But, as they say, the show must go on and after a herculean effort by organisers to keep riders and spectators alike safe, the TDF 2020 has just finished and what a finish! Certainly one of the more memorable in recent history.
And a rarity in 2020, we can say that it was not just covid-19 making the headlines.
From the moment the riders set off on the latest Grand Depart in Le Tour’s 107 year history, it was the action on the roads that took centre stage.
The drama began on the heavily rain affected stage 1. The atrocious weather combined with the slick surface took a heavy toll and saw numerous riders get all too acquainted with the tarmac including Sam Bennett and Julian Alaphilippe. To be honest as a cycling fan it was a little hard to watch. Thankfully a rider led neutralization of the stage from the last descent of the Côte de Rimiez until 25km to go restored a little order. And once racing resumed Alexander Kristoff took the Tour’s first yellow jersey with a perfectly timed sprint finish.
The action commulated on the penultimate stage 20, the 36.2km individual time trial that so shaped the final result. Rogic entered the stage on Saturday with a 57 second lead over compatriot Tadej Pogacar. A pretty comfortable cushion for a time trialist of his quality who was showing no sign of weakness coming out of his impressive performances in the Alps.
The deficit just seemed too large to overcome but by 14.5 km and the first intermediate Pogacar had taken 13 seconds out of Roglic’s lead. By the second checkpoint and with just under 6km to the finish, Roglic’s lead was down to 21 seconds and the race was on. As the riders battled up the Planche des Belles Filles, Pogacar went from strength to strength and went on to take nearly 2 minutes out of his adversary on the stage!
An incredible finish No one really saw that coming. Or did they?
Tadej Pogacar has been exceptional over the last 2-3 years. I saw him in the Tour de l’Avenir in 2018 and he went on to win the race. The TdF 2019 victor Egan Bernal won it the year before. In 2019, Tadej won the Tour de California and was 3rd overall in the Vuelta a Espana. He finished 4th in the Criterium du Dauphine this year and of course he narrowly beat Roglic to the Slovenian national time trial title in June, the form was there.