summary
THE THURSDAY THREE
- Montmartre or not Montmartre
- Jonathan Milan and Roadie Arrogance
- Pogačar in 2027
AND…WHAT’S ON MIKE’S MIND
- Wherefore EF?
MIKE’S RIDE OF THE WEEK
- Zwifting on the Zwift Ride
PEZ VIDEO OF THE WEEK
- Inside Cycling’s Most Famous Church
Topic #1: Montmartre or not Montmartre?
While the Tour de France route reveal technically takes place today, there’s a lot we already know, thanks to savvy marketing, dogged journalism (and an efficient rumor mill): The Tour launches in Great Britain, with three stages replete with punchy climbs and, we fear, biting Highland midges.
From there it’s on to Brittany and Normandy; the Alps, including a preview of the World Championships course (but not to Alpe d’Huez or Ventoux); the Pyrenees; possibly two time trials (an open door for Remco?); some novel features, many tried-and-true…but what about Montmartre on the final day?
Shifting Stage 21 from a sprint-assured Champs Elysées romp to a mini-classic stage, featuring the iconic climb in Paris’ 18th arrondissement, has been a welcome move to many cycling fans. Indeed, Stage 21 has been one of my favorite races of the year, bringing an element of suspense and fervor to what was previously 98% yawns, 2% cheers. Those fans!
But the Tour knows to leave its fans wanting more, and to keep its routes relatively fresh. There’s a reason we don’t see Alpe d’Huez every year — or la Planche des Belles Filles, or gravel or cobbled stages: for a 120-plus year-old event, the Tour de France manages most years to feel new.
Still, I’d love to see the final stages routed up Montmartre again. I feel for the sprinters, but that parcours has given us two of the best bike races of the last two years.
Topic #2: Jonathan Milan and Roadie Arrogance
We road racing fans know that ours is the real discipline.
We respect cyclocrossers and mountain bikers and gravel racers and even BMXers; anything on two wheels, right?
But the strongest riders are the roadies. We see it when Mathieu van der Poel flies to a minutes-long win in a mid-season ‘cross start; when Tom Pidcock, a mighty road racer but far from the strongest, wins mountain bike races again and again; and when Keegan Swenson, dominant in gravel racing, signs on with Team USA for Road Worlds in 2022, and finishes far from the front.
It’s a bit like European footballers, far from their career peaks, dominating in the MLS (or America’s most promising soccer stars struggling in the Premier League).
So when Jonathan Milan, hardly a track specialist, recently set a world record in the individual pursuit, we road-focused fans felt a particularly powerful shot of confidence. Milan is a masterful sprinter, but not necessarily the road world’s top fast-man; he spends most of his season training on the road for efforts that are quite different from a four-minute anaerobic blitz on the track — yet he rides to the fastest time ever in a decades-old event.
We roadies know where the real cyclists spend their time.
Topic #3: Pogačar in 2027
Tadej Pogačar recently shared his goals for 2027, and they were…unsurprising: Win the races he hasn’t won (Paris-Roubaix and the Vuelta), and win the biggest race of the year (the Tour).
Ho hum.
Though I’m not sure what I was expecting. Mountain Bike Worlds, perhaps?
It’s not like those will be his only races, of course. You get the idea that this injury-and-recovery phase has only reset Pogačar’s determination. You can bet that he’ll throw himself at every possible victory, maybe even more rabidly than in the past. (Remember “Bored Pogačar”?)
Our question — as fans — will be how strong a Pogačar we’ll see. Crashes can accelerate the path towards a career’s end: See Froome and Bernal, both of whom were at the top of their game when they went down, and both of whom have never seen anything like those levels again. Their crashes were more severe than Pogačar’s, yes, but even a minor tumble (which Pogačar’s was not) can take tolls both physical and mental.
I believe we’re all expecting to see a dominant Tadej once again, and that we’d put money on his winning the Tour, plus most races he lines up for. But we’ll all be watching for signs to the contrary too.
And…What’s on Mike’s Mind: Wherefore EF?
Dating myself: years ago I came upon a guy in a full Slipstream kit and a team-issue bike. He looked fit, but not WorldTour fit. Turns out he was a part owner of the team. He told me about their latest signing, a guy who would one day win the Tour: Dan Martin.
That didn’t come to pass, of course. In fact, it’s emblematic of what is now EF-Education’s arc: Many near-misses; so much promise, rarely realized.
No rider illustrates that better than Richard Carapaz, who was signed, famously (thanks to team CEO Jonathan Vaughters’ very public admission on Unchained) to a contract that nearly broke the team’s bank. “Richie,” as Vaughters calls him, rode to stellar results, but never cracked cycling’s uppermost echelon, nor the Giro-winning level he achieved before joining EF. And now he’s split — again, very publicly — for NSN Cycling Team, evidently because EF couldn’t meet his salary expectations.
I loved the EF vision — back then the Slipstream vision — developed in the wake of the Armstrong-era doping scandals; it felt like penance for Vaughters’ own transgressions, and felt like the right response to a dark period. The argyle; the colors; the moments of glory; the aggressive racing, always putting someone in the break; cycling would be worse if we hadn’t had this team for the last two decades.
And yet. For years it’s felt like a team clawing for a personality: Is it the Clean Team? The American Team? The colorful team? Its biggest star has typically been its CEO or social media star Lachlan Morton, he who rides not races but epic adventures, but not one of its actual racers — never a good sign. And every time it appears they might be on the verge of greatness, a rider leaves, or crashes, or fails to meet lofty expectations. (And now Morton too has moved on.)
I’ll continue to root for them, but in an era of superteams and European stalwarts, EF needs to find a sustainable niche. (Suggestion: drop the men’s team and double down on the women?)
Mike’s Ride of the Week: Zwifting on the Zwift Ride
We saw rain here in Northern California for the first time in months. Good timing: this week I’m reviewing the Zwift Ride (paired with the Wahoo Kickr Core 2).
Keep an eye out for the full review; for now I can tell you it was easy to set up and smooth to ride.
Not a particularly special ROTW — but it bodes well if we’re indeed in for a long, wet El Niño winter, because so far, I dig that Zwift Ride!
PEZ VIDEO: INSIDE CYCLING’S MOST FAMOUS CHURCH
No proper season end wrap up is complete without a look at the coolest sacred space in cycling – the Madonna del Ghisallo church atop the climb of the same name that features in the Giro di Lombardia. Pez takes us inside…
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The post The EUROTRASH Thursday Three: TDF Preview, Milan’s Record — & Pogačar’s ’27 Plans appeared first on PezCycling News.
