It was the weekend of the World Championships. Although many at VeloVoices Towers believed that there shouldn’t have been a Worlds this year, as the defending champions hardly had any time to race in the rainbow jersey, the UCI took no notice of our protest. We were rewarded, however, with two great road race champions!
Stage 12, the longest of this year’s Tour de France, provided Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) with an(other) opportunity to launch a stunning solo attack, hold off a formidable chasing pack and finally land his much-vaunted debut professional win after only 19 months as a pro! Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) and Hirschi’s team-mate Soren Kragh Andersen from the chasers rounded out the podium. There was no change in the GC, or indeed in any of the jerseys. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) remains in yellow.
It’s ironic that one of the fastest stages of this year’s 2020 Tour de France was also one that just kept building an almost slow-motion intensity on every kilometre of every climb, and all the way to the finish line. File under Heartbreak of the Solo Break, when Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) spent 90km out in front by himself, only to be reeled in 1.6km from the finish by a group that included Tadej Pogacar (UAE) and Jumbo-Visma’s Primoz Roglic. In the end, Hirschi once again lost the sprint (just like in stage 2 to Alaphilippe), with Pogacar winning and Roglic in second to take the yellow jersey from a distanced Adam Yates.