The temperature was 71 degrees with a slight SW breeze and obviously very humid.  Decent conditions.

Two TTers had faith and were justly rewarded.   Brigitte, undaunted by the threat of rain, or perhaps motivated by it, just missed her PR in the RoadAero category by 1 second.  She blasted through the course in a FWT of 29:11 (20.56mph).  Todd, not to be outdone,  cruised through the course in a PR time of 29:48(20.14mph) - taking 20 seconds off his PR.   He has gone progressively faster in each of the five TTs he's done this year. That's an impressive streak.

Looking back on the Tour the following highlights come to mind: 

Mads Pedersen battle for the Green Jersey, Sepp Kuss's quest for a stage win, the American riders excellent performance and Pogacar's greatness.

Five of the six Americans in the race were also in the breakaway on Stage 19 as it hit the bottom of final climb (~3650ft of climbing) up Alpe D'Huez.  Their presence was felt almost every stage of the race. Three riders eventually separated themselves from the pack,  American Sepp Kuss, Carapaz and Martinez.   The last American to win a stage in the Tour was Sepp Kuss five years ago. The energizer bunny Carapaz kept trying to break free of the other two was incredible surges.  While he was playing games and wasting battery energy,  Pogacar had took off from the peloton. He had spotted the breakaway 3 minutes.  Queue Jaws music.....   Incredibly, he caught the lead 3 with about a mile to go.  He broke free of Carapaz and Martinez to win the stage in a record time.... breaking Pantani's 30 year record by over a minute !   He produced an average of 7 W/kg on the climb!   Sepp Kuss ended up in 4th a minute back. 

Stage 20 was the Queens stage.  Statistically the hardest stage by far.   18000 ft of climbing in about 102 miles !   It consists of 3 Hors Category climbs and a cat 1 climb including the massive Galibier peaking at an altitude of 8500ft.   The intermediate sprint is at the 40 mile mark - after the Col de Fer HC climb.   Mads missed the breakaway.     The breakaway had a 90 second lead when Pedersen was finally able to free himself from the peloton. The breakaway of 14 riders included Americans, Sepp Kuss and Mateo Jorgenson, both riding for Visma.    Somehow Mads caught the breakaway shortly after cresting the Col de Fer.   He was not to be denied.  He again took the sprint to the intermediate sprint.  Doing so locked up his Green Jersey with an 82 point lead.     Amazingly,  even in the final stage, Mads grabbed some intermediate sprint points.   What a beast!!

Now back to the breakaway.  It whittled down to five riders...  and then Carapaz took off ..... Kuss followed.    Carapaz was reeled in by Kuss and then passed.  He had established about a 30 second lead with around 3 km to the finish.   Upon exiting a dark tunnel Kuss crashed against the curb.  Going from sunshine to darkness and back to full sun left him momentarily blind. Luckily, he was able to jump back on his bike and still stay ahead of Carapaz.  Approx a km later Kuss overcooked a turn and skidded against the protective barrier and literally slid his butt on top of it to come to a halt.    He was only about 10 ft from the end of the netting that stopped riders from going over the cliff.    This time Carapaz passed him as he jumped on his bike.    Kuss could not reel him in on the short climb that remained.    Such a heart break !!