Greig Leach

I original wrote the title as "Sixteen Years!" because that was how long Phil Liggett said it had been since Cofidis had won a stage in the Tour de France. As a French team, that is a terrible stat! It is slightly better, it has been fifteen years (I reworked the title after photographing the painting). Victor Lafay (Cofidis) took full advantage of his outsider status, jumping from the back of the group with one kilometer to go. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) had chased everyone else down, so he didn't jump right away perhaps because he was confident that Lafay didn't have the legs to hold them all off. Clearly, Wout miscalculated. After the finish he pounded his handlebars in frustration. Taking third (again) was Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) but that meant even more bonus seconds on the day. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) did well to come back from his first attempt to finish fifth, and you can just make out Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) finishing in seventh over Lafay's right shoulder. Tomorrow the race will cross back into France in a day seemingly tailor made for the sprinters. Will Cav get the magical 35th stage win in the Tour de France?