Review: Le Tour De France Stages 6-9

Welcome to this special edition episode of the Get Fast podcast, which is a special Tour de France podcast episode. We're chatting everything regarding the Tour de France because we just love the race so much, we can't get enough of it. And we've done one episode already reviewing the first five stages. And this episode is going to review stages six through to nine while we have the rest night tonight before attacking the second week of the Tour de France. And I can't get over how action packed and drama filled this tour has been so far. There is something major happening every single stage, which you would expect nothing less from such an epic race. But me personally, I feel a little bit drained in emotion from the roller coaster I felt on the last few days. And I want to talk about that as we review each individual, each individual stage. But for me, yeah, just a roller coaster of emotions that I want to explore. Watching the winners, watching some incredible results and watching some really disappointing things happen. So let's get into it. Just as a reminder, our normal podcast episodes will be released on Tuesdays, our weekly Get Fast podcast episode. But if you are Tour de France and cycling fans like us, hopefully you enjoy this episode as well. So we'll go Back to Stage 6 Thursday, a relatively flat stage. And I am very proud to say that I said it wouldn't, wouldn't be the only one that cav one. And I know that's an easy prediction, but like we said, for the fact that he's in the Tour at all and winning one stage was incredible. But you could see his confidence, you could see his form. I just said he'll win at least three and bang, he got his second one straight away. Wow.

Look, I thought the action in the first five. Is it five stages or six stages?

Five stages.

Five stages. I thought that was pretty epic and it'd be hard to match. Cause it was like it started blazing guns firing everywhere, people attacking and you know, van der Poels and Van Aerts and Ella Philippes and we had everything and Cavendish winning and. And then we get the next four stages. Is that right? We're up to. They were even more exciting. I don't think I've ever witnessed the Tour de France like it. Yet the GC seems like it's all over. Yeah, but this, the race is still exciting and, and sometimes when the GC looks like it's all over, the other jerseys become so important and, and take the race on a different path, different journey. And the sprint jersey's been really interesting and so has the Kom Polka dot jersey.

Yeah, there is talk, I've seen a lot of people saying that, you know, the polka dot and sprint jersey are becoming more exciting than the yellow jersey, in which there is some merit to that. But I mean, if you, if we go straight to stage seven, that was basically a one day classic inside the Tour de France, which was one of the most incredible stages of the Tour de France in a long time. It was a little bit of an anti climactic finish, but that doesn't matter. The state itself was epic.

We'll talk about that. But the potential that stage had and it was all, all the way up to the last 20k and then it, it unfortunately dissipated. But let's just talk about Cav's second win. Just, just a, you know, Ram home that you predicted that he was going to win again. And most people thought, oh, he's lucky he got one win in, but to do it again, he's riding such confidence. And from a coaching point of view, when you feel like you're invincible, you are invincible. And sometimes people just need to believe. And winning is a culture, winning is a habit. And when you're out of it, it feels like you're never going to win again. Like is what he experienced. And then once you win, the floodgates open, you're riding high, literally, to use a pun. But he can do no wrong now. And the next day he was in the break in the 5,000 kilometer stage day that they threw in there, which is 250 ks. But just it was great to see him win. And look, he backed it up, you know, and I think he was still more humble again and appreciative, just, you know, and he just couldn't be happier. He's on top of the world, isn't he?

And look, it might have, like I said, it might have been an easy prediction to say, oh, Caleb, Ewan's gone. Cavendish is starting to look in form, it's an easy one to win, but he didn't win it easily. And one of my favorite parts of this stage was you don't see this very often, but it was a really long last. Straight into the finish line. It was 1.2 K or something. And it ended up being quick. Step on one side of the road with the train and Phoenix on the other side of the road with the train and they had the yellow jersey, Matthew van der Poel pulling for their sprinter and it was train versus train. And normally the train's going so fast and it's such a hectic finish that whoever's on the front is controlling it. But to see two teams team time trialing against each other, one on the left, one on the right. And Phoenix got quick step. They were two good, good. And the smarts of Cavendish to see that and in an instant jump across was really awesome. And he actually apologized to his teammate after the stage and said, I'm sorry I jumped off you, but I had to jump on them. And that's how he won the stage.

And that's what racing is, isn't it? Making decision B, C, D, E. You know, you can't have plan A and stick with it if you, that's what a good racer is. If you see an opportunity, you have that split second to decide and it's gone, the opportunity's gone. Or you react. And that's what the difference between a Cavendish and an also run guy, you know, he's won 31 stages, he doesn't win 31 stages. And Caleb's on the, Caleb's got that same intuitive reaction and I know, you know, in my crappy little masters crit races, you know, there's an opportunity and it's gone. And you look back and go, I should have gone then. But you count 1000, 2000 and the window shut and really great lesson. And it happens, it happens in the elite level and it happens in club level.

Yeah, it was great to see. He was just as emotional. He just, he was lost for words again. And he's still saying, can't believe it's. This is happening. It's. It's like a fairy tale unfolding before his eyes. He was so thankful for his teammates again, thankful for the wonderful Julian, Ella, Philippe for pulling. He said, look at the world champion just pulling into the last kilometer. For me, you know, he's the world champion is pulling for me and I really love that.

Yeah, there's. There's so many good stories associated that with that look. Kelly, Cal Barry, the Italian sprint champion.

Sonny Colbert, Cole Brelli.

Yeah, he's got the best sprint at the moment yet he's not winning anything. It's been interesting watching him and he actually rode superbly last night in the mountain stage and he was way too quick for Matthews in the intermediate sprint, which we'll get to, but. Yeah, but you know, for Cav to beat him, he's sprinting better than anybody. He's just not getting the luck and it can go that way. You can be the best rider on the day, but still not win.

Yeah.

So I think there's, you know, just because there's people better than you in a race doesn't mean you're not going to beat them.

You've always said that about cycling. It's a facet of cycling that you love, is that the best rider doesn't always win, whereas in a running race it's the most talented runner is going to win. But with the amount of tactics in cycling, it does make it so exciting. It's why we love the sport.

And he's, Look, Cavendish has proved that again, he's still a damn good sprinter, but his race smarts are ahead of everything. Whoever's got the best race smarts, the best move, the best. Thinking quickly on your feet as a sprinter is one of the key facets that you need. I always say, what are the three things that get someone to win a race? And it's first of all, positioning. Second of all, it's timing. And thirdly, it's your effort. You can try as hard as you like. If you haven't got the first two, you're nowhere. You can have an effort from 10th to 5th, but if your position starts at 5th and you end up, you know, with the right position, then the time of your sprint and then the effort, you win.

Yeah, yeah, I do want to ask you about that, those three factors with regards to Michael Matthews, but we'll get to him in a second. So moving on to the classic stage, stage seven, which was 249km. And to prove how much of an epic stage this was, Phil Gilbert. Phil Gilbert, our favorite Belgian man, shared his data from the stage and he actually shared his training peaks file and his tss, which is his total stress score. So if you're familiar with training peaks, when you do a really hard session, you might get a TSS of anywhere from what, 80 to 120. If you do an epic day, it could be around 180, 200. If you do a above categorized, above epic day. You know, maybe it's a, it's a one day long race or something or endurance event. It might be in the 200s or 300s if you're doing 150k, 180k. His TSS for the day was 450, which he said is the same as when he does Tour of Flanders or Paris Roubaix. And he's done that in the middle of a Grand Tour, which just shows how hard that stage was.

Two things that affect your training stress score. We don't turn it into a coaching podcast here, but, but the distance, which is time and the intensity and so if you've got a long race and it's got intensity, your training stress score will go through the roof. You can ride for a long time with no intensity and still have a reasonably good training stress score. But the minute you throw intensity in, that's what Flanders has, that's what Roubaix has. That's what that stage had. It was epic. Every time they came around another corner, there was another climb and I was getting tired. I was thinking, oh, boy, how hard is this course? And so good to see Mohoric stay away and win. I just loved that. That was one of the best victories. I know nothing about the guy. I know now he's an under 19 world champion, under 23 world champion. Had high expectations as a, as a writer. But you know, what's, what's something message I can give to the listeners about that. Well, doesn't matter how good you are as a junior, you still have to do your time as a senior. And you know, Poguchar has come straight out of the blocks and is winning everything. And Van der Poel was the same. You know, I remember reading about his grand dad saying, you know, it's okay to do this and attack everybody under 19s, but when you get to the under 23s, you won't be able to do that. And when you get to the Open, you won't be able to do that. And he's still doing the same thing. So there are exceptions to that. But the majority of people like my Horic, who had great talent, you don't win those races if you aren't talented. It's taken a long time to get to this point. Ironically, the two stages that he's won in Dran Tours were over 240k long endurance stages where he rode solo. And that's an example of what courses suit different people. And he has realized that. And he said, this is the stage I lined up from three months ago because this suited me. Just like the Giro stage that he won last year where he rode solo away and he had a horrific crash.

Earlier in the Giro.

Yeah, yeah. So you never know what's going to happen next, as I always say. But I just loved the way he won. But the battle behind it was epic.

Yeah.

There was so much happening and. And UAE were under the pump.

Well, let's talk about the first 50K. It was, it was manic. It was just off from the start.

40 in the break, was it? Yeah.

And just the amount of attacks going and yeah. MVP and his Vanart, his Twin brother. His twin brother. You know, as everyone keeps saying, separated at birth. Would not let him out of his sights. And they both end up in the break. The yellow jersey ends up in the break, which was just hilarious.

Nibbly. Yeah.

Yeah. The caliber of the break was just extreme. And then it just. From there, it unfolded into another epic 150k following that with. By the time they were getting to those last categorized climbs in the final 50k, it was just mayhem. There was riders everywhere, people trying to attack, people getting dropped. It was crazy.

Carapaz attack, which was fantastic.

Yeah.

And getting caught.

That story. That's a story in itself. And I was so disappointed to watch Carapaz attack. I wasn't disappointed that. I was really pumped at that. He was going for it. But to watch him do all that effort and then get to the line and get 0 seconds.

And that can happen. It can, but gutsy, really. And that's an example of. It doesn't always work, but you never know if you don't have a go. And that's. That's the motto you have to have in these races. It's interesting to see Movistar complain to Kiatowski at the end of the event because the INEOS guys were interfering with. With chasing. And. And look, I was really. I was really disappointed that UAE weren't put under the hammer more because that was perfect. Having 40 guys up the road. They'd lost control of the race. Poga Chow was under pressure. That's what the whole peloton should have been doing. And then Movistar come and take over to get a guy who's coming nowhere near the lead to hold his position as.

And supposedly it's. They did it purely out of a grudge because they've still got a grudge against Carapaz for leaving movie stars. A little bit of drama behind that. And if that is the only reason, it sucks. It's just silly. And they've kind of handed a little bit of a gift there to UAE who could. Who didn't have to work in that last. How long it was 20k or 40k.

But Pogachar had the easiest ride of the day. And no wonder he came out, you know, in the mountains and rode away, because everybody else had an epic day. Who. Everybody was on their knees and. And he sat in the wheel all day. He didn't do one hard bit of riding. He had his teammates riding for him. He had a dream ride.

Yeah.

I'd like to see his TSS score. I bet you it wouldn't be 480, 450. Like 50.

Like she'll be. Yeah, exactly. Right. And then, yeah, my thoughts on my horror, which. Exactly what you said. I didn't. I didn't really know anything about him because you don't know every rider. And we watch a lot of cycling, but the beauty of races like the Tour de France is these crazy stories come out, these really inspiring stories. And just the fact that, yeah, he was such a promising young athlete then, he hasn't really done anything for seven whole years and he's had to have that patience and belief in himself. And, you know, he wasn't on many people's radar coming into this stage, but to hear him say was however long in advance. It was a couple of months out, he picked this stage and he backed himself to say, I will win this stage of the Tour de France. That's just so inspiring. And I, again, absolutely just love seeing the emotion of him in the last K. He was sobbing riding that last kilometer. As soon as you realized he'd. He's really going to win this, you could just see the emotion all over his face. For him, for the team, that's what it's all about. And that's why it's such a great story. And you love seeing that and you love hearing about it.

It means so much. You can see how much it means to them. And, you know, when something doesn't come easily and you have trials and tribulations along the journey, boy, you really get to really enjoy the moment. And we've been talking about that quite a bit. Enjoying the moment and not. Not just accepting. Yeah, you know, Cavendish went, you know, stage number 21, 22, 23. You know, just stop for a minute and savor how good and look, you know, expectation he's had on his shoulders from a. A young rider would have been huge, and the pressure of that. But he's hung tough. And eventually, if you persist, your consistency and your dedication will get you the reward that you deserve. And it might take seven years. And we had a lot of people come to our coaching business and expect to be improved in three months. And that's something that, unless you're an exceptional talent, that's just not going to happen because there's so much to learn. Your body has to actually get fit before you can actually start to improve. And be amazed how people think they are fit, but when they come to the course, they struggle a bit. But this is something that it doesn't matter whether you're an elite rider. Or you're just a country bumpkin club rider. You just have to have realistic expectations on yourself and don't put pressure on yourself. You will eventually succeed if you stay with the journey. That's, that's the message I'm, I'm getting out of these, out of the time and time again, stage after stage is another story that, that just reinforces what we're saying here. And if you are in for the quick fix, you're in the wrong sport because it doesn't work like that. You have to do your work, you have to do your duty. You have to, you have to pay for your fear result almost. You know, there are exceptions, of course, to the rule and, you know, Pocket Charles proving that. But, but the majority of us, you know, we're mere mortals and, and we actually have to work for our successes. And I love seeing people who do that and risk everything and attack. Like he got away from that group of 40 who had, you know, world champions, bloody, you know, yellow jerseys, classics winners, and he attacked on a kom. And that's how easy it can happen. Gets a, gets a gap or stuff. This I'm going to. And I don't care about the rest of the field. 40 people should catch two. Yeah, that, that is a given. Yeah, they didn't.

Yeah.

You know, another example of no risk, no reward. Big risk, big reward.

Talk about paying for your efforts after such a ridiculous stage. They hit the mountains the next day and they started with a quote, unquote uncategorized climb, which we were, we were talking about before the stage. And then everyone, everyone was realizing pretty quickly that it was 5 kilometers uphill at 7%, which is just not an uncategorized clim.

In the wet.

Oh, and there was some tired, tired people out there. And then this is the flip side of the Tour de France. And I was really quite sad and pretty flat to see both Roglic and Garrett Thomas really struggle on this stage. Both had been struggling since their crash and they just really, finally, they showed it the day before. They were really struggling and they finally fully cracked today and finished with the Groupetto. Spent the day in the Groupetto and I said to you, how's the calibre of riding in the Groupetto on stage eight, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Roglich, two previous winners of the Tour de France and won second place in the Groupetto. That was just shocking.

It just shows you just. It's an unpredictable sport, isn't it? And you know, you can have shocking days you can, you know, but the other thing is, don't underestimate how much crushing takes out of you. You just think you can brush it off, but, you know, once you break skin, you know, the body's fighting bacteria and it's doing two jobs trying to, trying to keep riding and trying to stay healthy. Yeah, it's a. It takes its toll. And yeah, you know, everybody's crashed and knows what it's like, but yeah, you can't just jump back on your bike and ride the mountains like. Like you're unscathed.

Yeah, yeah. Disappointing. And. And like I said, a bit of a roller coaster of emotion. You know, it's really, really looking forward to the battle between Roglic and Polka Tower again. Plus the added bonus of having Thomas in there and Carapaz, because we didn't know if Thomas or Carapaz was going to be the number one INEOS rider. And then to have two of those riders just taken out is just so flattening and kind of takes away the special part of the yellow jersey race. And we're hoping that other riders can challenge, but it's becoming increasingly obvious, especially after this stage, that Poga Char is just in a level of his own.

Yep. And look, that, that's, that's what everybody. And all the experts, and they're right. You know, for Pogashar to lose, he'd have to do something catastrophic. Has to. But this is the Tour de France. It's 21 days. Be expecting something to happen, because it will. And you know, I don't care who you are, everybody's human. And you cannot have 21 perfect days. You will have a bad day. And that's the opportunity that other riders have to take because like a sprinter, it goes and comes just like that. And if you don't take it. And I can tell you yesterday's stage where Ben o' Connor got away and Pogajar was eight minutes behind him, that was purely because of the sprinters points. That's how that was created. The sprinters were trying to get the points to beat Cavendish. So the race broke up and all of a sudden they're eight minutes behind. And unfortunately Ineos started riding, which, you know, protected Carapaz. Otherwise Ben o' Connor was going to be in yellow and he only missed out by a minute in the end. But that's how the race can unfold without Pokachar actually having a bad day. It's just poor tactics.

Yep.

So, yes, he's head and shoulders above everybody, but tactically he can't cover every move. So we talked about this in the first podcast. The only way to beat him is for the peloton to gang up on him. And whether it's for king of the Mountain points or Sprint Jersey points, that was inadvertently what they were doing. But unfortunately they. People aren't really concentrating on beating Poga Char now. That's what's disappointing me. They should all not be giving up on that.

They're all racing for second.

They're all racing for Polka Dot, for sprint or for second, third, fourth, or sixth place. Sixth. That's a great result. But it's. It's not the podium, it's not first. And I would be disappointed if the DS wasn't trying to work out a way to gang up on Pogachar. And it sounds cruel, but. But you don't just give it to him.

Yeah.

Make him earn it.

I mean, that is all well and good, but he's looking just like a freak of nature at the moment. I mean, he.

But as you saw, like, he was the end of eight minutes behind. He's. He's still in. He was fit as a fiddle.

I wonder what would have happened if Ineos didn't. Didn't start calling the time back because he kind of let. Well, UAE put some work on the front and then Ineos tried to, you know, do some work as well, and then probably Chacha's right away from them. So I think he ended up back two minutes in front of Ben o', Connor. Not. He was looking like it was gonna be 30 seconds to one minute. And then by the end, he. His last 3K, he was absolutely burning. So I don't know if he always planned to do that, but, you know, it was such a little move, yet still got, you know, caught a minute and a half back in. In such a short amount of time. It just showed. And he just rode away from second to sixth place.

Yep. But I think UAE don't have a strong team. This is going to be one of the main points. If I was a DS of the other teams, I'd be ringing all the other DS's saying, you know, you attack with this person, then UAE have to chase, then we'll attack, then UAE have to chase and then someone else attacks. They can't follow every move and somehow somebody's going to get up the road. Yep. And. And they're the opportunities. You know, it's the Tour de France. You just don't give someone a Tour de France as a victory. That's that's my opinion.

Yep.

And that's what I would be concentrating on.

Yeah, definitely. That's a good point. And there is a lot of talk about Pogacha's talent at the moment. And as is always going to be the case with the sport of cycling and its history, people ask questions. And I ask the same questions because it dampens my own mood when I'm watching the race, if I. If I start thinking down that path. And it's not why you watch the sport. You know, you watch the sport for the excitement. And when something becomes a bit unbelievable, you start to get a little bit down and go, am I just watching something that is unbelievable again? And I've been reading a lot. I look at a lot of forums, cycling forums, and see what other people are saying, and it's much of the same talk, but you can choose to just enjoy it for what it is for the moment. And if it gets caught to be doing something else down the line, so be it. But for now, you know, you said to me off air that we could be. That could just be history, historical kind of things impacting your judgment, and you could be completely wrong. The sport could be completely fine now, and we could be way off track. But naturally, you just do question when someone is so far above everyone else. And, yeah, for me, that just puts a little bit of a dampener on it. And I really like Pogatro. I loved his excitement last year. I loved his battle of him versus Roglich. I just don't like him seeing him five minutes ahead of. Of the next best climbers.

Yeah, look, there's a whole lot in that, isn't there? And, you know, remember, this is just yours of my personal opinion, and we have no scientific information handed to us, so we're just making calls on what we see. But I want to believe. I always want to believe in every athlete that I see. And until it's proven different, I still believe that he's head and shoulders above everybody else. How's that possible? That's the bit that worries me. Like, when everybody else is quite even and someone's a standout, that's always a red flag to me. But until someone can point out that, you know, I still, you know, I loved and wanted to believe that Lance was the real deal. And. And to be honest, everybody else pretty much was doing the same cheating as he was, except he was better at cheating, but he was still the most talented bike rider in the race by a mile. And, you know, that that tells me that Gacha is a talented bike rider. There's no doubt in my mind when you see comparisons of wattage and times, you know, his time up there in the rain was faster than the Slick boys. You know, their history is, you know.

Yeah, we found that stat that the Schleck brothers and Contrador went up the Same climb in 2009 and poppy charters went up at faster and yeah, we know their history. Contrador was done for two years and there was. That was, yeah, bad error era of cycling.

I mean, the select boys were, you know, they had question marks over there, their performances as well. So, you know, does that mean that just by using that stat that he must be cheating? No, it doesn't exactly. It just means that, you know, they're just. That's bits of information and people could say you're throwing mud at it. But. But I want to believe. I want to make sure, you know, until I hear otherwise, you know, he's the best rider.

That's the thing. What you just said then was spot on. We have such a lack of information because we don't. We don't see anything. We don't see the power data because Pocket doesn't share it. And we are. Some athletes do share it. We don't know any of the inside information. We're just doing based on what we're showing on tv. So it is very hard to make an accurate judgment because there are plenty of arguments for Pogucha, to be honest. I mean, in terms of the bike records, bikes are way faster now than they were back then. The nature of the stage, you know, I can't remember that stage from 2009, but contradictories might have done it under a massive fatigue from it. It might have been week three of the Tour de France. I can't even remember. So you're not comparing apples with apples necessarily.

It's not a time trial, it's a race. So you could have periods of lulls where tactics are playing a role. So the time's quite. It's almost irrelevant to me. Yeah. You know, if you're going to beat them by five minutes, then that's something you should look at. But within a minute, wasn't it? So, you know, I just think the way the race is ridden, like you just said, you know, I think Pogachow was riding as a pretty much time trial, whereas the other guys are racing each other.

So might have been over. Under effort.

There's bits where they're sitting and attacking and sitting up and waiting and. Yeah, so can't Compare.

And the other major bonus for Poguchar is that he has had the easiest run so far out of all the, pretty much all the GC contenders. You know, he hasn't crashed once. He's, he hasn't been in trouble once. And so he's gotten to these mountain stages as fresh as possible. And if he's the best talent and he's as fresh as possible, then this could be the result.

He has not put his nose into the wind the whole race. And every other rider has done massive efforts. And just like in one session or one race where you burn too many matches, you're done. The 21 days is the same. You can't burn matches for seven days and expect the next 14 to be fine. So he is, he hasn't burned a match yet. So, yeah, he's looking really, really, you know, unbelievably. It'll be a catastrophe if he, if he loses. But as I said, many things can happen.

Yeah. And the rhetoric that, you know, how is someone five minutes clear of the other riders? The flip side of that coin is that I am always shocked that after, when you get to the end of the tour, it says, you know, whoever's in the yellow jersey, 72 hours, 17 minutes and 20 seconds. I'm always shocked that after 72 hours of riding, people can be within a minute of each other. Fifteen seconds, you know, with how much, you know, can go wrong in a session in or in a stage or in a three week race, it is crazy that they can be so close.

Separated by a minute.

Yeah.

So we're just so used to it being that close because of the tactics of the director of sport is do such a great job. But when you've got a standout athlete that, you know, Alan Piper's, you know, he's, he's renowned for being a winner. He, you know, go back to Garmin htc. Every team he's been involved with, they're just winners. And he was, you know, he's, you can't as I'm just so wrapped that an Australian coach is doing such a good job and he's so well respected and he knows what he's doing and it's no coincidence that he keeps producing, you know, unbelievable. He's not the coach but, you know, he's the team director, which has a lot to do with the tactics and he's a smart, smart operator. And don't forget Pocket Hour won last year. So it's not like, it's not like this is a shock, you Know, he's already done it last year, so. Yeah, yeah.

And moving on to best stage of the Tour for the Aussies. What an incredible ride last night from Ben o'. Connor. And we, we watched, we were so excited last year at the Giro. We actually talked about it on the podcast last year, when suddenly it ended up with a lot of favorites. We're out of the Giro. Just with everything that happened, covert crashes, a whole range of factors. And then suddenly there's these two young.

Kids, two alp stages. But don't forget, Rowan Dennis was in there four guys, two days in a row. Three of them were Aussies.

Yeah.

Jai, Ben and Rowan.

And so it was Joe Hindley, Ben o'. Connor. Yeah. Rowan Dennis and Tao Gagenheart battling it out in the Alps of Italy. And we were just so stoked going, look at these two young kids. They're really just proving their worth here. And everybody was saying, it's not the.

Tour, it's just the Giro.

Yeah.

And look now against Quintana and the other Colombian who was supposed to be the altitude. And Ben o' Connor measured his efforts. And that's something that's really. Everybody needs to know what happened there. Three climbs. Just give us some of those stats, Jordan.

Yeah, I didn't actually write down the exact data of all three climbs. All I know is, is that the last climb he averaged because he released his power data, which is awesome to see because you get to see every part of his race. And the last climb, he averaged 350 watts. But why that's so important? Firstly, he averaged 350 watts for 50 minutes on the last climb, which is just absurd. Wattage, he's only 67 kilos. He averaged 320 for the race, I think. So he's averaged 4.7 watts per kilo for the entire four hours, which is again just absurd. But the two climbs before that, the two major climbs, he averaged less than 350. So that shows that he gave it all on the last climb and he didn't go above himself on the first two climbs, which is just really smart riding, as you would say. If you're doing a stage with three massive mountains, you can't be doing. In his case, he couldn't be doing afford to do 370 or 380 watts on this first view and blow up. Although his best 20 minute critical power for the stage was 406 for 20 minutes. And that's 6.1, I think, Watts per kilo, which is remarkable riding in sections.

Yeah. And I think Jord, he's also protected himself up until this point and I'm sure he earmarked, you know, like he did in, in the Giro last year. These are the, you know, Von two in two days time. You know, he'll, he'll be the same because we got Von 2 twice. I'm sure there's more to come from Ben and he gets a day to recover. Like he's, he's gone way beyond where Roglic did. So don't forget how this affects you throughout the race, like what Ben did today or last night against what Pogacha did. You know, pocket so rested compared to what expenditure of energy Ben's just done. So. So that has effect down the track. It's just like training too hard early in the week and expecting to go well on Saturday, you know, it's just not going to happen.

Yeah. Again, we don't have Poga Char's data, but I'd love to see what he was pushing compared to his thresholds because that last UK maybe he did put himself into the red zone. He looked, I mean he was barely, he barely looked in trouble at all. So.

But that's okay for a 10 minute effort.

Yeah.

You know, try doing that. Ben was out there all day. You know, when you see Quintana fading like that, you just think, whoa, that's pretty special. The Colombians are supposed, they're supposed to be their bread and butter.

Yep.

And he's an epic Grand Tour winner and stage winner.

Unbelievable performance. And last year, because Dry Henley's from WA as well, and last year there was not one mention of Jai Hindley over in WA in the performance.

The fact that Sports pages.

Yeah, he came second in the Giro d', Italia, which shows cycling has a long way to go in this country. But I was happy to see that in today's covert press conference with the WA Premier, he gave a nod to Ben o', Connor, which is really good on national television when most people are watching these press conferences. So yeah, that was great to see. And yeah, just as an Aussie, you're just so proud to see an unbelievable performance like that.

The way he won it was like whether it he's Australian or not, it was just a sensational ride and he just kept showing his face at the front. The Colombians ganged up on him and he got back on and got rid of them. And the fact that he's born and bred in Australia, we are producing some really good road riders. And that was another example of some guy who's really taken an opportunity. And you know, what he did last year got him his contract with AG2R and look what he's done. He's won a stage for them once again.

The emotional side of the story is my favorite part. And yeah, that factor that he didn't have a contract for this year. He rode so well at the Giro. AG2 took a chance on him and to see their reactions in the car. There was inside behind the scenes footage and they're just banging the horns and jumping, screaming and they're so happy that they signed him and they hands out the door, give him fist bumps. It was just so awesome.

The beauty is Jordy only signed a one year contract.

Yeah.

So really he can ask whatever he likes.

Yeah, exactly.

What a position he's in now. So, yeah, hats off to him. Fantastic.

So rep for him and 36th Australian stage win of the Tour de France, which is unbelievable. But more specifically, this is really interesting for us, only the second mountaintop stage win by an Aussie. The other was Simon Garans back in 2008. But, you know, Cadell won some stages, but never a mountaintop.

I thought Phil Anderson won a mountaintop, but apparently not.

Yeah, no, he's second.

I'd like to see what the category of mountain top is.

Yeah, yeah.

Because I'm sure that, you know, there's, you know, there's a lot of races have got 3,000 meters, but they don't finish it on top of them.

Yeah, it was a descent or something. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. But I thought that was really quite a good little stat because, you know, Cadell had some epic mountain stages he might not have won. He might have got away from his GC contenders.

But believe in the, the year he won the Tour, he only won the time trial. What did he.

No, he also won that. That real short.

Oh, yeah, he did too. Stage five.

Yeah. Short effort hill.

Yeah.

Anyway, I really like that, seeing that stat. So that is a whole lot of information for the last few stages. We have a rest night tonight, which I think everyone needs. I need it for my own sleep. And then we've got, I can imagine a really epic few weeks coming up. I mean, this second week, they just, they do one flat stage and then bang it straight back to the mountains and they go up 1, 2, twice, which is pretty epic. And.

Yep. Look, I'm. I can't wait to see what happens next. And people saying, oh, tours over, you know, it's boring now. From now on. No way. I just think there's so much to unfold here. And, you know, you've got to believe that something can happen and. And Pocket Chow has to defend, and I. I worry that he keeps attacking, and that could be his undoing. He's got to be careful not to go. You know, all he has to do is defend his. His time, and he'll get to Paris. But you never know what's going to happen next. And that's the exciting part about a Grand Tour. And if it was, you know, eight stages or 12, you know, it's pretty much done and dusted.

Yeah.

But it's 21 stages, and that's the difference.

We've only done stage nine. I think two of your most common phrases, and they're my favorite phrases for a reason on this podcast, are consistency is king, and it's never over until it's over. And it just is so true here. So we'll see what happens. And I think one of the last coaching lessons that you taught, you spoke about over the last few nights and over the Tour de France as a whole is that, yeah, everyone really needs to have backup plans, don't they?

Yeah, and I couldn't. I just think this is the. This is exposed people who don't have a backup plan this Tour, because who would have thought the pocket chart would be so far in front? So everybody's gonna have to go, right? What's my. What's my plan B here? You know, how can I just. Like when you get dropped on a climb, what's my plan B? Am I gonna limit my losses and try and just lose a little bit of time, or should I try and stay with the guy until I blow up and lose 10 minutes? So this is. This is what people have to think about in this whole next 14. How many more days? 11 days, 12 days? Something like that is what's their plan B? And you have to have a plan C and plan D. And every time something else happens, you have to react. And those people who have got all the weaponry can react. Those who are one trick ponies, they're left floundering. You know, it's like when Covid hit. My saying was, adjust or get left behind. And this is the same as bike racing. Adapt or just an also ren. So the people who can think on their feet, just like sprinters. The example we use the sprinters, you got to have a black backup plan. You know, abandon your lead out man. Follow the other train. Take the victory. Your team's happy, you know, and the same thing here, you know, if. If Poga Cha seems like he's, he's going to do it easy, make him earn it, have a plan B, you know, don't give gift him anything.

So, yeah, that's a good way to finish. Some other points of interest that we won't go into, but some things that really popped up for us as stories of the Tour. Was Colbert coming third or fourth today? I can't remember what he finished off with, but it was ridiculous effort for a sprinter. And on the opposite spectrum, Mark Cavendish made the cutoff time by two minutes, just like Caleb Ewan last year got dragged up by his teammates. And he said in his interview, this is so funny. He said they were asking how he's feeling and he was just exhausted. He could barely speak. And he said, I was so excited to come back to the Tour, but I forgot how fucking hard these stages were. Because of course your memory just thinks of all the glorious times and he's going. He actually said, and I don't believe him. He's just saying this in his delirious state, that this means more than he stage win because he had his mates carry him through. And he was talking about the fact that when he was watching at home the last few years, he was getting jealous of the fact that all these riders are getting carried up by their teammates and he would have to suffer on his own. Previously, I don't think it really means more than a stage win to him, but it shows again, the emotion. He was so emotional, crossing the line and making the time cut off. And Greg van Avermaet made the time cut off by five seconds. Can you imagine riding the whole team to the finish and making buck fives?

And the crowd, if there was anybody left, yeah, he'd gone home because he's.

What?

How much time was it between first and last?

It's 25, 35.

And here's one guy sprinting. The guys will be going, what's he sprinting for? He's sprinting for his life.

Exactly.

But the point you're making is the emotion from high to low is in the space of two days, three days. So look, it's not all roses and it's the professional life. There's more bad days than there are good days. So for us as mere mortal amateur cyclists, our expectations sometimes are a little bit ahead of ourselves. So, you know, enjoy the thing for what it is, and if you have a great day, you know, congratulations, but, you know, you live to fight another day. And that's why we train and prepare, because we want to get more Good days. But just be prepared that there are days where you stuff it up, you muck up your tactics. You might be the fittest today, and you know you're the fittest and you come away with nothing and you just go, how did I stuff that up? Like that is just pathetic by me. And that's the nature of racing. And that's what gets you up in the morning when the alarm goes off and getting back into the training session to say that I'm going to be stronger again for next time. But don't underestimate the racing tactics that is the key to most people's success. Everybody can be fit, and the pros are all equally probably as fit as each other. It's the guy who's got the will to win and the guy who's got the best tactics.

And that lesson can be applied to Thomas Roglich, where it was kind of taken out of their hands. You know, Thomas did a post about it and he just said, you know, it's so disappointing that after months of preparation, months of sacrifice, months of hard work, it's just the opportunity is taken away and you walk away with nothing. And he's still. He's still two years in a row. Exactly. It's just pretty devastating. It leaves you a little bit flat. But like you're saying this, this lesson applies in all aspects of the race. You can control things.

I don't want to go on too much, but, you know, he will be back, Roglich. Mark my words, he will be a Tour de France winner eventually. And it's another example of he's got to hang in there. Persistence will pay off. And whether it takes him four more years, I guarantee he. He's not going to have sleep until he. Until he wins this Tour. So, yeah, look, and I. I really like the way Roglich goes about it. He never complains about how. How things have gone against him. He's just an ultimate professional, I reckon.

Sport can be so cruel, can't it? Well, like I said, as a fan, it's been an emotional roller coaster. I'm ready for a reset. I'm ready for a day off before getting hyped to watch week two again. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Get Fast podcast, a special Tour de France edition. Once again, our normal weekly episode will be released tomorrow, that is Tuesday, as well as some potentially more episodes of the Tour de France coming up over the next couple of weeks. Thank you very much for listening and we'll see you next time.