2655 km ridden, 16 Stages down, 2 weeks of almost continuous racing completed, and with the hardest stages yet to come, today’s “rest day” will surely be welcomed by riders like a bacon buttie the morning after a big night on the town.
“Rest day” conjures up images of relaxation, of exhausted, sun-baked riders slumbering in the shade of an beautiful French vineyard after a gentle spin on the bike in the morning, just for the pleasure of riding. Of course it’s never that simple on the Tour…
Expanding on a post by Al.com, We’ve taken snapshots of rider happenings from the rest day last week and beyond to give you a slice of life from the perspective of the riders. It’s incredible to see the power of the media as it’s insatiable appetite for opinion consumes certain riders, whilst other riders are refreshingly open with their own media as we gain a snippet into their everyday and for Ivan Basso, probably the toughest news of his life all was revealed in full public light.
How will you be spending the “Rest Day”?
Not only does he have keep his race rivals at bay, deal with cups of urine being thrown at him, but Froome will no doubt be at the forefront of the media scrum today.
The rest day couldn’t have come at a better time for Geraint Thomas after being shoulder barged off the road yesterday by Warren Barguil on the tricky descent of the col de Manse.
The tale of two vans: TJ van Garderen and his BMC team will still have big smiles on their faces today as he remains on track for a GC podium place, whilst team mate Greg van Avermaet took a stunning victory earlier in the week on stage 13 into Rodez.
Greipel will probably be celebrating this second rest day in similar style! With a hat-trick of stage wins under his belt he’s stamped his mark as the fastest finisher on this Tour. Can he put the cherry on top and win again on the Champs-Élysées at the end of the week?
With an attack over the top of the Col d’Allos, Romain Bardet ended a 14-month winless drought at the Critérium du Dauphiné earlier this year with a gutsy stage win. Being almost a replica of the Tour stage tomorrow, can he keep the French pride flying high with another win on the same mountain?
There was as a collective sigh of relief with the news that Ivan Basso had been cleared of additional treatment for testicular cancer earlier this week but what a way to find out the worse news you could get. Best wishes to Ivan for a swift recover.
Finally, Adam Hansen looked like he really needed the last rest day and I think he’ll be appreciating this one too after his solo break effort yesterday. Top marks to the man for keeping the pedals turning even after his shoulder dislocation on Stage 2. Let’s hope he can make it to the Champs-Élysées to claim the record for the most number of consecutive grand tours completed by any rider.
