Stage 5 to Pau was a bit dull, til the last few K, when unfortunately people started falling over.
One man put in a brave solo effort to liven things up though, with Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) going it alone from very early on, spending 144km off the front by himself before the sprint teams reeled him in with about 14km to go.
Every shot of him, just about, showed him dumping water over his head in an attempt to cool down. I remember racing in Asia, Thailand in particular, in 42 degrees heat, and trying this, and I never felt that this helped much – in fact, seemed to be the opposite, as it creates a constant craving for it. The ice stuffed in Auntie’s tights worked much better.
Back up at the front, with Japser Philipsen missing VDP after he got caught in a crash with 5km to go, wily Olav Kooij took advantage and timed it perfectly for Decathlon CMA CGM’s first Tour win, zipping through late to beat Max Kanter and Tim Merlier.
The GC is unchanged. Torstein Træen holds yellow by 28″ over Sean Quinn, with Mathias Vacek third at 3’50”. Pogačar and Vingegaard rolled in safely in the same group as Træen — who did have a fall but was uninjured.
The Pyrenees arrive today, with the fearsome Tourmalet putting the riders to the test. Træen was asked if he thinks he will still be in Yellow after today’s stage have replied: ‘We do not know. Tadej is Tadej and Jonas is Jonas. They are riding really, really fast!’
The Tourmalet summit comes with more than 30km still to go, and a final long climb to Gavarnie – the main GC riders should stay relatively close together but, the Tourmalet is the kind of tough climb where someone may decide to launch a long-range solo attack.
Highlight of the day? The interview at the start of one of the Johannessen twins (both ride for Uno). TNT’s rather wooden Scandinavian interviewer asked ‘How do we tell you and your brother apart?’
The answer was quite funny: ‘Appendicitis. I had my appendix taken out and he has not, so, that’s how to tell us apart.’
Humour, from a pro cyclist, you ask? And it was deadpanned. No reaction from Woody.
The next bit was also funny, about team leader Traeen’s overnight Instagram explosion:
Ciao for now!
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