Gallery
Over the Summit TdF26-89
I learned today that the Ballon d'Alsace was the first mountain ever climbed in the Tour de France. It was introduced to the Grand Boucle back in 1905. We just missed celebrating the 120th anniversary of this climb by a year. I doubt that was foremost in the mind of Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) as he led the breakaway over the summit of the Category One climb. Pidcock is known as an incredible descender so he may have wanted to be the first to start down the other side of the mountain. He was followed in turn by Luke Plapp (Jayco-Alula) and Plapp's teammate Mauro Schmid. The next two over the summit were the two Frenchmen Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) and Kevin Vauquelin (Netcompany-Ineos). As they crested the Ballon, the peloton was back down the mountain almost eight-and-a-half minutes behind. At this point Pidcock has moved into second place virtually. I suspect that the peloton will start chasing under the impetuous of those teams whose leaders are losing their places in the general classification.