Powering through

Hello again good people of the cycle-verse, how are you all? How are you finding this year’s Tour de France? With just a few stages remaining, the GC top 10 is mind-boggling, with a staggering 20 MINUTES between 1st and 10th place, and yet, somehow the race retains a sense of mystery for me. Though the winner looks all but set in stone, it’s heartening to see the fight in Jonas Vingegaard and the Visma team, and it’s also anybody’s guess what’s going to happen on each stage, which feels different to recent Grand Tours that have involved Tadej Pogačar. It was widely expected that he would go for glory on yesterday’s Mont Ventoux stage and yet, what unfolded was something altogether unexpected, with a thrilling breakaway battle unfolding up the road, while Vingegaard neutralised his rival further back. It was a humdinger, to say the least.

We have two huge mountain stages ahead, a hilly breakaway stage on Saturday and a new twist on the Paris stage on Sunday still to look forward to, so despite Pogi’s dominance, there remains a sense of tension, that will hopefully keep you all glued to your seats to the end.

By then, we’ll be two stages deep into the Tour de France Femmes - this full weekend of crossover is a bit of a headache from a media perspective, with all the previews and early stage reporting for the Femmes clashing directly with the final stages of the men’s race, but in for a penny, in for a pound - I’m covering both races with all of the outlets I’m involved with, and it’s going to feel like a whole new start as we pitch headlong into a new race, as the Femmes begin their race in Brittany on Saturday. BRING IT ON!

THINGS WHAT I WROTE

I’ve been rounding up key takeaways from most of the stages of the Tour for Domestique. Here are a couple of links - firstly, my week 2 round-up, in which I consider Pogacar’s level, the brutality of the Tour, and the teams still desperate for success in week 3:

Moving into week 3, here’s m round-up of all the action on a memorable stage 16 - my personal favourite stage of the Tour so far. Stay tuned for more of these during the rest of the Tour and the Femmes afterwards.

I also updated my Substack with a long post considering the fates of the French at their home race - poured lots of love into this one, so I hope you enjoy it.

ON THE POD

Sanny and I have been recording on rest day, so since the last newsletter there have been two episodes - catch up if you have time, and listen out for our post-race wrap and Tour de France Femmes update next week!

THE WILD ONES PRO SHOW

The show has continued every day - thanks so much to anyone who has tuned in, I really hope you’re enjoying it. It’s a lot of fun to make and the best part is, we get to carry on after the men’s race is finished, covering the Tour de France Femmes - let’s gooooo!

A couple here for you to dive into - our most recent episode, below, and the second is my personal favourite episode as it features our ‘settle a debate’ segment, some hard-hitting questions posed to the riders of the Tour - skip to 17:30 if you’d like to see the vital info I gathered, including Luke 'Turbo Durbo' Durbridge's karaoke speciality, whether Arnaud de Lie eats pizza with his hands or a knife and fork, who Toms Skujiņš thinks has the tools to survive a zombie apocalypse, and what Fred Wright's hidden talent is - along with an excellent demonstration of it 🤩

OH HAPPY DAY!

Celebrating the lighter side of the sport…

Of course, the excellent content keeps on coming, much of it is actually relevant to the race! First up, just two French guys out on a ride!

letourdefrance

3M followers

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How do cyclists react when you call them by their Sunday names? EF found out…

efprocycling

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Finally - want to know what it’s like to ride up Ventoux in front of a Tour de France crowd? Wonder no more…

sbssportau

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FINAL THOUGHT - Teamwork makes the dream work

I’m not going to write hundreds of words about this subject today, as I’m up against it timewise - but I can’t go without sharing this video. You might have already seen this, if you were watching yesterday’s Ventoux stage, or you might have switched off by then, or simply not noticed.

I saw this at the time but was up against it finalising show scripts and trying to process the amazing stage I’d just seen. Later, seeing it from this angle, brought it home just how special wins are in pro cycling - to the rider that wins, as well as to their team and teammates.

Van Wilder’s wild last-minute appearance in the final kilometre gave Paret-Peintre the impetus to ride for victory and the way he makes a beeline for his domestique, not initially to celebrate but to thank him for his efforts, just struck me right in the heart. This is the stuff. What it’s all about. And however you feel about Soudal-QuickStep’s hyper-masculine ‘Wolfpack’ image, there is something to be said for them as a unit - they have won four stages out of 17, despite some major setbacks. And this selfless teamwork and the subsequent outpouring of emotion made this already special stage even more impactful, for me.

THE LAST WORD

Thank you for reading this truncated version of the newsletter - once again, I will be back in a fuller format once the Tour madness is over, but I hope you’ve enjoyed this whirlwind Tour de content. You can buy me a coffee if you’re feeling generous, but thanks a million for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoy the rest of Le Tour, and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift that follows.

Cheers,

Katy