Greig Leach

Just before I paused the race to paint this, we saw Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) jumping on his bike as if he was trying to check his tire pressure. Then I noticed that he seemed to be stuck in a very high (hard) gear. As he signaled for his team car, he kept pointing at his rear wheel. When the team car pulled up alongside him, it was clear he was having a gearing problem. The mechanic was able to lean out the window and get him sorted without Bardet having to stop and get his spare bike. I am always amazed and nervous when the mechanics do this move. So much could go wrong. Fortunately, this time it did not, and he was able to quickly rejoin the peloton. It is nice to see that many of the teams are using all electric vehicles in the race caravan, DSM-Firmenich-PostNL is using a Volvo EV. While cycling is inherently a green sport, all of the support to make the race happen (and for us to see it happen) is considerably less so.