Haute Savoyards to the Front!

While almost everyone out there was screaming for Ben Healy to triumph at the top of Mount Ventoux at the end of yet another breathtakingly exciting race, I was urging on tiny Valentin Paret-Peintre. Thing is, he’s from the Haute Savoie region of France, located at the southern border with Geneva and along its grand lake, extending farther south to include Chamonix and Annecy. Without doubt one of the most beautiful places in the world, a region that took me in when I was an amateur and guided me to the pros. So, as a heartfelt member of the Amicale des Coureurs des Savoie, I had to cheer on my fellow Savoyard, even if mine is only an honorary membership. I also had a celebratory phone call with my dear friend Jacques Michaud, the last rider from Haute Savoie to win a Tour stage, at Morzine in 1983, and who was a fine Director Sportif as well.  We talked racing.

Jacques was in a grand mood, both he and Paret-Peintre came out of Velo Club Annemasse, the famed developmental club that still organizes the 89-year-old Annemasse-Belgarde Elite race. He had thought the young Frenchman was going to win as “he’s a real specialist in Course de Côte (climbing races) and only weighs 50-kilos (110-lbs) which, like little Lenny Martinez (currently second in the KOM standing) can be a problem as their size makes it almost impossible for them to fight on a daily basis. Their bodies are just too little, they don’t possess the sort of robust strength that’s needed, so they have off days and must carefully select the stages where they can perform. The riders who can support the daily pressure are heavier, more in the region of 60 to 65-kilos like Pogačar – Healy outweighed Paret-Peintre by 15-kilos (33-lbs) it should be noted- and tend to have solid, muscular bodies.”

Jacques also feels that Vingegaard is getting stronger while Pogačar is now at his max level which he will try and maintain. “Pogačar can’t drop Vingegaard with ease as he could in the Pyrenees, the Dane is looking better and better, but it might be too late for him. Pogačar has no one else to worry about, no one is close on the GC, and all he needs to do is stay on the Dane’s wheel till Paris. I see him riding a defensive race until then.”

We talked about the Visma-Lease a Bike tactics and how they seem confusing to many of us. “Look, they are a top, very expensive team and a second place in the Tour is not enough for them. They must show that they are still in the fight, that they are still ‘patrons’ of the Tour. So, while they do everything correctly, putting satellite riders up front to wait for Vingegaard and controlling the peloton, Pogačar is simply, so far, too strong. Riding as they are will allow them to say that they fought hard to the end.” We finished up with me complementing my fellow Haute Savoyards, telling Jacques, “You don’t win often, but when you do it’s big. Morzine and Ventoux are two great trophies to bring back to the region.”

It was painful to watch Quinn Simmons throw away yet another stage on Monday’s race to Carcassonne. The American Champion seems to delight in eating as much wind as he can while riding in the peloton, showing everyone just how strong he is – compare that with Sneaky Simon Yates who, like a ninja, remains invisible until he strikes the fatal blow – closing gaps he doesn’t need to, accelerating off the front of the pacelines like a junior, gesticulating at the other riders to go harder, certainly to their extreme annoyance, and making every move except the right one. Then he tops it off by complaining about the winner, Tim Wellens, the Champion of Belgium, captain of the strongest team in the world, one that happens to be holding the Yellow Jersey.

Any fool could have seen that Wellens was going to win that race. He was stilling on the back of the break the entire day, was able to quickly cover all the moves, and, you know, dude is the Belgian Champion so knows every trick in the book and is a bona fide gangster bike racer. Simmons, instead of blaming motorcycle drafting for Wellen’s 40-kilometer solo victory, should have known that there was only one wheel to follow in that break, the one he missed. There will be payback for his comments, it will come one day when he least expects it. The other directors on Radio Tour call him Captain America, and I don’t believe it’s complementary.

It’s a shame because I really enjoy him as a racer, think his much-criticized look with all the hair and earrings is great, appealing to a younger crowd, and absolutely love his warrior spirit. It just must be tough for him, a wild child from the far West, home schooled and raised on wide-open outdoor adventure, to live and race in the constricted atmosphere of Europe. Not sure how well he’s adapting even after all this time. He needs a Quinn-whisperer, like what my old friend Alain De Roo used to do for Freddy Maertens, someone always by his side, guiding him. Imagine what a Matteo Trentin could do for him for example. But, would he listen?