SPEAKER_04 0:45

All right. Welcome back. To cycling men of leisures, leisure breakaway. Stage eight of the Tour de France. That served up a blazing heat, another bad dash to the finish, and enough sweat to fill several team water bottles. Yuck. Yeah. Well, truth hurts. Before tomorrow's Hills starts separating the hopefuls from the hurting, let's take a quick spin through everything that happened today. I am Michael, and with me from the Eastern Time Zone is my good friend Adam.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Hello there. I've got my cycling glasses

Welcome Back And Stage Setup

SPEAKER_00 1:26

on. I figured in true cycling spirit, it's better than the DeBrim, so I'm wearing my cycling glasses.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

All right. Well, I think you should. I think you should. Anyway, how was the ride today? The race today.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Good. Good, good, good. I uh watched the rebroadcast. Um, I believe it was on like at 5 a.m. or maybe 8 a.m., 8 a.m., I think. And then um I I uh recorded some and watched it. So I have some questions, but I'm gonna wait until you give your uh report in case it's not redundant.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

Okay. Well, stage eight. Today started at uh Parigo, ended in Bergerac, 180.4 kilometers. That is, for you and I in America, 112.1 miles. Elevation gain was 1,150 meters, which is 3,770 feet. Today's average temperature, a beautiful, steaming hot 95 degrees. That's 35 degrees Celsius. So uh another day of intense heat. Um basically today's uh race went

Heat Soars As The Peloton Waits

SPEAKER_04 2:45

as follows. Uh three-man breakaway was allowed a modest advantage and not a huge advantage uh before the sprinting teams, as we assumed, gradually reeled them in. Crosswinds never developed. I know yesterday they were talking about potential crosswinds. That never happened uh enough to split the Peloton, so the race stayed pretty much together. Uh the finish in Bergerac was fast and technical, um, but the favorites stayed upright. There was no problems there. Tim Miller produced another powerful late sprint to secure consecutive stage wins. He did it two days in a row. Uh the overall contenders pretty much finished safely together, so there was no significant changes in the general classification. Um, as I said, Tim Miller, uh Sudal Quick Step, uh took the number one position, followed by Gromai, who is with Inner Marche. Uh he got second, and then Olav Kuvy, uh Vizma Lisa Bike came in third. So as far as the jerseys go, Toddy still holds a yellow jersey. Uh actually, he was able to secure the points for the green jersey today as well. White jersey is still with Del Toro, and the polka dot jersey actually wound up in the uh the hands of Linny Martinez. So a little shake up there with the with the mountains. Not that there was big mountains in today's in today's stage, but uh, you know, it was uh relatively flat. Nothing really really nothing happened out of the ordinary, although you know they they were talking uh those wins, and that didn't really happen. So tomorrow um gonna be another relatively flat day, so we'll we'll see how that goes. Another good day for the sprinters.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

So what do you got? So my first question is is the gentleman who won today went uh won yesterday as well, correct? He did. And I'm wondering, even two stages in a row doesn't have enough points or or to to push him past Toddy.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

Well, not necessarily, yeah. No. I mean you could what what you're looking at is the green goes for for points, and the yellow is just going for um for time. So gotcha, gotcha. That that's the big difference there.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

I also saw

Sprint Winner And Jersey Rundown

SPEAKER_00 5:30

the gentleman who broke his shoe holding on to the side of the car. And my question is, is it's felt like cheating for a guy who's a novice. And so what I mean is I understand that he was having a shoe that broke, I understand that um that he had to do it on the fly, which by the way, I usually have to sit down, I have to make sure I have good balance, I have to make sure that I stand up and not fall. I mean, this guy changed his shoe on the fly. Oh, yeah. But when he grabbed a hold of the car, that's not cheating.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

That is that is where the rules uh become somewhat subjective.

Shoe Break Drama And Car Grabs

SPEAKER_04 6:10

And I'm gonna say that, and and you'll hear them on the show talk about a lot of times when the guys go back to grab a water bottle, um, they'll say it's a sticky bottle because the guys will grab a hold of the person holding their hand out with the bottle and they'll hold on there for a couple of seconds. Called a sticky bottle. They're you know, working it a little bit. Um, you are allowed, um, especially in the cases of where gear goes down, injuries, things like that, you're allowed to come up along your team car or uh the doctor car and hold on uh like while they they work on something. Uh you'll occasionally see mechanics um hanging out of the car fixing, you know, uh a cleat fixing uh a brake or derailleur or something like that. As long as there is a scene problem that they are working on resolving, and as long as as soon as that's resolved, they kick away from the car and go, uh the commissaires give a pretty wide range there. Again, on medical, you'll see right after a lot of guys have fallen, they'll hop back on their bike, get going. A mile down the road, you'll see them by the doctor's cars. They'll be holding on while the doctors are like hanging out and spraying their leg and you know, bandaged them up and stuff like that. That is allowed. Um again with the sticky bottles, you'll see and you'll hear the commentators go, uh, you know, they're they're starting to push it. So if you're holding on, like after you say you fixed your, you changed out your your shoe or you fixed your cleat or whatever, and you're still holding on to the car, you know, 20 seconds after that's been done, that's when they might decide that uh you might have been holding on a little too long, and that's where uh you'll give up a few uh Swiss francs.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Okay. All right. I just wanted to make sure that I understood. So um in true typical fashion, um looking at the time here, we're doing okay. I do have some interesting trivia pieces about the Tour de France. I find it very interesting, a couple of these pieces. I want to ask you, what does the Tour de France and Rag Bri have in common, other than the obvious, such as cycling or whatever?

SPEAKER_04 8:40

What do they have in common?

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Um lots of people. Uh Tour de France riders have often participated in Ragbri. Um, one of them passed me one day and made it look like I was standing still, literally.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Um

Tour Origins And Yellow Jersey Story

SPEAKER_00 9:00

I should be more clear. How how about how both rides started?

SPEAKER_04 9:06

Oh, I know. Okay, I get it now. Uh both rides started uh based on a newspaper. Newspaper started both of those rides, promotion.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

That's correct. So we know that Ragbury, the two gentlemen were uh trying to bring publicity, publicity, if I could speak English, uh, to the paper. Um, and they thought, hey, we'll do this story where we ride across uh an entire state on our bicycle, and they did such thing, and then of course, 53, 54, 55, or whatever it is now, years later, 53, I think, 53. This is the 53rd running because of one one running none because of COVID was started because of the the register's paper. Well, the tour exists because of a newspaper war. Le Auto created the race in 1903 purely to outsell rival paper Le Villo. It worked, circulation exploded, and Lavello folded the next year.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

So if only Lavilla would have like started a bicycle race.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

That's right. That's right. Oops, missed that one. Do you know why the yellow jersey is yellow, other than that they dye it and they use yellow threads when they make it and all that good stuff? Oh. No, I I don't I don't remember that one. It's a newspaper. The yellow jersey introduced mid-race in 1919, first worn by Eugene Christ Christoph, uh, the Forge guy, uh, matched the yellow newsprint of La Auto. Writers initially mocked it. Christoph was called a canary. Boy, I tell you what, that canary turned into something you want today, all right?

SPEAKER_04 10:57

No doubt. But the so you're saying the newspaper print was yellow?

SPEAKER_00 11:01

That's correct, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

Oh my god, that had to hurt your eyes.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yes, sir. Match the yellow newsprint of La Otto.

unknown 11:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

All right there was a scandal in 1904, a year after. So the race was created in 1903, a year after, there is a pretty big scandal.

SPEAKER_04 11:28

And is this a cheating scandal?

SPEAKER_00 11:31

That is correct, yes.

SPEAKER_04 11:33

Yes, because uh I'll let you finish and then I got something to add. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

The top four finishers, including champion Maurice Gar Garan, were disqualified months later for cheating, including allegedly taking trains, which is what you told me about in the middle of Iowa.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

That's

Early Cheating Scandals And Domestiques

SPEAKER_04 11:53

right.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Victory passed to 19-year-old Henry Cornett, still the youngest tour winner ever, but I'll let you go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

Well, I was gonna say, writer number five became writer number one because of that. Oh, back in those early days, you didn't have all the crowds, you didn't really have commissaires or anything like that. Uh, they just had to get from point A to point B. You didn't have TV, and there wasn't like you have to do it between these time frames. You know, it wasn't like, hey, everybody's watching you here. So I mean, they were traveling at night, they'd hop on trains, they'd take planes, trains, and automobiles. Well, okay, maybe not planes, but uh, you know, whatever mode they could to uh to get to the other end, and it's like we'll prove that we were on the train. So a lot of that going on those early days.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

So I had a hard time pronouncing in the last couple of episodes domestique, right? Domestique, yes. Domestique, domestique. Well, I think the reason why I had a hard time pronouncing it is because it originally started as an insult. So uh the tour founder Henry uh sneered at Maurice uh Broco in 1911 for selling his services to other writers, calling him a mere domestique servant, the name stuck in the sport's most selfless job.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

So you know, it it it is it does seem like it's kind of talking down to someone, but it's an important job. Um I mean, those are the guys that really you know get their their people where they need to be and in the right place and keep them hydrated and stuff like that. And honestly, that's where all the writers start at some point in time as a domestique, and then they're able to move up the up the ladder. So interesting.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

The publicity caravan predates television since 1930. A parade of sponsor vehicles has preceded the race. Today it takes 30 minutes long, throwing some 15 million freebies to roadside crowds each July.

SPEAKER_04 14:13

15 million, really. That's a lot of tchotskies.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

That's a lot of tchotkis.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

Which it explains when you watch them on TV, you'll be going and you'll see all these people. They'll have like the polka dot hats on, or they'll have like yellow jerseys on and they'll all match. That's because they all got their stuff from from that,

Caravan Freebies And Massive Fan Crowds

SPEAKER_04 14:35

from the uh promotional people.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Fuel riders burn roughly 5,000 to 7,000 calories on a big mountain day, the equivalent of about 20 plates of pasta. I just thought that was interesting.

SPEAKER_04 14:54

So that's a lot of pasta.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Uh so did you know that this is the biggest annual sporting event on earth? I did know that, yes, sir. An estimated of 10 to 12 million spectators line the roads over three weeks, all watching for free.

SPEAKER_04 15:18

It's also the one sporting event, like I've mentioned before, where you literally can reach out and touch the athletes. I mean, it's not like any other sport um you see. I mean, you're right there, and unfortunately, we've seen some of them right there in the mix when they're doing stupid things and they get in the way, but um makes it pretty unique.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

For free, and this last one I I uh I have for this episode. I guess I'm surprised this is not a movie, or maybe it wouldn't be enough meat on the bone for a movie. But this is really cool. I didn't know this. So uh the Gino Bartali Secret. Now, if it is a movie, I hope I'm not about to get embarrassed because I may re-edit this out. No, I'm just kidding. I'll let it go tomorrow. I promise, no matter what, I'll let it go. But I just find this absolutely amazing. In 1938 and 1948, Winner smuggled forged documents for Jews hidden in his bike framed during World War II training rides. He never spoke of it. Israel named his righteous among the nations.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

That's amazing. Yep, get it past the Nazis. They,

Gino Bartali’s Quiet Wartime Heroism

SPEAKER_04 16:37

you know. Brilliant, actually.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

So I'm surprised that's not like a movie or something.

SPEAKER_04 16:46

I don't know. Not a movie I'm aware of. I mean, it certainly could be. Uh, I'm not familiar, familiar with one, but maybe we need to look that up and see if that story was ever put in a movie.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yeah, maybe I should. That'd be good. I'll look that up for tomorrow. But um, I have some other things about stage nine and uh through ten, stage 11 through 15. I'm gonna hold off on those things. I have some great stuff for stage 16 through 21. Um, but today I never saw this on the broadcast. I was waiting for it. But the ride rode through um the Vesevere Valley today, and it's home of the 17,000-year-old cave painting. And I just thought that was absolutely cool. I never heard that today. I was kind of listening and watching for that, but if I missed it, I missed it. But I thought that was amazing. So got a lot of great stuff. Uh, the other stuff I have filed in chapter 13, I'm holding on to this one. So I've got some good stuff to to uh help us out.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

So yeah, that you know, they they have a they do a really good job of like telling you the different castles and the different uh manor homes

Ancient Cave Paintings Along The Route

SPEAKER_04 17:57

and and churches and that kind of stuff. But I did not hear about that either. But those act those cave paintings are some of the oldest cave paintings ever discovered in the world. Um, so that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

That's all I got today. Uh, I shouldn't say that's all I got because that's some amazing history and technology. Um I want to address a couple things. If you're following along, um, and if you recently heard some echoes, it's uh we've had some loop back issues. We think we have corrected them. Um I didn't hear it tonight. Did you hear it tonight?

SPEAKER_04 18:31

I may have heard it a little bit, but we'll see how everything washes out in production.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

So all right. So just want to address that. And then I have an exciting announcement. Ladies and gentlemen, if you like to watch us, you used to be able to only watch us on YouTube. And then we announced later on that you could watch us on Apple Podcasts. Well, a lot of you are not Apple fans, which is perfectly fine. That's the freedom. You can like what

Audio Fixes And Spotify Video Launch

SPEAKER_00 19:00

you like. But I have great news. We are now on Spotify video. So, yes, that is correct. If you didn't know, Spotify has video. Not every one of your podcasts will have it, but I'm proud to announce the Road Adventures of Cycling Man of Leisure will be there in video. So uh just wanted to mention that. So I'm excited. Three platforms to watch us.

SPEAKER_04 19:22

We're getting everywhere now. Wow, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

That's all I got. Uh I would be remiss if I didn't wish your daughter a happy birthday.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

I would as well, Maya. I hope you had a wonderful birthday today. Uh, I have a birthday one day, the following day she has a birthday. So we kind of just uh, you know, we like to keep them all stacked up here, but we're like a peloton of birthdays, just all right there. But uh tomorrow, stage nine, rolling punchy stage, four category climbs. Uh it's not a summit finish, but with those repeated uh climbs that could encourage attacks from the you know from breakaway specialists. Uh so we will see what that brings us.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

That sounds wonderful.

Birthdays And Stage 9 Preview

SPEAKER_00 20:10

I look forward to that, and then a rest day.