Another day in the mountains.
Team Jumbo Visma plans to make everyone work hard.
The plan is working, until suddenly it isn't.
A spectator holding his phone out for a selfie knocks one rider down.
A large tumble ensues, changing the dynamic.
And who knows what else?
For example, Marx was in the process of explaining the disappearing egg trick to the rest of the commentary team.
You need a sleeve... Marx is saying.
(Marx has learned the trick from Ranger Roger, not Marcel the clown).
But at this point the crash happens, cutting short the explanation.
Another example:
Terence is standing beside Marcel, a short way up the road before the first climb.
He is twiddling his Peruvian hat on a stick, because it is too hot to wear it.
Wout Poels rides by.
Wout Poels is not expecting to win stage fifteen, He has never won a stage in the Tour de France ever.
He sees Terence.
Welk geluk! thinks Wout Poels.
He speeds up with renewed aspiration.
Okay that was not a great example.
Another example:
Sweezus is happy. He has missed the crash by a hair's breadth.
For a second or two he rides beside Jonas Vingegaard, who has also dodged it.
We were lucky to miss that, says Vingegaard. I hope it hasn't involved one of my team-mates.
Me too, says Sweezus.
For a moment, he feels a bond with Jonas Vingegaard.
Another example?
But no. The crash is behind us, three category climbs are ahead.
Ciccione crests La Croix Fry.
Soler crests the next one.
Poels (yes him!) rides solo up the cote des Amarandes, up... over.... down.... and up Mont Blanc to Saint Gervais-les-Bains, winning a Tour de France stage for the first time, after fifteen years trying.
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