July 2023 – Page 2 – The Daily Peloton

Tour de France 2023 – Stage 5

Aussie Rules OK. Jai Hindley solos to stage win and yellow jersey.

Laruns, Wednesday, July 5^th –After Phil Anderson, Stuart O’Grady, Bradley McGee, Robbie McEwen, Simon Gerrans, Cadel Evans and Rohan Dennis, Jai Hindley (BORA – hansgrohe) became the eighth Australian in the yellow jersey as he soloed to victory in Laruns after making a smart move in a numerous breakaway from far out on his Tour de France debut! Jonas Vingegaard bettered arch-rival Tadej Pogačar in the first Pyrenean stage.

05/07/2023 – Tour de France 2023 – Etape 5 – Pau / Laruns (162,7 km) – Jai HINDLEY (BORA – HANSGROHE) – Maillot Jaune

Stage 5 of the Tour de France was a day of drama in the Pyrenees, as the race exploded on the first mountain test of the 2023 edition. The 178km stage from Pau to Laruns featured four categorized climbs, including the hors categorie Col de Soudet and the first category Col de Marie Blanque, before a fast descent to the finish.

The stage was won by Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), who attacked from a large breakaway group on the Col de Soudet and soloed to victory in Laruns, taking the yellow jersey from Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) in the process. Hindley, who finished second in the 2020 Giro d’Italia, showed his climbing prowess and endurance as he held off a chasing group of four riders, led by Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who sprinted to second place ahead of Victor Lafay (Cofidis) and Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula).

05/07/2023 – Tour de France 2023 – Stage 5 – Pau / Laruns (162,7 km) – Jai HINDLEY (BORA – HANSGROHE)

But the biggest story of the day was the battle between the main GC contenders on the Col de Marie Blanque, where Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) launched a devastating attack that dropped Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), the defending champion and pre-race favourite. Vingegaard, who won the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, showed no fear as he accelerated away from Pogačar and a select group of riders, including Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich).

Vingegaard quickly opened up a gap of over a minute on Pogačar, who seemed to struggle with the heat and the steep gradients of the climb. The Slovenian was isolated from his UAE Team Emirates teammates, who had lost contact earlier in the stage, and had no allies to help him chase down Vingegaard. He was eventually joined by Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), but they could not make any significant dent in Vingegaard’s advantage.

Vingegaard crossed the summit of the Col de Marie Blanque with 1:07 over Pogačar’s group and maintained his lead on the descent to Laruns, where he finished 1:09 behind Hindley and moved up to second place overall, 47 seconds behind the new leader. Pogačar crossed the line in 14th place, 2:16 behind Hindley, and dropped to third place overall, 1:41 behind Hindley and 54 seconds behind Vingegaard.

The stage reshuffled the GC standings, with Hindley leading Vingegaard by 47 seconds and Pogačar by 1:41. Simon Yates moved up to fourth place at 2:02, followed by Lafay at 2:08 and Van Aert at 2:12. Alaphilippe climbed to seventh place at 2:23, while Uran slipped to eighth at 2:25. Bernal remained in ninth place at 2:29, while Bardet rounded out the top ten at 2:32.

Stage 5 Results and GC

The Tour de France continues on Thursday with another mountain stage in the Pyrenees, featuring the legendary climbs of the Col du Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden. The stage could see more fireworks among the GC contenders, as Vingegaard will try to defend his position and Pogacar will try to bounce back from his setback.

Book Review: The Road Book 1989

A review of the Road Book 1989, a comprehensive record of the 1989 Professional Road Racing Season

The Road Book 1989 is the inaugural cycling almanack in the Blue Series celebrating one of the most exciting years in the sport, the year of the closest Tour de France finish and the year the Berlin Wall fell.

When the first Road Book was published covering the 2018 season it immediately identified a gap in the market few realised was there and brought a unique level of insight into the sport of professional road cycling. With it though came one point of frustration – why did no one do this years before?

Well, the creators of the Road Book listened and the Blue Series of Road Books was born, with the flag dropping on 1989. A year that reminded American audiences, again, that the biggest sporting event in the world wasn’t the Super Bowl or the World Series, but the Tour de France.

As with the ‘Red Series’ the book is chock full of statistics and essays by those in the thick of the action. All the big races are in there and with each a description of what happened that day both on and off the bike, the latter a reminder that while professional road cycling can seem like a bubble it happens in public life goes on around it. Here’s an example:

TOUR DE SUISSE
Stage 4
17 June 1989
Liestyal-Bad Zurzach

166.5kmThe city of Liestal is famous for its Chienbase traditional parade held annually on the Sunday night after Ash Wednesday. Often characterised as a pagan spring festival, it features the startlingly dangerous-looking sight of people processing through the cobbled streets of the old town clutching huge flaming torches of strips of pine.

p 196

Of course 1989 is the year that a certain American with a French surname, Greg Lemond, broke French hearts in the most painful way when he bested French ‘national treasure’ the late Laurent Fignon by a mere eight seconds, on the final day, in Paris. Three hammer blows that struck deep into the French psyche. It was the closest the French have come to winning their home race in the 33 years since. It was also the year of the Tour de Trump versus the Tour de Rump, not a typo – see page 121.

A gallery of photographs from some of the best photographers in cycling bring 1989 to life and remind us that this was the era not just of steel frames but before shell helmets and the ubiquitous presence of sunglasses, when the suffering and glory was there for all to see. Everything changes, but nothing changes.

Happy Reading!

More details on the Road Book Series can be found on the official website here: https://theroadbook.co.uk/

Tour de France 2023 – Stage 4

Stage 4: Dax to Nogaro, 181.8km

Philipsen Doubles up in Nogaro

Nogaro, Tuesday, July 4^th –Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took his second win of the 2023 Tour de France, and his fourth Tour de France sprint finish in a row, in a finale littered with crashes.

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) wins Stage 4 ahead of Caleb Ewen© A.S.O. / Charly Lopez

From the start in Dax —home town of the legendary sprinter André Darrigade, who won 22 Tour de France stages— to the finish on the Circuit Paul-Armagnac race track in Nogaro, everything pointed to a sprinter taking the spoils in stage 4, sandwiched between three gruelling stages in the Basque Country and the race’s first foray into the Pyrenees. The super-speedsters did not let this golden opportunity go to waste. Barrelling down the flat roads of the Landes and Gers departments, the sprinters’ teams kept a tight rein on a stage in which the breakaway took its sweet time to form.

The Norman duo of Benoît Cosnefroy and Anthony Delaplace took off with 86 kilometres to go and added some excitement to the race before getting reeled in about half an hour before the finish. The European champion, Fabio Jakobsen, was among those who hit the tarmac in the crash-marred finale, leaving Jasper Philipsen to surge to his fourth Tour de France bunch sprint win on a trot, one day after raising his arms in triumph in Bayonne and a year after coming out on top in Carcassonne and on the Champs-Élysées. It was a double whammy for the Belgian rider, who cemented his status as the king of sprints and wrested the green jersey from Victor Lafay, while Adam Yates stayed in yellow.

04/07/2023 - Tour de France 2023 - Etape 4 - Dax / Nogaro (181,8 km) - PHILIPSEN Jasper (ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK), EWAN Caleb (LOTTO DSTNY) © A.S.O./Pauline Ballet — 04/07/2023 – Tour de France 2023 – Etape 4 – Dax / Nogaro (181,8 km) – PHILIPSEN Jasper (ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK), EWAN Caleb (LOTTO DSTNY) © A.S.O./Pauline Ballet

04/07/2023 – Tour de France 2023 – Stage 4 – Dax / Nogaro (181,8 km) – PHILIPSEN Jasper (ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK) – Stage Winner © A.S.O./Charly Lopez

Stage 4 Results and GC

Tour de France 2023 – Stage 3

Stage 3: Amorebieta-Etxano to Bayonne, 193.5km

The Sprinters Rule as the Tour finally reaches France

Jasper Philipsen wins Stage 3. Photo *© A.S.O. / Pauline Ballet*

Bayonne, Monday, July 3^rd –Jasper Philipsen won stage 3 to Bayonne in a bunch sprint finish ahead of Phil Bauhaus and Caleb Ewan. It’s the third Tour de France stage victory and the 30th career win for the 25 year old Belgian as well as the fifth Tour de France win for Alpecin-Deceuninck. Adam Yates retained the overall lead.

How it happened

174 riders started the stage in Amorebieta-Etxano as the Le Tour prepared to bid farewell to the Spanish Basque country. With a bunch of KOM points up for grabs across a Cat 3 and 4 climbs it was no surprise to see King of the Mountains leader Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) the first in action. He was joined at the front right after flag off by Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic). Powless banked points across climbs at Trabakua (km 13.8) and Millol (37.8) to secure the polka dot jersey mathematically at least until the Tour reaches the Pyrénées on stage 5.

03/07/2023 – Tour de France 2023 – Etape 3 – Amorebieta-Etxano / Bayonne (187,4 km) – POWLESS Neilson (EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST), PICHON Laurent (TEAM ARKEA – SAMSIC)

After 30km of racing the time gap was 3’ with 37.2km were covered by the leading duo in the first hour of racing. Before the intermediate sprint at Deba (km 65.8), stage 2 winner Victor Lafay (Cofidis) jumoedaway from the peloton to score 15 points behind Pichon and Powless in order to defend his green jersey.

France, Nous Voici!

After taking maximum points over the last categorised climb at km 112, Powless sat up and left Pichon to ride solo and lead the race in France with an advantage of two minutes over the peloton and 60km remaining. It had been whittled down to 40’’ fifteen kilometres later as the teams of the sprinters entered in action, and after 156km in the lead, Pichon was reeled in with 37km remaining.

A high tempo by the sprinters’ and GC teams put a dampener on any attacks as they eyed up the predicted bunch sprint.

VAN DER POEL LEADS PHILIPSEN OUT

As the peloton rocketed through the streets of Bayonne Intermarché-Circus-Wanty dug deep to give Biniam Girmay to win his first Tour de France stage but in the final kilometre Alpecin-Deceuninck gave a masterclass in lead outs.

Mathieu kept it fast and furious with Jasper Philipsen glued to his back wheel. Van der Poel peeled off with 200m to go leaving Philipsen to claim his third Tour stage. Tour debutant Phil Bauhaus took second spot with Caleb Ewan rounded out the podium. Adam Yates retained the Maillot Jaune.

Stage 3 Results and GC

Tour de France 2023 – Stage 2

Stage 2: Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sébastián, 208.9km

Lafay holds off the peloton to win Stage 2

San Sebastian, Sunday, July 2^nd –Victor Lafay escaped from the group of the favourites one kilometre to end a fifteen year drought for Team Cofidis. The team’s last win at the Tour de Grance was w=in 2008 when Sylvain Chavanel outclassed Jérémy Roy in Montluçon.

Victor Lafay wins Stage 2 in San Sebastian `Photo © A.S.O. / Charly Lopez`

Lafay is the third French rider to win in in San Sebastian following on from Louis Caput in 1949 and Dominique Arnould in 1992. Third on the line, Tadej Pogacar gained four seconds of time bonus while Adam Yates retained the yellow jersey.

02/07/2023 – Tour de France 2023 – Etape 2 – Vitoria-Gasteiz / Saint-Sébastien (208,9 km) – LAFAY Victor (COFIDIS) – Vainqueur de l’étape

Stage 2 Results and GC

Full results available here

Tour de France 2023 – Stage 1

Stage 1: Bilbao-Bilbao. 182 km

Yates Twins go one-two in historic finish. Adam takes the top prize.

Adam Yates beats twin Simon to take Stage 1. Photo *© A.S.O. / Pauline Ballet*

Adam and Simon Yates, twins but rivals from different teams, took an historic one-two at the end of a dramatic opening stage of the 2023 Tour de France in the Basque city of Bilbao. The two paired up by happenstance about 7.5km from the finish and worked in sync before Adam proved the stronger in the closing two hundred metres distancing his twin without a backward glance to take the win and claim first wearing of the maillot jaune.

Stage 1 Results

Full results available here