decathlon’s attitude, Del Toro🇲🇽 didn’t lose an inch to Seixas🇫🇷. If it goes the same way in the real mountain this week-end, Decathlon may come back home empty-handed, as they scorned the first 6 stages (!) and all secondary classifications (there are still a ton of Mountain points to grab, though, but considering that they never ride at the front…)
And here we bloody go! 😡
Seixas🇫🇷 crashed and it took him several minutes to restart...
It may be up to Bisiaux🇫🇷 to save the boat. The same whom they didn't put in the breakaway yesterday... in spite of the fact that he was in good position thanks to the breakaway of the first Sunday. They only envisioned a domestique role for him, whereas they could have made him play the co-leader, or have him aim at secondary objectives.
It turned out that Decathlon, as a team, handled the situation pretty well: despite a gap of 4 minutes with the peloton, they never panicked, got 2-3 riders to pull Seixas🇫🇷 on the flat sections, while keeping Bisiaux🇫🇷 in the peloton, where he could pull Seixas in the last climb(s) – and could still have played his own chance, should Seixas give up on the pursuit or withdraw.
Naturally he was unwell and lost time again in the terribly hard end, but neither his team nor himself panicked. They could have ridden too fast for him and cook him for the final part, or he could have relayed and blown his teammates up and then be alone, as we often see it happen in such situations (in the Roglitch years, Visma was famous for that).
Caja Rural managed to place 2 guys in the top-10 of the stage (they came together with Tuckwell (🇦🇺 Bora) who was completely abandoned by is team but managed to keep his Yellow jersey), and they weren't even in a breakaway. That was better than Bisiaux🇫🇷, Jasch🇩🇪, Tullett🇬🇧, Martin🇫🇷, Vauquelin🇫🇷 and so on. Let's see if they can survive again on the last stage, Sunday.
Decathlon has been behaving very strangely again. They let a group of 60 riders break away, chased them a bit but not quite. It is odd, sometimes they behave like they were the boss of the peloton with the obvious favourite in the team, sometimes they are very weak, sometimes they are very (over-?) confident in putting all their eggs in the same basket (Seixas crushing the last 2 stages).
In the huge breakaway group, there were several serial breakawaymen: Jegat🇫🇷, R. Garcia🇪🇸 & Castrillo🇪🇸, Q. Simmons🇺🇸, Braz🇫🇷... There were also a couple of GC outsiders: Tuckwell🇦🇺, G. Martin🇫🇷. That group had lots of domestique workforce at disposal and it was put to use: the peloton teams couldn't reduce the gaps even when then were really trying.
In the end, the Bora boys dominated the group, Van Gils🇧🇪 took the stage victory before Jonhannessen (🇳🇴 Uno-X) and Tuckwell🇦🇺 the Yellow jersey. Van Gils🇧🇪 was so confident to outsprint the Norwegain rider that 1 km from the goal, he was already getting ready for the photo.
Braz (🇫🇷 FDJ) took all the mountain points of the day except the ones at the finish. He also tried to drag G. Martin🇫🇷 but then was allowed to ride for himself and finished with the little group at 30 seconds behind the winners, while Martin finished at 1′20″ – that is, 20″ behind the rouleurArmirail🇫🇷...
That's one funny podium we have tonight: *Tuckwell🇦🇺**, Armirail🇫🇷, G. Martin🇫🇷.
In the peloton, only Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) could follow Seixas (🇫🇷 Decathlon). Jorgenson (🇺🇸 Visma) held a good while but then dropped; however, Seixas🇫🇷 couldn't enlarge the gap, and Jorgenson🇺🇸 lost only 13 seconds. The two Lidl-Trek leader lost a bit more, but no so much either.
The real downfalls happened at Ineos, with Vauquelin🇫🇷 dropping early in the last climb and losing 1′30″, while his (co-)leader **Onley🇬🇧**crashed in the previous downhill and crossed the line second to last, out of GC and probably of the race. Same fate for Buitrago (🇨🇴 Bahrain).
Coming back to Decathlon's attitude, Del Toro🇲🇽 didn't lose an inch to Seixas🇫🇷. If it goes the same way in the real mountain this week-end, Decathlon may come back home empty-handed, as they scorned the first 6 stages (!) and all secondary classifications (there are still a ton of Mountain points to grab, though, but considering that they never ride at the front...)
And there are now 3 minutes to catch to get even with Tuckwell🇦🇺. Normally, it shouldn't be much of a problem, but still, that's a climber there.
Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma) chickened out and left the race after his stage victory 🙄
These 2 stages were similar in shape, and in the way they happened, except for the fate of the breakaway. Contrarily to the first 2 stages, the peloton truly wanted to win.
Yesterday, we had again Jegat🇫🇷 and R. Garcia🇪🇸 but this time they both had a teammate with them. They were 12 for a long time, then 11 after Watson🇬🇧 hit the ground, then 10; and all of them were pulling, pulling, pulling, generally in 2 columns, with very short relays. It was a big, long fight with the peloton, as they never had a big gap. Even Q. Simmons🇺🇸's attack didn't disorganise the group, as only the NSN rider scolded him a bit but the 2 Total behind restarted relaying immediately: the attack even increased the gap a bit. And there was Castrillo🇪🇸's acceleration, I am not sure if it was originally an attack or not, but anyway the guy then pulled everyone until the sprint, despite the fact that he was pushing the pedals with his ears and everything he could. In the sprint itself, I successively thought that at least 5 riders were about to win 😃 but Q. Simmons🇺🇸 managed to stay ahead despite starting rather early.
It has become really difficult to chase breakaways, even without leaving them any substantial gap, when there is a bit of tail wind, and the peloton riders are not so much better than the breakaway men.
Today, the breakaway was smaller, and the peloton more careful, so the outcome was much more classical. Cofidis worked a lot again, but the final result isn't much better: 11^th^ yesterday, 9^th^ today (Coquard🇫🇷).
I see on PCS that 3 riders didn't start today : 2 Movistar (Cepeda🇪🇨 and Romeo🇪🇸) and Mohoritch (🇸🇮 Barhrain). They were not favourites, but those are still known faces.
Wow, that’s… something! Sounds like a design by committee decision…
Perhaps they made a big mistake, for per UCI regulations, the TTT could not be positioned after stage 3 anyway. Did they forget about that in the fist place?
Did you see Charmig books his tour ticket yesterday? He’s pretty fast so I expected him to wait for the sprint, but apparently his legs are good enough to leave normally better climbers behind. Helps that the last climb wasn’t super long.
I did, I did. Sorry that I didn't post about the victory of the big Dane 😃
I think one main factor explaining the finish is that the stage was 234 km (+ 11 km of neutral start) long, with some rain on top of that. And there was no real flat in the last 140 km: there were the official climbs, but most of the rest of the terrain was hills, more or less smooth. This probably explains how R. Garcia (🇪🇸 Movistar) couldn't accelerate more in the last 30 km: half-cooked, half-numbed, he could just pace (at a pretty good pace), not accelerate.
The little Braz (🇫🇷 FDJ) knew he didn't stand a chance if he arrived with anyone else, so he attacked/followed every attack in every climb (also he wanted the Mountain jersey). Therefore he killed himself. I mean, the guy has the build of a middle-school girl... In theory, he shouldn't be made for this kind of stage, but climbs don't hurt him and, as long as he can stay in someone's wheel, he is 100% sheltered on the flat (and doesn't shelter others much). Now on the flat again, when it comes to stay ahead alone, or to catch someone up, that's much more difficult for him.
Sur la deuxième étape, il a tout de même utilisé son retard pour partir en échappée, dans l'échappée qui se jouerait la gagne. Donc il y a une volonté de faire quelque chose, c'est bien. Mais même là, son niveau est insuffisant : ne pouvant suivre les meilleurs dans les montées ni faire de différence par rapport aux «moyens», il termine à 2 minutes du vainqueur et 1mn20 du groupe suivant.
Something even more clever was brought to my attention.
Le Puy en Velay is both a stage finish and a stage start. That's how things naturally were, and they should always be, shouldn't they? There is zero transfer and it is cheaper as far as the infrastructure costs go.
They arrived in Le Puy en Velay yesterday. And naturally they depart from there today...No, scratch that: they drive 150 km away to do the TTT! And after the TTT they drive 150 km back to be in Le Puy en Velay for the following stage tomorrow (which will bring them in direction of the place where the TTT is located to add insult to injury...)
I guess, I hope for my sanity, that it wasn't planned like this and that a problem of local schedule forced the organiser to swap the two stages round...
Strange behaviour from Decathlon. They had a hard time finishing the Tour of the Basque Country, but on this first stage, despite Riccitello🇺🇸's early withdrawal, they rode quite a lot all day to control the breakaway. And then... nothing (everyone let the breakaway win).
Seixas🇫🇷 was alone in his group after Vauquelin (🇫🇷 Ineos) attacked with 1 or 2 extra outsiders. His teammate in Vauquelin🇫🇷's group didn't drop to wait for his leader's group, and there was no one else around.
It looks pretty much like a demonstration of weakness by the team (not by Seixas🇫🇷 himself, but his team, bar Bisiaux🇫🇷). And they provoked it themselves, by being overconfident.
Jegat (🇫🇷 Total) was dropped early in the last climb, and arrived 12 minutes after the front groups: he doesn't seem to give a damn. Either he plans to go a breakaway, or he has signed a big contract elsewhere.
Sivakov (🇫🇷 UAE): same shit.
First WT victory for Baudin🇫🇷. EF doesn't shine this year (so far), but nonetheless that's their 4^th^ WT stage victory, and they also have several honest GC performances on one-week races. Let's say that they are discreet.
favourites: the UAE duo Almeida🇵🇹/Del Toro🇲🇽
I wasn't inspired much 🤣: Almeida🇵🇹 finished after 24 minutes today...
And I forgot to list Ayuso (🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek) among the favourites, complementing his teammate Skjelmose🇩🇰. The Spaniard was the one who finally gave an impulse to the Seixas🇫🇷 group to reduce the gap with the Vauquelin🇫🇷 group, today.
On jettera un œil sur Jegat (🇫🇷 Total) pour voir s’il s’améliore au fil des jours après une mauvaise rentrée dans le Mercantour mercredi.
Bon, ben ça c'est réglé dès la 1^e^ étape : non seulement il n'est pas bon du tout, mais vu qu'il prend 12 minutes en quelques kilomètres, ça veut probablement dire qu'il s'en fout et que donc il a dû signer une contrat dans une grosse équipe.
Le cyclisme s'étant footballisé à vitesse grand V, il y a désormais un paquet coureurs qui finissent de courir au tiers de la saison une fois leur prochain contrat juteux signé ou pré-signé, et font le reste en tongs.
Yeah, I read the original article, a few derivatives of it, and Gaudu's interview before NC. They guy gives the feeling that he is adopting the stance of a few football players: I've signed a contract, and as long as I show up on time and do my hours, they can't fire me.
He gets paid over a million € a year (over 100.000 € a month), and it will go on until the end of 2027... It is just crazy that the idiots in charge, who offered again this contract last year, didn't propose him a contract with a large variable part, so that he could get again this type of income if he performed, and would cost them much less if he couldn't or wouldn't.
Several years ago, when Pinot was still around, I got insulted by all FDJ fans when I said I could see Gaudu 'pinotising' really fast, i.e. would get more and more unreliable / unavailable. It was a double capital offence, as I was at the same time telling that the old darling Pinot was unreliable, and that the new darling was going the same way, and faster.
I mean, the signs were all there: problems in early spring because it was too cold, problem in late spring because there was too much pollen, problem in summer because it was too hot, and when he wasn't ill he was crashing all by himself. In between, he was only showing up on races 'for testing himself',meaning he wouldn't try to win anything, but just try to follow the other leaders and get dropped as late as possible, to assess his level before another race (where he would again get unwell or fail in other ways). Like with Pinot, you know that this type of rider will always have a problem, even when they are close to the goal and the road looks clear: it becomes a running joke (like Pinot since the Vuelta 2016).
And he was big-headed and big-mouthed, with a gang of gamers followers because he was spending a lot of time on Twitch (or whatever it is called, something like a youtuber anyway), and there were already signs all this didn't go well with every other rider.
French riders were already getting overpaid before the inflation of riders' income (possibly because the teams don't want to miss the next French to win er... any 2.WT), and it kept going.
I we get back to Pinot and Bardet, Pinot was getting paid over 2 millions € a year, even in the last years when he basically couldn't ride. I don't know how much Bardet made, but I assume it wasn't too far. After all, Pierre Rolland was making close to 1 million € already several years earlier, when he left Europcar for Cannondale, and he wasn't hyped as a French GC rider like the other two were (and it was 10 years ago, i.e. just before the salary madness pushed by the arrival of the UAE team).
I have already said it, but I will repeat it because it is important to get the facts straight: this pair of riders was vastly over-hyped. They almost never rode as domestiques, they always were leaders and they basically never rode with another leader; and yet their honours list is abysmal compared to what they earned. The only stage race they won is Trentin (Alps), only once each. Each also won only 2 one-day races in more than 12 years as professional WT riders... Even in his last year, where he rode much better and eagerly than previously, desperate to win anything, Pinot didn't manage to score a single victory: even on tiny races, there was at least one rider to beat him. Jerseys on Grand Tours? Phshaw! Only Bardet wore one, gifted by a young teammate, for a single day, and lost it on the 2^nd^ stage of his last Tour of France. Pinot never wore Yellow, Red or Pink for a minute in 12 years.
So, having this as a reference point, The Gaudu case is even worse. Not only he never won a 2.Pro like the two others did, but he never won any stage race, not even the crappiest 2.1! Did he make it up with one-day races? No, his results are abysmal there too: he only won 2 very French races: Boucles de l'Ardèche before another Frenchman, and Tour du Jura before two Frenchmen (1.1). At least Pinot won the Lombardia once (I wouldn't count Milan-Turin as on that day Gaudu was used to bring Pinot's contender, M.-A. Lopez, to the ground 🤣). Did Gaudu bring a Mountain jersey home? No, it was never worthy of him (same attitude problem at Pinot's, who only grabbed the Mountain jersey because he didn't manage to get anything else and got a little bit lucky with that jersey). He wore the Red jersey for 1 day only, last year when he got position within the peloton to take it from Vingegaard who was in the same time and didn't want it so much.
So, in 10 years (!) as a professional rider, the only things he can show are basically stage victories on stage races... And yet he gets paid something between 1 and 1.5 million €... and renewed at the same price!
As last year, because of the heat, the organisers shortened the distance by removing... the first, thus the coolest lap.
It went as expected: FDJ controlled every group, and Grégoire easily dropped all other guys in the steep 1 km climb just 2-3 km from the line. In the absence of other favourites, all possible outsiders who weren't affected by heat produced their efforts earlier, often at the strangest times (no earpiece ⇒ no brain), and the main 'fresh' contender remaining in the last lap was perhaps Delbove (Total, formerly St-Michel–Auber)...
First Conti riders are Mariault and Vezie(CIC): 9^th^ and 21^st^.
It was Gaudu's sole racing day in probably 2 months or more; he was dropped by the peloton and withdrew after only 60-70 km... 🙄
Et ils refont le même coup cette année... 🙄
Road Championship of France 🇫🇷 27–28/6/2026
I've watched the amateur races, and the circuit isn't very sexy. It is only 16 km long, and meanders through a countryside overpowered by the heat and by disorganised urban creep. Women will ride it only 6 more times, but men 14 times (supposedly): way more than enough to get sick about it...
In the pro men race on Sunday, there will be no less than 33 FDJ riders, and the whole Total team (28 riders), out of 140 part-takers! Favourite is Grégoire.
Meanwhile, there will only be 40 pro female riders all together on Saturday... (there were many more on the amateur female race). edit: only 36 female riders started, and 25 finished.
Small post in French: https://sh.itjust.works/post/62227196
Et cette année il y aura 33 coureurs FDJ au départ, soit 23,5% des 140 inscrits au total !
La seconde équipe en terme de présence sera Total, qui est une équipe Pro Team 100% française, et qui aligne tous les 28 coureurs qui la compose !
À côté de ça, samedi, la course pro féminine ne sera disputée que par 40 coureuses, toutes équipes confondues...
Stage 5, Sunday 21, the Villars/Ollon circuit
A few women suffered from the heat on a shorter version of this stage, in the morning already...
Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) waited for the last climb to attack. I thought he would have attacked in the last part of the previous one. In fact, it was a stupidly strong relay by a Decathlon domestique (Benoot🇧🇪?) who dropped his own leader Riccitello🇺🇸 and left only Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) and the Slovenian. So, Pogatchar🇸🇮 saw that gap and accelerated, the Ecuadorian followed a little bit but was dropped after only a few hundred metres.
At the front of the breakaway, L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain) was giving everything he had, shaking everything for 4 miles, with a faraway look. He had a 2 minutes gap in his favour, he climbed faster than any other rider from the peloton not named Pogatchar, and yet he was caught and dropped like he was nothing. He was really distressed after the finish.
Like yesterday Van der Poel was completely empty when he arrived and it took him ages to recover. Meanwhile the Slovenian, after the line, looks like he is looking for a partner to play a couple of sets on a tennis court, before heading for the nearest dance hall. It is a big change with the Tour of Romandie, where he was paying for his efforts, like a human being. Anyway, 3 stage victories for him, and it would have been 4 if his team didn't try to get Narvaz to win on stage #2.
Only 1 stage out of 5 (this stage #2), the Mountain and the Youth jerseys escaped UAE.
Stage 3
And sprinters failed 😃
Another victory for UAE, through Narvaez who probably had to make up for his failure on Stage 2. Congratulations to Meurisse🇧🇪 who stayed with him and made a 2^nd^ place, just one wheel before the enraged peloton sprinters.
Stage 4 ITT
Van der Poel (🇳🇱 Alpecin) gave everything he had in the hot weather, and was winning until the last second of the race. The last rider of the day, informed of the times, beat him by... 0.04 second! Another victory for UAE, with of course the Yellow jersey bearer, Pogatchar🇸🇮.
He didn't show up indeed.
The walls/hills on the first two stage were underused, so they both ended in sprints (while the two pure sprinters crashed and withdrew in the middle of the first stage...)
On the first stage, he did a crappy attack on the flat where he didn't gain 1 yard gap over the other riders; on the 2^nd^ he tried to go for a time bonus but failed at getting any.
Yet on the mountain stage, he did exactly as planned. Nothing happened in the first climb, but in the second the Visa train broke the peloton in many pieces, and then he made a clear attack, and that was it. Chaser maintained the gap for a while, but then his advantage grew. He also kept his advantage on the 20+ km of bumpy final circuit. The circuit didn't look like much on the profile, but it was actually pretty hard and interesting, never flat).
St-Michel Auber won the Mountain jersey! I name the team, because while Delacroix🇫🇷 did the little points at the beginning, then he was dropped and it was 3 teammates of him who where pulling the peloton in the Hourquette of Hancizan so that no one else would score big points there, and 2 of them passed first. They were also lucky that Piganzoli🇮🇹 didn't want the points, because he finishes just 2 points behind, while he had let the 2^nd^ St-Michel and one of his teammates pass the pass before him. Visma seem to let smaller guys win secondary stuff most of the time, unlike UAE.
Stage 2, Thursday 18, the Locarno loop
First, it was one of those 'between two stools' peloton chases we've witnessed this year. You're never sure whether they want to catch the breakaway or not.
Then, UAE wanted Narvaez🇪🇨 to win. They had McNulty🇺🇸 pull for the whole first of the two twin climbs. But after half of the climb, or even sooner, the American wasn't dropping anyone any more and he wasn't closing the gap with breakaway any more, he was too slow, yet they kept him in first position. In the second climb, Narvaez🇪🇨 tried to go as planned, but he couldn't. So Pogatchar🇸🇮 finally tried his luck, but despite the help of a surprisingly strong Vacek🇨🇿, it was too late, there wasn't enough of the short climb left, nor enough of the last flat section, and they died just a few seconds behind the breakaway.
In the breakaway, Grégoire (🇫🇷 FDJ) was dropped in each climb, each time there was a strong acceleration by another rider; yet he managed to come back each time, and then he was the fastest in the sprint, as expected if he came to the line with those other guys.
Grégoire🇫🇷 is not (yet?) as good as Alaphilippe🇫🇷 was (by the way, he was today in the breakaway too but was definitely dropped in the first climb), but he ressembles him in how they both can go and remain a long while in a pain zone beyond their normal capabilities, when crunch time comes. One difference is that Alaphilippe🇫🇷 was using this ability to sustain his attacks, while Grégoire🇫🇷 is a very passive rider and mostly uses it to stay in or come back into his group.
Also, Grégoire🇫🇷 got a fine and a yellow card for getting help from his car while he was in a feeding zone. So, we have here another explanation for his coming back(s)... 😮💨
Stage 1, Wednesday 17, the Sondrio loop
🤣, day #1 and Pogatchar🇸🇮 takes the time bonuses at Intermediate Sprints and attacks with more than 70 km to go...
Oh dear, it was a butchery. All the favourites I had picked in my presentation are gone 😆
Beside (and far behind) the Slovenian mutant, only Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) and Bagioli (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) produced rather impressive performances. The Italian would have closed the 1mn30 gap with the Ecuadorian who had gone away much earlier, if there hadn't been that last short but very steep climb which allowed Carapaz🇪🇨 to gain again 15-20 seconds, enough to finish 2^nd^.
Coming back to my wonderful expertise:
Only Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora) and Riccitello (🇺🇸 Decathlon) didn't do too bad, without doing particularly well either: in the second group at 4′30″ (the Slovenian a little bit behind, dropped in the finish). They can both aim for top-10 or even top-5.
Route d'Occitanie (formerly Route du Sud), 🇫🇷 2.1, 18–20/6/2026
So, this is another race that had to reduce its span, down to 3 days this year while it was 4 days.
Yet, the course seem well balanced, with the first two stages which may appeal to both punchers and sprinters (and breakawaymen for the first one), and the 3^rd^ stage which is a mountain stage in the Pyrenees but not too hard and with a bit of bumpy flat in the end, looking more open than your usual regular hard mountain stage.
The field is naturally weak, so Piganzoli (🇮🇹 Visma) looks like an obvious favourite after his 8^th^place on the Giro d'Italia, should the fate of the race be decided in the climbs of the last race, which doesn't completely look like a given.
Gaudu still appears on the startlist, but I heard he may not show up.
More details and pictures on my post in French
PCS page
Final stage
km 35: NOoooOOooOooooo...
You were supposed to be the new Hinault, not the new Pinot 😭 😭
Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) left no chances to the others, clinical. Lidl-Trek rode all day long, he just had to finish in the last climb after a short relay by Sivakov.
Van Gils (🇧🇪 Bora) came back from holidays, and stayed with Tuckwell🇦🇺 and helped him finish on the 2^nd^ step of the final podium!
Caja Rural confirmed its good performance, with Para🇪🇸 and Castellon🇪🇸 making it again in the top-15 of the stage, which allows them to score a 9^th^ and a 11^th^ place in the final GC.
The invisible man G. Martin (🇫🇷 FDJ) curiously manages to score a top-10 too. Not sure how, he never did better than 15^th^ on any stage 😄 In the same team, Braz🇫🇷 was in the breakaway one more time and quickly secured the Mountain jersey. Quite an achievement in theory, except that I would have liked that someone contested the points at least once this week... Anyway, he made it an objective and he got it, that's so much better than what FDJ accustomed us to do along the years, always neglecting secondary objectives to (not) catch the big one.
Yet another failure for Vauquelin (🇫🇷 Ineos). He and his team were very active today, but in the end he finishes far and drops to 15^th^ place in GC.
At Decathlon, Bisiaux🇫🇷 could not make up for Seixas🇫🇷's withdrawal and secure an honest GC ranking. He was in the breakaway but was dropped twice, and then couldn't stay in the peloton either. He finished behind domestiques who stopped riding when the last climb started. Close to top-10 this morning, he got kicked out of top-20... It is a terrible final assessment for Decathlon's week: by putting all their eggs in the same basket, they lost everything, as I feared before the week-end started. They were nowhere on stages (bar a 3^rd^ place on the 1^st^ stage by Bisiaux), they are nowhere in secondary classifications, and they are nowhere in final GC... In UCI terms, that less than 100 points in 8 days, for a team which aimed at final victory...
Tuckwell🇦🇺, beaten on GC, couldn't get the Youth classification either, for all 3 members of the present GC podium are eligible to Youth classification... I hope it could finish to demonstrate how pointless the U23 category has become, and that it is time for UCI to reform it, as well as for race organisers to suppress the Youth jersey and replace it with amore interesting secondary classification.
Stage 7 (Saturday)
And here we bloody go! 😡
Seixas🇫🇷 crashed and it took him several minutes to restart...
It may be up to Bisiaux🇫🇷 to save the boat. The same whom they didn't put in the breakaway yesterday... in spite of the fact that he was in good position thanks to the breakaway of the first Sunday. They only envisioned a domestique role for him, whereas they could have made him play the co-leader, or have him aim at secondary objectives.
It turned out that Decathlon, as a team, handled the situation pretty well: despite a gap of 4 minutes with the peloton, they never panicked, got 2-3 riders to pull Seixas🇫🇷 on the flat sections, while keeping Bisiaux🇫🇷 in the peloton, where he could pull Seixas in the last climb(s) – and could still have played his own chance, should Seixas give up on the pursuit or withdraw.
Naturally he was unwell and lost time again in the terribly hard end, but neither his team nor himself panicked. They could have ridden too fast for him and cook him for the final part, or he could have relayed and blown his teammates up and then be alone, as we often see it happen in such situations (in the Roglitch years, Visma was famous for that).
Caja Rural managed to place 2 guys in the top-10 of the stage (they came together with Tuckwell (🇦🇺 Bora) who was completely abandoned by is team but managed to keep his Yellow jersey), and they weren't even in a breakaway. That was better than Bisiaux🇫🇷, Jasch🇩🇪, Tullett🇬🇧, Martin🇫🇷, Vauquelin🇫🇷 and so on. Let's see if they can survive again on the last stage, Sunday.
Stage 6 (Friday 12)
183 km, 2900 m D+
Decathlon has been behaving very strangely again. They let a group of 60 riders break away, chased them a bit but not quite. It is odd, sometimes they behave like they were the boss of the peloton with the obvious favourite in the team, sometimes they are very weak, sometimes they are very (over-?) confident in putting all their eggs in the same basket (Seixas crushing the last 2 stages).
In the huge breakaway group, there were several serial breakawaymen: Jegat🇫🇷, R. Garcia🇪🇸 & Castrillo🇪🇸, Q. Simmons🇺🇸, Braz🇫🇷... There were also a couple of GC outsiders: Tuckwell🇦🇺, G. Martin🇫🇷. That group had lots of domestique workforce at disposal and it was put to use: the peloton teams couldn't reduce the gaps even when then were really trying.
In the end, the Bora boys dominated the group, Van Gils🇧🇪 took the stage victory before Jonhannessen (🇳🇴 Uno-X) and Tuckwell🇦🇺 the Yellow jersey. Van Gils🇧🇪 was so confident to outsprint the Norwegain rider that 1 km from the goal, he was already getting ready for the photo.
Braz (🇫🇷 FDJ) took all the mountain points of the day except the ones at the finish. He also tried to drag G. Martin🇫🇷 but then was allowed to ride for himself and finished with the little group at 30 seconds behind the winners, while Martin finished at 1′20″ – that is, 20″ behind the rouleur Armirail🇫🇷...
That's one funny podium we have tonight: *Tuckwell🇦🇺**, Armirail🇫🇷, G. Martin🇫🇷.
In the peloton, only Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) could follow Seixas (🇫🇷 Decathlon). Jorgenson (🇺🇸 Visma) held a good while but then dropped; however, Seixas🇫🇷 couldn't enlarge the gap, and Jorgenson🇺🇸 lost only 13 seconds. The two Lidl-Trek leader lost a bit more, but no so much either.
The real downfalls happened at Ineos, with Vauquelin🇫🇷 dropping early in the last climb and losing 1′30″, while his (co-)leader **Onley🇬🇧**crashed in the previous downhill and crossed the line second to last, out of GC and probably of the race. Same fate for Buitrago (🇨🇴 Bahrain).
Coming back to Decathlon's attitude, Del Toro🇲🇽 didn't lose an inch to Seixas🇫🇷. If it goes the same way in the real mountain this week-end, Decathlon may come back home empty-handed, as they scorned the first 6 stages (!) and all secondary classifications (there are still a ton of Mountain points to grab, though, but considering that they never ride at the front...)
And there are now 3 minutes to catch to get even with Tuckwell🇦🇺. Normally, it shouldn't be much of a problem, but still, that's a climber there.
Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma) chickened out and left the race after his stage victory 🙄
Stages 4 & 5
These 2 stages were similar in shape, and in the way they happened, except for the fate of the breakaway. Contrarily to the first 2 stages, the peloton truly wanted to win.
Yesterday, we had again Jegat🇫🇷 and R. Garcia🇪🇸 but this time they both had a teammate with them. They were 12 for a long time, then 11 after Watson🇬🇧 hit the ground, then 10; and all of them were pulling, pulling, pulling, generally in 2 columns, with very short relays. It was a big, long fight with the peloton, as they never had a big gap. Even Q. Simmons🇺🇸's attack didn't disorganise the group, as only the NSN rider scolded him a bit but the 2 Total behind restarted relaying immediately: the attack even increased the gap a bit. And there was Castrillo🇪🇸's acceleration, I am not sure if it was originally an attack or not, but anyway the guy then pulled everyone until the sprint, despite the fact that he was pushing the pedals with his ears and everything he could. In the sprint itself, I successively thought that at least 5 riders were about to win 😃 but Q. Simmons🇺🇸 managed to stay ahead despite starting rather early.
It has become really difficult to chase breakaways, even without leaving them any substantial gap, when there is a bit of tail wind, and the peloton riders are not so much better than the breakaway men.
Today, the breakaway was smaller, and the peloton more careful, so the outcome was much more classical. Cofidis worked a lot again, but the final result isn't much better: 11^th^ yesterday, 9^th^ today (Coquard🇫🇷).
I see on PCS that 3 riders didn't start today : 2 Movistar (Cepeda🇪🇨 and Romeo🇪🇸) and Mohoritch (🇸🇮 Barhrain). They were not favourites, but those are still known faces.
Only 4 riders left at Movistar.
Perhaps they made a big mistake, for per UCI regulations, the TTT could not be positioned after stage 3 anyway. Did they forget about that in the fist place?
I did, I did. Sorry that I didn't post about the victory of the big Dane 😃
I think one main factor explaining the finish is that the stage was 234 km (+ 11 km of neutral start) long, with some rain on top of that. And there was no real flat in the last 140 km: there were the official climbs, but most of the rest of the terrain was hills, more or less smooth. This probably explains how R. Garcia (🇪🇸 Movistar) couldn't accelerate more in the last 30 km: half-cooked, half-numbed, he could just pace (at a pretty good pace), not accelerate.
The little Braz (🇫🇷 FDJ) knew he didn't stand a chance if he arrived with anyone else, so he attacked/followed every attack in every climb (also he wanted the Mountain jersey). Therefore he killed himself. I mean, the guy has the build of a middle-school girl... In theory, he shouldn't be made for this kind of stage, but climbs don't hurt him and, as long as he can stay in someone's wheel, he is 100% sheltered on the flat (and doesn't shelter others much). Now on the flat again, when it comes to stay ahead alone, or to catch someone up, that's much more difficult for him.
Jegat (🇫🇷 Total) is no good at the moment.
Sur la deuxième étape, il a tout de même utilisé son retard pour partir en échappée, dans l'échappée qui se jouerait la gagne. Donc il y a une volonté de faire quelque chose, c'est bien. Mais même là, son niveau est insuffisant : ne pouvant suivre les meilleurs dans les montées ni faire de différence par rapport aux «moyens», il termine à 2 minutes du vainqueur et 1mn20 du groupe suivant.
That's clever, isn't it? 😃
Something even more clever was brought to my attention.
Le Puy en Velay is both a stage finish and a stage start. That's how things naturally were, and they should always be, shouldn't they? There is zero transfer and it is cheaper as far as the infrastructure costs go.
They arrived in Le Puy en Velay yesterday.
And naturally they depart from there today...No, scratch that: they drive 150 km away to do the TTT! And after the TTT they drive 150 km back to be in Le Puy en Velay for the following stage tomorrow (which will bring them in direction of the place where the TTT is located to add insult to injury...)I guess, I hope for my sanity, that it wasn't planned like this and that a problem of local schedule forced the organiser to swap the two stages round...
Stage 1 (Sunday 7)
Strange behaviour from Decathlon. They had a hard time finishing the Tour of the Basque Country, but on this first stage, despite Riccitello🇺🇸's early withdrawal, they rode quite a lot all day to control the breakaway. And then... nothing (everyone let the breakaway win).
Seixas🇫🇷 was alone in his group after Vauquelin (🇫🇷 Ineos) attacked with 1 or 2 extra outsiders. His teammate in Vauquelin🇫🇷's group didn't drop to wait for his leader's group, and there was no one else around.
It looks pretty much like a demonstration of weakness by the team (not by Seixas🇫🇷 himself, but his team, bar Bisiaux🇫🇷). And they provoked it themselves, by being overconfident.
Jegat (🇫🇷 Total) was dropped early in the last climb, and arrived 12 minutes after the front groups: he doesn't seem to give a damn. Either he plans to go a breakaway, or he has signed a big contract elsewhere.
Sivakov (🇫🇷 UAE): same shit.
First WT victory for Baudin🇫🇷. EF doesn't shine this year (so far), but nonetheless that's their 4^th^ WT stage victory, and they also have several honest GC performances on one-week races. Let's say that they are discreet.
I wasn't inspired much 🤣: Almeida🇵🇹 finished after 24 minutes today...
And I forgot to list Ayuso (🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek) among the favourites, complementing his teammate Skjelmose🇩🇰. The Spaniard was the one who finally gave an impulse to the Seixas🇫🇷 group to reduce the gap with the Vauquelin🇫🇷 group, today.
Bon, ben ça c'est réglé dès la 1^e^ étape : non seulement il n'est pas bon du tout, mais vu qu'il prend 12 minutes en quelques kilomètres, ça veut probablement dire qu'il s'en fout et que donc il a dû signer une contrat dans une grosse équipe.
Le cyclisme s'étant footballisé à vitesse grand V, il y a désormais un paquet coureurs qui finissent de courir au tiers de la saison une fois leur prochain contrat juteux signé ou pré-signé, et font le reste en tongs.