With everyone on my team except me having been involved in at least one crash yesterday, we broke four bikes on the opening stage of this Tour. Stuff like that is inevitable when you’re involved in a high-speed crash, but it made for a very late night for our team mechanics last night.
s well as their everyday chores of pumping, cleaning, oiling, changing tyres, tightening spokes, checking cables, replacing handlebar tape, and thoroughly examining all of our frames, last night they had to build four brand new bikes from scratch.
While most of my team-mates seemed okay after hitting the deck at high speed during yesterday’s crash-marred stage, Chris Froome and Reto Hollenstein had to go to hospital for scans afterwards and were still there by the time we finished dinner last night.
I don’t think Chris got back to the hotel until after midnight but thankfully everything came back clear and he just has a really sore leg and a huge bruise on his side. After icing it last night and this morning, he took to the start today.
Our Swiss strongman Reto landed on his ribs too yesterday and is still really sore too so getting through today was important for both of them. The day after a crash is always the worst. We’ve got a good few days until the mountains come so, hopefully, a flatter day tomorrow will help them to recover a little bit.
We had a few rain showers on the drive to the start this morning, but the sun was shining by the time we got the line, where having won the stage the last time the Tour finished on the Mur de Bretagne, in 2018, ensured I had a lot of pre-stage media attention.
I probably spent 15 to 20 minutes talking to different television crews. While it takes up a bit of time and energy before the start, that’s what makes the Tour special. We don’t really get that at any other race. Even the Giro, where I won a stage last month, didn’t have anywhere near as much media attention.
It also means that people are looking at you to get a good result, which is always a good feeling. I wasn’t too optimistic about my chances today though. Mentally, I was much better today and felt much more comfortable in the peloton but I’m still not feeling too sharp after the Giro.
To be honest, my legs still feel a bit heavy after the three-week Italian Tour. I’m just a bit sluggish and lacking that snap in my pedal stroke to be able to move to the front easily and be in contention.
With over half the peloton having crashed yesterday, things were very cautious today and there was almost a fight to be at the back of the bunch instead of the front. A headwind and wider roads helped make things a bit safer as did the grippier Breton roads when a couple of rain showers came down during the stage.
Today’s route went up and down constantly and there were plenty of tiny villages to make it tricky and keep the peloton nervous. Halfway through the stage, I was hovering around the back wondering if I was ever going to feel better again. I was starting to question what the hell I was doing here and if I was going to be able to do anything in this Tour. And it’s only stage two!
After spending much of the day riding near the front to keep Mike Woods out of trouble and in a good position for a stage finish that suited him, my German team-mate Andre Greipel dropped back through the peloton and ended up riding alongside me for a while.
“How are you feeling,” our teak tough sprinter asked.
When I told him I felt rubbish, he gave me a bit of a talking to.
“Stop listening to your legs and just go for it!” was his no-nonsense advice.
I was pretty badly positioned on the first time up the Mur today, with around 15km to go but after Andre’s pep talk, I made a big effort to stay in the front group when Matthieu Van Der Poel attacked and it actually made my legs feel better, which is a really good sign.
When we hit the Mur the second time, with 2km to go, I didn’t have the snap to move up in the end but sometimes it’s good just to do a big effort to get the body going again.
As Van Der Poel attacked a second time to win the stage and move into the yellow jersey, I drifted out the back of the group and crossed the line 36 seconds later in 40th place.
Having won here in 2018, it was pretty special to pass through the finish line again today. I still have no idea how I won that day but finishing here again definitely brought back some good memories.
While I’ve lost six minutes in these first two days, I never had any GC ambitions here, so the time loss doesn’t concern me. Thankfully, the opening weekend hasn’t been too testing for me physically. It’s just been about getting my body back used to racing and, after today, I’m much more optimistic about being able to do something in the last week now.