The temperature was a comfortable 74 degrees.Tuesday evening. A light 6mph breeze puffed out of the NW.  

Seven TTers rolled up to the line for the Race of Truth.  We had two first-timers... welcome Minh and Bill !!    Ron Nelson made the drive down from Oswego to do his first Tuesday TT of 2025. He made it count - he sliced and diced the course in an FMT of 25:22 (23.65mph).   Minh Nguyen perhaps inspired by the TdF coverage came out to battle the course for the first time.  He crushed the course in a time of 25:35(23.45mph) and took the best time in the RoadAero category.  Ken was only 21 seconds behind in the RoadAero category.   Mo was only 19 sec behind Ron in the TTbike category.    John Rice was ahead of his best time at the 7 mile mark,but, overcooked the turn and left some skin on the tarmac.  More importantly the bike was okay.  Luckily, he'll be good to go to perform his wedding vows in 2 weeks. 

It's been an exciting 6 stages so far.  Unfortunately, there have been a large number of small crashes.   Amazingly,  none involving Primos Roglic !   

Stage 1:   Lotsa open stretches of road with major crosswinds.  GC contenders Roglic and Evenpoel were caught napping and lost over 30 seconds when the peloton split.   Team Alpecin's sprinter Philipsen took the victory.  Unfortunately, World TT champion crashed and somehow managed to catch up to the peloton, but, then dropped out due to a concussion.

Stage 2:  Lotsa Fireworks on the short, steep climbs near the end of the stage.  A small group of about 20 riders broke free from the peloton.  At one point favorite Pogacar took off and was only matched by Vingegaard. But, both expended so much energy that they were soon caught by the remaining group.   Vingegaard stated that was his best 1 minute power ever.  The stage soon ended with sprint finish with the powerful Alpencin rider Van der Poel taking the victory.  Amazingly,  Pogacar almost nipped him at the line, with Vingegaard in third place.  

Stage 3  Sprinters stage.   Unfortunately,  in the intermediate sprint Stage 1 winner Philipsen got taken down by the diminutive sprinter Coquard who had bounced off a sprinter to his right which made him swerve hard left into Philipsen's front wheel.  Philipsen left the tour with a fractured collar bone and ribs. Eagle-eyed Chuckie D spotted Philipsen had aggressively barged  against a rider to his right that left that guy shaking his head angrily.  Karma?        

Stage 4:   A repeat of stage 2.   It was a fantastic finish up a shallow slope ...  but, this time, Pogacar nipped Van der Poel to take the victory...   Vingegaard 3rd again.   

Stage 5:  20 mile TIME TRIAL    World Champion/Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel had the fastest time.  He had hoped to make up most of the 58 second deficit he had to Pogacar.   But, Pogacar, rode super strong and only gave up around 16 seconds.  Vingegaard and Roglic had bad days.   American Matteo Jorgenson finished 11th.   Pogacar is now in yellow.

Stage 6:   super exciting hilly route today.   I won't ruin it for those who haven't watched yet.

Brian

TT DIrecteur

315-727-1458