Cycling Weekly – July 25, 2019

Cycling Weekly | July 25, 2019 | 11

TOUR TALK

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UNSUNG HERO

Laurens

De Plus

In the super team of Jumbo-Visma it is

easy to get lost among the big names,

with Dylan Groenewegen and Wout Van

Aert both taking stage wins and Steven

Kruijswijk riding high in the general

classification. However, if Kruijswijk can

ride into Paris in yellow, Laurens De Plus

will have played a massive role. The

young Belgian carved his way up the

Tourmalet and the Mur de Péguère (on

back-to-back stages) with all the Tour’s

heads of state in tow. It was the first time

in years that Team Ineos haven’t been

able to set the tempo on a major Tour

climb. With the Alps to come, De Plus

could have a massive say on where the

maillot jaune ends up this year.

“I stopped

at a camping car and

watched the last 300

metres on the television.”

Groupama’s Matthieu

Ladagnous on Thibaut Pinot’s

To u r ma l et

victory

TOUR STATS

De Plus is Jumbo’s

mountain race maker

Arkéa-Samsic raid the transfer market

With Warren Barguil leading the way for

the French Pro Continental team this year,

the Breton will be joined by a variety of

high-profile names

next season. Nairo

Quintana looks set

to leave Movistar

and bring his

brother Dayer over

as part of the deal.

Diego Rosa and

Winner Anacona

are also set to

bolster the squad,

alongside Nacer

Bouhanni who has

to try and revitalise

his stuttering

career after five

years at Cofidis.

Team Ineos help pop the question

Before the start of stage 12 in Toulouse,

Team Ineos made what must be a Tour de

France first when they engineered a

wedding proposal on their team bus. Long

term fan Daniel contacted the team six

months ago asking if they could help ask his

partner Sarah to marry him. Geraint

Thomas handed the ring to Daniel before

he popped the question; thankfully Sarah

said yes.

Macron pays a visit

As if the Col du Tourmalet stage needed

any more drama or hype, president of

France Emmanuel Macron was in the lead

car alongside Christian Prudhomme for the

duration of the day and presented a plaque

in Pau the previous day. His visit wasn’t

without drama, as the start of stage 14 was

delayed and moved from the centre of

Tarbes after a demonstration by protestors

opposed

to the

construction

of an industrial

pig farm in the

countryside

between

Tarbes and

Lourdes.

1996 7 1984

Quintana’s switching

to Arkéa-Samsic

active riders have now

won multiple Grand Tour

stages at all three Grand

Tours, Simon Yates is now

one of them.

was the last time a

Frenchman won a time trial

at the Tour wearing the

maillot jaune. Laurent

Fignon would be proud.

was the last time there

have been 12 different

stage winners in first 12

race days of the Tour

de France.

Macron congratulates

yellow jersey

Julian Alaphilippe