Oh my goodness, but it has been a week of racing. And that means it was quite a week swimming in the Twitterstream. We have the fascination which was the Ronde, the Giro that finally caught fire and a lot of fun in the gruppetto. Jump in!
The Binary Stars
For a lot of cycling fans, Sunday morning was like Christmas. It was time for the Ronde.
The day started with the three favourites at the start line. And it was the three favourites – Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Julian Alaphilippe – who took the race by the scruff of the neck with 40km to go.
The eyes on the prize. Do you think he could have imagined how the race would pan out?
Alaphilippe did as Alaphilippe does and set off on a blistering attack that broke the peloton stalemate and brought out the strongest – MvdP and WvA. Then came a moment of distraction and the World Champion was on the ground, writhing in pain.
Which left the two riders who have been circling one another for years and years and years. The binary stars of the peloton.
Lots of speculation as to what the two were thinking – and possibly saying – to one another on the ride to the finish line, especially considering what happened last week at Gent Wevelgem.
I’m thinking WvA has a very dry sense of humour. 🙂
It was the final we all wanted and it was the tensest final kilometre we’ve witnessed in a very long time.
Some thought Wout didn’t congratulate the victor, but he certainly did.
Oh, if only we had Adam on the microphone for all the races.
When they were pups
We’ll see these two together for quite some time. Let’s hope they keep the rivalry burning and we’ll have fantastic racing for years to come.
Giro action
Ineos have been scooping up Giro stages this week. Filippo Ganna picked up his third stage win on Saturday. By the way, the rider who was the first to take two stages in an ITT as world champion was … Fabian Cancellara. Not bad company to be in!
Some fancy smoke
One of my favourite tweets of the Giro. 🙂
Jhonatan Narvaez won last Thursday’s cold and rainy stage.
Break out the VeloVoices Emergency Fluffy Towels and Heat Lamps!
Then it was Tao Geoghegan Hart‘s turn, making it a weekend double for Ineos. Well, he did say he wanted to be like Ganna.
While Tao was winning the stage, Joao Almeida was riding his guts out to stay in pink. And he did it!
Always happy to see Ladies Favourite™, Bernie Eisel
The mountains to come
Vuelta predictions
We have two Grand Tours at once this week. It’ll be busy in the VeloVoices newsroom. But what are the predictions?
The Gruppetto
Just lovely.
The mental image of this is always amusing.
Interesting transfer.
There was a Bedhead Bardet sighting this weekend. For a moment. Until we only saw the lead duo …
With Eurosport switching from RVV to Giro, it was cycling roulette on Sunday
But one thing remains the same. Belgian tractors in formation
‘I like sleeping and I like apples’ Words to live by