The Comeback Kid
Thursday’s Stage 18 was only going to be a boring sprint stage, right? The day to catch up on the chores that had gone wanting since…May 30th. Maybe tune in for the last 20-kilometers to see the sprint. But curiosity wins over, on goes the TV for “a quick look’, and, well, there’s Kasper Asgreen; must watch Kasper a bit if only to marvel at his style on the bike, draped over his machine the way he is, legs just hanging off the saddle and moving like a metronome. Then there’s Victor Campenaerts, the Belgian former Hour Record holder, someone with his own special brand of weirdness, an aerodynamics obsessive - he even tapes the team radio wire to his neck, so it doesn’t flap in the wind - who goes very fast and very hard. Ok, watch a bit to see what they’re going to do. They are three, along with Norwegian rider, Jonas Abrahamsen - a big strong boy - and suddenly one realizes that they are going extremely hard, impressively so.
It's about 70-k to go, the trio only seem to have a minute, so it must be doomed, the chores are calling… but suddenly the Green Jersey goes all Mafia Boss in the peloton, slamming Campenaert’s Lotto Dstny teammate, Pascal Eenkhoorn, into the barriers as the Dutchman was trying to jump up to the break. Shades of Lance and Filippo Simeoni. Philipsen has always been given the benefit of the doubt on his ‘sharp’ sprinting style by the UCI Jury of Commissaires, but with that punk move, and he’s lucky they didn’t do something to him on the spot, he’s going to be squarely in their sights for any sprinting going forward. I was disappointed in him.
Undeterred, Eenkhoorn escapes again in to try and bridge up to the trio, who are still hovering at less than a minute, to become another motor in their breakaway machine. He gets stuck in no-man’s-land in between the peloton and the break. Campanaerts get a radio message, looks around, starts to coast, and waits for his teammate to help him get up to the breakaway. Asgreen’s having nothing to do with this and ploughs ahead, a man on a mission. The Lotto Dstny duo must really fight, but they do make it back up to Asgreen and Abrahamsen so they become four. Without a hitch, they all slot in and start working together like a championship rowing team.
Then began one of the best, most exciting races ever. They had no time at all, less than a minute, but behind, the big teams seemed disjointed, many of their troops in states of exhaustion or injury, and that diabolic imp, Julian Alaphilippe, was causing all sorts of confusion behind, infiltrating the chases, slowing them down, giving his teammate Asgreen a second here, a second there. With 5-km to go the quartet have only 12-seconds, yet they won’t back off, they clearly believe, the pain and effort on their faces making for dramatic television. The field is closing, they are almost on them, but Campenaerts puts in one last, highspeed power effort for his teammate, just enough to pull out that one crucial second, and Asgreen sprints to the win just as they’re run over by the peloton. It was astounding, heart revving, amazingly dramatic cycling. If you ever wonder why I defend the racers tooth and nail, yesterday’s stage is your answer. That had everything, courage, belief against all odds, drama, all you could ever want in a sporting event.
For Asgreen, the former Tour of Flanders winner fallen on hard times due to injury - he had a terrible crash last year - and subject to the public humiliations that team boss Patrick Lefevere seems to enjoy meting out to his riders, this was a much needed and perfectly deserved comeback. It was needed for his team as well, the Wolfpack seeming lost in this Tour. The great lessons of sport: never, ever give up. Like my chores, I’ve not really given up, Monday the 24th and all will be done, promise.