The losers
Tadej Pogačar wins at the Mûr-de-Bretagne, regains the yellow jersey... and nearly loses Joao Almeida in a brutal crash
Strade Bianche, Col de la Loze, La Planche des Belles Filles. Modern classics, or how to turn something mythical and legendary out of an invention younger than Paul Seixas. Ah, lovely marketing.
Something similar happens with the Mûr-de-Bretagne, though it's fair to say it has a bit more tradition in cycling. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of it proves right all those who package stories and subplots, craft narratives and turn isolated facts into symbols: that victory by Mathieu van der Poel four years ago, in honour of his grandfather Poupou.
Raymond Poulidor passed away in 2019 and never got to see his grandson win for the first time at the Tour and wear the yellow jersey, a feat he couldn’t achieve. Today, four years later, he returned to the Mûr in yellow, although the efforts of the previous days ruled him out of contention early on and the leader jersey went back to its previous owner, Tadej Pogačar, who claimed his 19th Tour stage win.
I’ve thought a lot about Poulidor during the stage. I came to my parents’ house for lunch today after a while and it has been the first stage I’ve watched with my dad in a decade. Or even more. He has always talked to me about Poulidor as a nearly man, a loser, and I think that’s the image most people have of him… until you look at his palmarès.
He won La Vuelta, Sanremo, Paris–Nice, the Dauphiné, La Flèche Wallonne, 11 Grand Tour stages, and stood on the podium 10 times, among other many things. He was runner-up at the Tour on three occasions… to Gimondi, Anquetil and Merckx. I can think of better ways to define a ‘loser’.