7/27/2019 0 Comments TdF 2019 Part 3It's bullshit, of course it is, but realistically what could they do? The weather gave the organisers no choice but to call off the stage, and the need for a result of some sort meant rolling back to the last time zone, but no one was racing to that spot and the result, such as it is, could probably satisfy nobody but one man alone, the man who was handed the overall win on a plate. It was a stage of disappointment throughout. Pinot fans, including myself, were heartbroken (if not entirely surprised) when Pinot stepped off the bike and led sobbing to the car after a thigh injury meant one of the overall favourites was out before the stage really got going. Nibali attacked, as Nibali does, but no one believed it would amount to much, probably including lo squalo, and it was only a matter of time before he was brought to heel by the peleton. Thomas, learning from the advantages he'd given Bernal by allowing him to attack early in other stages while the Welshman was stuck babysitting Alaphilippe and unwilling to tow him back, thought he'd go himself and put some hurt into the legs of his rivals: it made sense as an attack, and it had the result he wanted when the Frenchman started to pedal squares, but when everyone else deserted the leader and started to chase the Ineos leader it started to look like a miscalculation. If Bernal had been sent up the road first he would have been a little more tired than the others, but would have been able to rest a little as he waited for Thomas to arrive, exactly as they'd planned on previous stages. But the cards were reversed and when the GC group arrived the Welshman was unable to stay with his young teammate and could do nothing but watch as he left, with Yates in tow. As they headed towards the top of Col de l'Iseran Bernal grabbed the bragging rights for hitting the highest summit first: if it was the Giro he'd have the Coppi prize, but it's the Tour and it meant nothing but a huge decent ahead of the final mountain of the stage. Two options were now on the table: with Geraint coming back Bernal could play the team game and wait for his leader, with the pair putting more time into Alaphilippe and the rest, or he could look out for himself, do a deal with Yates to take the stage while he put himself in yellow, and deal with the fall out in the team when he returned to the bus. But then the rain gods descended, causing chaos (and landslides), and the race had to be neutralised, with the result taken from the top of the world. Yates was unhappy, as he was conserving energy at that stage ahead of the final climb. Thomas was unhappy, as he too was conserving energy and waiting to comeback on Tignes for yellow. Alaphilippe was unhappy, because he thought he might have been able to comeback, despite all evidence to the contrary, and because his dream was over. Kruijswijk and Buchmann were unhappy, because they probably believed they'd be in with a shot on the final climb, as they've been there every other time, and maybe this would be the stage where they could attack. Pinot was unhappy, because he was back in the bus when his rivals were wondering if they could bunny hop a landslide. Nibali and Aru and Martin and Porte were unhappy, because their inability to do anything of note in this Tour meant their careers were heading downhill. Only Bernal was happy, because he'd just been handed the yellow jersey on a plate. He smiled his tiny, shy smile as they put the jersey on him, and later wept with happiness when he realised what had happened. There was one stage left to survive, the only rider who could possibly take the jersey from him is his teammate and therefore will be unable to attack, and from nowhere the little Colombian was joining the pantheon of legends.
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