SPEAKER_01 0:40

All right, a hot day, lightning fast sprints, another chapter in the battle for yellow. Stage seven looked straightforward on paper, but let me tell you, the finish delivered exactly that kind of drama that the Tour de France is famous for. Uh, we're gonna break down the winners, who holds the jerseys, and what it all means heading into stage eight. I am Michael uh with Cycling Men of Leisure's Leisure Breakaway. And with me, as always, my good friend Adam.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Ladies and gentlemen, let me take this opportunity to wish my good friend, my best friend from

Stage Seven Setup And Conditions

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Central Time Zone, happy birthday. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Appreciate it. 29 today. Yes, yes, because I was 28 last year. So if that works out really well.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

How was stage seven? I I uh I've done some homework for a little bit later, but uh, but I I want to be transparent. I was unable to pay attention today. I was actually doing work on a Friday.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah. I don't know if I believe that, but that's okay. Stage seven started in uh Jimu, uh finished in Burdo. So we're moving into the wine country. Distance 175.1 kilometers for us Americans, that's 108.8 miles. Uh flat sprint stage. Um approximate uh elevation gain was 1,150 meters, which is only 3,770 feet. We could have handled that, buddy. I'm quite sure of that. Uh not at their speeds, but we could have handled that. The average temperature was around 29 degrees Celsius, which was 84 degrees Fahrenheit, uh, which for the way it's been going, that was actually cool um for the other six days before that. Uh writers, where are we at on that? Uh there was a rider who uh did not start. They withdrew before stage seven. Uh that was he was on the Sudal Quick Step team, but uh there's no other abandonments on the ride. The big winner today, Tim Merlier, Sudal Quick Step. He powered to victory through uh a thrilling bunch sprint in Burdeaux. Uh he, I gotta say, his timing for that acceleration was perfect over the last uh 200 meters. I mean, it was incredible. Uh his average speed was 46.5 kilometers. That's 28.9 miles per hour. Um, but I mean he he played the game well today. He planned it perfectly, he accelerated when he needed to accelerate, and it was just impressive.

Merlier Wins The Bordeaux Sprint

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Although there was a breakaway today. Uh Bastiste Batiste Verstoffer, uh, who was in the breakaway yesterday, and uh Jakub uh Truba. There we go. Uh they got in a breakaway. The Peloton was saying, uh, no, that's not gonna happen. Um they never got much freedom in that breakaway. Uh the sprint teams, uh including Alperson, uh, Uno X, and Sudal pretty much controlled the final uh outcome of the race. Um another big, big thing I will mention is Grimey uh finished third after another strong sprint. So he is uh hasn't won anything yet, but he is making some very, very strong finishes. And I am gonna predict right now that he probably mid to late next week. He'll be looking at he's the guy to be looking at. Um general classification, yellow jersey. Uh Toddy's still holding on to that. Uh the green jersey again goes to uh mods. The white jersey, Del Toro, and the polka dot jersey is still with Toddy. So um nothing's really changed in the jerseys. So those are all have pretty much stayed the same. Most combative rider, though, I don't think it's any surprise, is Batista um in that breakaway. Uh, he is just getting out there, and even though he's not really getting anything with that breakaway, um he's still uh still winning that most combative, which I think is is well deserved.

Breakaway Tries And Sprint Control

SPEAKER_01 5:27

So that is Tour de France 2026, stage seven in a condensed version for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Well, thank you, Century 21, for the combative award. So uh we learned that. Um speaking of learning, sir, a couple things. I like we certainly we learned today that you are 29. Um okay, maybe you're a little bit more than 29. But um, you and I got in a little bit of a conversation last night about money. And and you know, when we consider like pro football, uh it's become very the norm to hear the contract of a quarterback. It's

Jerseys Stay Put After Stage Seven

SPEAKER_00 6:10

uh or a or a high-level uh linebacker or you know, somebody uh or even believe it or not, even the kicker. Sometimes you hear even you know their their contract,

How Tour Riders Actually Get Paid

SPEAKER_00 6:22

like Jake Moody, who came out of uh University of Michigan. Now, uh, if anyone is a Jake Moody fan, you know that he went to San Francisco and and the bed. But um uh when he was here all four years at University of Michigan, he never missed a punt. So um people pay attention to that. My point is when you also know like Otani for his contract. Have you ever wondered how a tour writer makes their money? Have you ever have you ever considered that? Um yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

I have considered that. I don't although I don't really know if a lot of people understand that because uh it's not all about they all have contracts with their particular teams, but it's not just all about the contracts as I understand it. And I'm assuming you're gonna break some some information down for us.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

I am I have four pages. Now now don't panic, I'm not gonna give you four pages, but um when I got home today, knowing that you were running some errands before we could give our leisure breakaway, I did not use Chat GPT or Claude like I normally do. I went old school, this little thing called Google. It's a it's a it's a it's a you know it's a searching page, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

I I was there when it uh came into existence, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

The original AI, right? But um so I actually went and did some did some research because I would consider myself not whatever under novice is. I mean like below that, like like walk into a room, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. So I didn't know like if if they made money because they made the tour, because they went stages or anything. So let me try to break this down. Let me try to keep this nice and clean and concise. So the number one way that a writer um gets their money is being on the team salary, and so uh the salary uh that is given to them is a fixed cost, and this is before they even do anything, before they pedal a bicycle or anything. And and this can range, and there's a very large range on this. We're talking 44,000 euros, or what is the equivalent today of 50,280 to eight million euros a year, which is the equivalent of about 9.1 million American dollars currently. The vast majority of the pros uh get their contract paid in the team sponsors, uh, such as as you've mentioned many times, uh up into stage seven, the UAE, uh Visa Lease, is that how you say that? V Visma lease, a bike. Uh Vizma bike, yeah. And and I thought what I needed to do was to give you some variations of the riders. And so I wanted to give you like a spread out. Like um Toddy guys is is eight million. He's he's right in there. Um is it Evan Pool? Is that how you pronounce that? Evan Pool, yeah. Okay, he's 6.6 million euros. Um, and then Vendegaard, 5 million, Vanderpool around 4 million. Then there's a middle of the pack, which was um about 538,000 euros, uh, or was equivalent to about 650,000 American dollars. And then the bottom of the floor is the 44,150 uh Euros, either employed or self-employed. Um, and um the wage gap inside one team bus is literally the leader could have a hundred times uh the dominant uh uh how do you pronounce that? Dominique or Domestique. Domestique. So the point is that you could be on the team bus. One guy could be sitting in front of you and make a hundred times more than you do.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

So that's really not much different than regular life.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

This is this is true.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

You got this little little microcosm and a bus, you're all on the same team. Um yeah, I mean, and I can I can believe that. I mean, you've got the the all-stars, you know, the toddy's and and those type of people out there. Uh, and then you've just got, like you said, the domestiques, and those that's just the fancy French word for the guys who are working for the the captain. I mean, those are the guys that you see going back to the team cars, loading up with five or six bottles. Uh maybe they grab an extra uh muse uh with food and that type of stuff for somebody. They're the they're the ones that are their job is to ensure that their team captain wins the day, uh, ultimately wins the tour. Um, so they're the team doesn't really count on them winning. Now, sometimes they do because they get in a breakaway or whatever, but um, yeah, they're just they're they're the ones probably working the hardest because they have to go to the back and then they have to crank it all the way back up towards the front to drop off this stuff. But, you know, generally they're young writers. Uh, and generally, you know, these are guys that are uh, I mean, they're on the team, so there's a chance that they could be up and coming, and you know, five years, six years down the road, they could be the one with the uh the big paycheck sitting at the front of the bus, and these guys are bringing them water bottles.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

So another way that the writers make money is personal endorsements and image rights. Um, and this can also be a very, very wide range from watches to sunglasses to nutrition's to even cars. Uh, I was surprised to see that um some of the some of the writers uh their sponsorship includes free cars. What a what a rough life, huh?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Um they're always on their bike, but yeah, they got one.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yeah, that's right. That's right. Uh stars negotiate image rights into their contracts and personality sales. Um tour winner endorsements can approach and exceed the team salary. So I mean, literally one endorsement could be the entire team salary. And then uh

Endorsements And Contract Bonus Realities

SPEAKER_00 12:36

for the uh might be free sunglasses for the team, uh growing angle riders with big social followings. And so um uh there's also contract performance bonuses uh written in the team contracts. Um as you mentioned, some of those guys who usually ride behind who who come back up and power up. Uh part of the contract is if they actually win a stage or whatever, uh there's there's you know each time they do have a chance of winning some money. Um and then there's also the post-tour appearances where they you know come to bike shops and get paid just to come up. Um but I wanted to mention and get to prize money. And uh, for a guy like myself who's never been into the tour, I I wasn't sure, but the yellow jersey, uh yeah, that's not a bad day in the saddle. That's 500,000 euros for the final yellow jersey. The final yellow, the final yellow.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

So that's at the very end, 500,000 euros.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

That's correct. The second and third overall is 200,000 euros and 100,000 euros. If they win a stage, 11,000 euros, and second is 550,000 euros. No, five, yeah, 5,500 euros, forgive me.

Prize Money Gets Shared With Staff

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Third is 2,800 euros, a green or a polka dotted final is 25,000 euros, a white jersey final is 20,000 euros. Team classification win is five or 50,000 for the top five teams. They have to share the 120,000 euros. The super combativity ward that we've been speaking about, thanks to Century 21, 20,000 euros. Uh a day in yellow is 500 euros a day. Day in other jerseys could be 300 euros a day. The twist that makes this a great segment tradition, writers don't keep it. All prize money is pooled and split among the teammates and staff, which I thought was extremely interesting. For from for, and maybe you knew that, but I was surprised that they pool everything and split. That's part of most team contracts.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

And not only do they split it, you said something very important, they split it amongst the team and the staff. So we're talking that that prize money also gets split with the mechanics, the masseuse, the cooks, the chefs, all the people that are traveling with them that are on the staff, the drivers of the team cars, all get to participate uh in that winning amount. So they all, everybody, you know, when those mechanics get out, uh, you see them pushing and all this kind of stuff. It's because, yeah, they've got a financial stake in their person or one of their teammates winning. So it's very uh very cool.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Um I also was looking at a comparison, and I this one I must be 100% truthful. I did go back to AI and I I asked uh Claude, give me a comparison. So the total tour prize pot, which is 2.3 million euros, um uh, which is really weird because the Wimbledon pot is 20 times larger. In comparison, when you think about a tour de France versus something like Wimbledon, or um I thought that was just absolutely amazing that when you look at the comparison, it's it's nowhere near other sports. Um it seems to me it'd be a lot harder to ride your bike thousands

Why Tour Prizes Trail Other Sports

SPEAKER_00 16:14

of miles through the mountains of France.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

You would think, but tennis is a lot more popular sport. I mean, it's look here in the United States, six riders in the tour from the United States. I mean, we're massive. Um, cycling is just not that big a deal here in the U.S. Uh and so there's a huge, huge group of people who would sponsor who aren't going to really sponsor if they're trying to hit the United States because people, a lot of people here, uh vast majority of people really aren't interested. But tennis, that's a big draw, and and so it kind of makes sense. The one point I did want to also point out is you're giving us all of this in euro, euros, which I find very funny because if I'm on the tour and I have a commissar flag me or or give me uh you know some penalty for doing something wrong, they're gonna penalize me in Swiss francs. But the prize money I win is in Euros. So I just think that's interesting that your penalty is in the Swiss franc, but your payout is in the euro.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

The that the that is interesting, and that's what Armando mentioned the other day in our texting thread. The last thing I want to mention about all of this money, um, it says that the tour does not make a writer rich, it just makes them valuable, which their name, their image, and everything else like that. So the tour itself is is yes, it brings in money, but it doesn't, you know, it just helps them with the career. Um, but really what it's doing is is it increases or decreases, I hate to say that, their value.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

So yeah, and you'll see a lot of a lot of times the commentators will be talking that uh different riders uh during the tour might their contracts might be coming up. And uh so the their performance at the tour is a big deal if they're going into contract negotiations in the next couple of months. Uh that can go a long way as you know, a a third place finish in the tour versus uh 27th place in the in the tour, uh, a Jersey win in the tour, things like that would all play into your negotiation uh abilities. So yeah, makes sense. And that's what I have for you this time, my friend. Very interesting. Thanks for uh looking into that. I don't think uh everybody really understands um you know how these people get paid and where the money goes, but I I appreciate you putting into uh in the uh research to give us uh give us a rundown.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

So I almost didn't know how to use the old Google. I've been AI. Although I gotta tell you the truth, Google's kind of changed too. I haven't been in Google in a long time, but um it basically gave me somewhat AI answers and then let me do a deep dive. So that was kind of kind of I think they're it's all going that way, buddy, whether I like it or not.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Yep. Hop on board. Anyway, tomorrow, uh 176 miles, another flat day. Sprinters are gonna be loving it. It's gonna be their opportunity. Uh, expect not only the sprinters, but uh crosswinds could be a factor. Uh might have to do some echelons tomorrow, who knows? And we'll see how everything turns out again tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be a little cooler like it was today.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

So we'll we'll talk tomorrow. All right, sounds good. And with that, I want to say happy birthday. Hope you and your family can celebrate tonight. But more than that, I know people are really enjoying this.

Stage Eight Preview Crosswinds And Sprints

SPEAKER_03 19:56

Welcome to the