Greig Leach

I love to create titles that can be interpreted in more than one way, this is the first of just such a title. Either the crowds lining the Saint Etienne au Mont climb were watching to see if they could see an attack, or the favorites were all watching each other sure that one would attack the other. As they went up the penultimate climb of the day, Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) set the pace for his two teammates, Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson. On Benoot's wheel was his countryman, Mathieu Van Der Peol (Alpecin-Deceunick) hoping to be the one to take out the stage honors now that his teammate had lost his grip on the front group. Ever present was the rainbow jersey on the shoulders of the defending Tour Champion, Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates). The only guy not really expected to be in this elite leading group was the Frenchman Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ). He was hoping to get the jump on the others as they all watched each other. At least one of the fans on the climb had to be disappointed to not see Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) since they had sprayed his name on the roadway.