As predicted, we had comfortable temperatures in the low 70s with a light 7mph breeze from the N-NW.   A decent day !

Six TTers rolled to the start line of the Race of Truth and wow!  everyone crushed it!      Chris Lamothe came out for some TT fun for the first time in 2 years.   He rocketed through the course in an FMT of 23:41(25.34mph).  Mike Hopper road his TT bike using platform pedals to an impressive PR of 24:51(24.15mph).  Proving you don't need to be clipped in to go fast. Of course having the quads of a quarter horse doesn't help.  Susan managed to overcome the shock of her TdF inspiration, Van DerPoel, exciting the Tour due to pneumonia and perservered by slicing and dicing the course in a FWT of 25:25(23.63mph). Ken recovered nicely from his weekend rides enough to blast through the course in his best 2025 time of 25:42(23.35mph).  Sean K posted his best 2025 time by riding 45 seconds faster than prev weeks. John R rode a strong effort and was only 7 seconds from the PR he set earlier this year.   Everyone was flying this week!  Perhaps inspired by the Tour?

TdF Notes: 

On the club ride Sunday Phil asked me about Julian Alaphilippe. I didn't have much to say about him.  We all remember his combative nature, mountain jersey winner, unlikely string of yellow jerseys of  about 7 years ago.   I get home and watch the Tour...  and it appears that Alaphilippe out sprints the pack to take 3rd.  Wellens had finished in first over 1.5 minutes ahead.  Ken reminded me that Alaphilippe had crashed earlier, caught up to the peloton, then moved to the front to win the sprint. Apparently, he had separated his shoulder and reset it Mel Gibson style a la Lethal Weapon.  When he crashed his radio started malfunctioning.  Some think his celebration at the line indicated he thought he actually won the stage. If that's the case, they should check him for a concussion.

American Quinn Simmons was in the breakaway group with Wellens.  He got a bit upset with Wellens (Pogo's teamate) for not contributing to the break at all.  He would simply shrug "hey I'm just hear to help Pogacar if he needs it"  or something to that effect.   Some say he has won his other Grand Tour stages in a similar fashion.  

There appears to be some bad blood between American Matteo Jorgenson and Pogacar.  Pogacar may be upset that the Visma member was intentionally getting in his way in the feed zones.   As a result, he marked Matteo any time he tried to break away.  We'll see how this plays out in the future.

Stage 16  - Mont Ventoux -  Moon climb

I was pulling hard for little Ben Healy.  He had a great climb and did a majority of the pacing to get up to Enric Mas, who had broken free earlier.  To lose on a finish line sprint up the final ramp has to hurt.

Interesting Stage 16 facts:   Four riders broke the previous Mont Ventoux record:  Pogacar, Vingegaard, Roglic and Lipowitz.   Pogacar broke it by 1:21   Vingegaard had the highest W/kg  -   6.52 W/kg,   Pogacar had 6.44W/kg.  Vingegaard spent more time in the wind and had to expend more energy.    Stunning performances!!

Btw,  I still think so many of the fans are idiots ... especially on the mountain tops.     Today, I saw I a woman holding her child in her arms and leaning in over the curb as the riders flew by within inches of her babies head.  

Au Revoir a bientot  !

Brian

TT Directeur