Pez Universe: Tired of fending off “friends” who insist that cycling is the dirtiest sport of them all? Read below for instructions on standing up to them…And then read further for Mike’s predictions for the upcoming, final week of this Tour de France. Then read further still for an update from the world of women’s cycling (TDFFAZ is just 11 days away!), plus news on everyone’s favorite rider who’s not at the Tour, Wout van Aert. Happy Monday!
TOP STORY
- Jonas’ Crash, Doping Controls — and How to Talk to your Non-Cycling Friends about Doping
RACE NEWS
- Tour de France Week 3 and Final Results: Mike’s Predictions
- Bäckstedt Books Overall Win at Baloise Ladies Tour
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
- Where’s Wout? Van Aert Training Hard During the Tour
- Tom Pidcock Docked Hard After Stage 15 Shenanigans
- This Monday’s EuroTrash HeroSash? *Eye Roll*
VIDEO
- Richard Pez Sez…Tadej Will Win by EIGHT Minutes
Jonas’ Crash, Doping Controls — and How to Talk to your Non-Cycling Friends about Doping
The theory appeared within an hour of Jonas Vingegaard’s tragic crash on Stage 15 of the Tour de France: a 2 a.m. doping control call at his hotel room had — partially, at least — led to the second-place General Classification rider’s crash.
(Note: This isn’t a conspiracy theory; we know the middle-of-the-night knock happened.)
We can never know if the call did make the crash more likely; even Vingegaard himself can’t discern causality, nor can rival Tadej Pogačar, who received his call at 5:00 a.m.
What we do know, however, is that WorldTour cyclists are subject to incredibly stringent testing measures — and what I know is that members of the non-cycling aficionado population (which is to say, the vast majority of the population) are entirely unaware of cycling’s anti-doping regime.
I learned of the wee-hours test and watched the ensuing (if not resulting) crash after several recent conversations with normie friends — buddies who don’t know a peloton from a puncheur…and who, if asked to name a professional cyclist, would surely first respond “Lance Armstrong.”
I told these friends about random controls: door-knocks well after dark, at home, or on vacation, or literally anywhere; the whereabouts of WorldTour cyclists, I told them, must be known at all times.
They were aghast. These cyclists stand for this? they asked me.
They have to, I told them; this is where the sport has found itself, after Festina, and Puerto, and Lance, and Floyd, and all the rest.
It’s worth considering, though: What if you told NFL players they must always be findable, and that they might be tested for steroids at any time, anywhere? Or that after winning a game, before celebrating, they must go behind a curtain and pee in a cup?
They wouldn’t stand for this.
None of this is to excuse our sport, or the athletes who perpetrated the crimes of what we hope is a past era. It’s not even to suggest that cycling is certainly clean today.
I do suggest, though, that when your non-cyclist friends roll their eyes about your beloved sport, and insist that it’s dirty, that you tell them about Jonas’ 2 a.m. wake-up call. About being tracked like a criminal on parole. About every victory celebration being ever so slightly delayed by a doping test — and every remarkable performance doubted.
Did the random test lead to Jonas’ Tour-ending crash? Is WorldTour cycling any cleaner today than it was a couple of decades ago?
I don’t know the answer to either question. But I do know that these riders — the subjects of our fandom, some of them even our heroes — put up with a lot.
Check out all of Pez’ Tour coverage, including…
- Vingegaard’s Crash and Evenepoel’s Win on Stage 15
- PEZ Bookshelf: The Yellow Jersey/Le Maillot Jaune
- Tour de Pez: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Tour
RACE NEWS
Tour de France Week 3 and Final Results: Mike’s Predictions
With Jonas Vingegaard sadly out of the Tour de France, predicting the podium just became even trickier. But that’s not stopping me from making a few bold prognostications! Here, then, is what I’m forecasting for the last six stages, as well as this Tour’s final results.
Stage 16 — Évian-les-Bains → Thonon-les-Bains — 26 km time trial (mostly flat/rolling) — Remco will build on the momentum of his (gifted) Stage 15 victory and steal it from Pogačar. Ganna third.
Stage 17 — Chambéry → Voiron — 175 km — Mostly flat — A late, shallow climb will disturb the pure sprinters, so no Merlier in the mix; Alpecin Premier Tech will finally get it right when van der Poel drags Jasper through the closing meters to his first win of this Tour.
Stage 18 — Voiron → Orcières-Merlette — 185 km — Mountains, summit finish — While Pogačar is the obvious pick here, I say he’ll be preoccupied with getting del Toro to the finish first — and that Seixas will sneak to victory as they strategize.
Stage 19 — Gap → Alpe d’Huez — 128 km — Mountains, summit finish — The ascent to Alpe d’Huez from the traditional 21 lacets side, however, will prove too tantalizing to Tadej; in fact, expect him to try to break Pantani’s record.
Stage 20 — Le Bourg-d’Oisans → Alpe d’Huez — 171 km — Mountains, summit finish — As the podium contenders watch each other, Richard Carapaz finally steals a stage.
Stage 21 — Thoiry → Paris (Champs-Élysées) — 130 km — Flat(ish) — With no Wout in the mix this year, I’m going with his age-old rival Mathieu van der Poel to finally put his stamp on this Tour (and to give van Aert a little dig from afar).
Podium — The current top three will hold, as Evenepoel puts a bit more time into del Toro in the time trial, and then barely holds him off for second position. 1. Pogačar 2. Evenepoel 3. del Toro.
Green — Mads Pedersen hangs on, even after losing to Philipsen on Stage 17.
Polka-Dot — Does this even matter anymore? Pogačar.
White — del Toro fends off Seixas while Ayuso falls further behind.
And finally, a prediction I sorely hope isn’t right: After considering the family-risk-to-career-reward comparison, Jonas Vingegaard retires from cycling sometime in the next few months.
Have any predictions of your own to share? Send them to Mike at mike@pezcyclingnews.com.
Bäckstedt Books Overall Win at Baloise Ladies Tour
Zoe Bäckstedt closed out the Baloise Ladies Tour in style, taking the overall title ahead of Nienke Veenhoven and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden, with the final stage into Mechelen going the way of Veenhoven.
The Belgian six-day stage race, a WorldTour fixture that’s become one of the more competitive weeks on the summer calendar, set the tone early. Bäckstedt won the prologue outright, edging Millie Couzens and Charlotte Kool, with no rival able to touch her time, not even Lotte Kopecky. That was enough to put her in the leader’s jersey from day one.
The bunch sprinters had their say on the flatter stages. Veenhoven took Stage 1 from Oostende to Knokke-Heist ahead of Kool and Zoe Bäckstedt, though Bäckstedt held the GC lead. Kool struck back on home roads in Stage 2, winning the Zulte–Zulte stage over Veenhoven and Maike van der Duin while taking over the overall lead.
The race swung decisively on the split stage in Maaseik. Bäckstedt won the morning time trial ahead of Felicity Wilson-Haffenden and Kopecky, retaking the yellow jersey, before Veenhoven claimed the afternoon leg over Gladys Verhulst-Wild and van der Duin, with Bäckstedt still in control on GC.
From there it was about defending. Bäckstedt’s TT power gave her enough cushion to see out the final stage without drama, sealing her first overall win at the race.
It’s a solid addition to an already deep palmarès for the young Brit, and a reminder that the Baloise Ladies Tour keeps punching above its weight as a proving ground: Lisa Klein still holds the record for most overall wins with two, while Lorena Wiebes remains the race’s all-time stage-win leader with 11.
General Classification Top Ten — Baloise Ladies Tour, courtesy of Pro Cycling Stats
TEAM, RIDER AND CYCLING NEWS
Where’s Wout? Van Aert Training Hard During the Tour
For the first time in eight years, Wout van Aert is not participating in the Tour de France , but the Belgian is now back in full preparation for his next major goals of 2026. The Paris-Roubaix champion is currently staying in Livigno, Italy, and training on the area “roads.”
One such ride drew ample attention online, as van Aert pounded his way up a positively gnarly gravel climb — more of a goat path than a road, really.
These weeks in Livigno constitute an altitude training camp, where Van Aert is gearing up for his next race: the Vuelta a España. The final Grand Tour of the season begins on August 22 with a time trial in Monaco.
Van Aert plans to hunt for stage victories, but for the 31-year-old classics specialist, the three-week race is also ideal preparation for the World Cycling Championships in Montreal, Canada.
The Montreal course may prove too vert-heavy for van Aert; Tadej Pogačar will arrive as the favorite, as usual. But as a member of a talent-laden Belgian team, perhaps Wout will be back in with a shot.
Tom Pidcock Docked Hard After Stage 15 Shenanigans
Tom Pidcock’s stage 15 got expensive. The Pinarello-Q36.5 rider and two-time Olympic mountain bike champ found himself back in the day’s breakaway on Sunday, missing out on the stage win again but banking valuable points in the mountains classification (or so it seemed).
According to the jury report, Pidcock was hit with four separate penalties for a violation of Article 4.3: pushing off against a car for a sneaky bit of assistance. Because he did it twice, every penalty on the sheet counts double.
The math isn’t pretty. He loses eight mountain points — the exact same haul he’d banked for coming through second over the Col de la Croisette (category 1) that afternoon. In other words, Sunday’s climbing effort was wiped out entirely. On top of that, he’s been fined 200 Swiss francs twice (400 total), hit with two ten-second penalties in the GC (twenty seconds combined), and stripped of fifteen UCI points on two separate occasions (thirty points gone).
Net result: Pidcock slips one spot in the mountains classification, though he holds onto ninth overall on GC, still comfortably ahead of tenth-placed Jordan Jegat by more than eight minutes.
This Monday’s EuroTrash HeroSash? *Eye Roll*
Awarding anything to Tadej Pogačar at this point seems a bit absurd. But the way he rode after Vingegaard’s crash — defending his lead, sure, but also supporting his teammate del Toro, and then not attacking Evenepoel as he rolled to his first-ever Tour road stage win…pure class. For that, Tadej, Pez awards you this EuroTrash HeroSash — Rest Day Version.
VIDEO
A few days makes a big difference: Would Richard still insist that Pogačar will win this Tour by eight minutes?
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