Welcome And On-The-Road Check-In

SPEAKER_01 1:29

All right. Well, good day, everyone. Uh, it's now time for another one of Cycling Men of Leisure's Leisure Breakaway, which is our mini podcast following every day of the Tour de France. I'm Michael, and with me, as always, is my good friend Adam.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Well, good evening or good morning. I guess it'll be morning when you're listening to this. Good morning, everybody. Good morning.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

I'm uh I'm once again uh still in Arkansas. Uh did not have good internet service where I was at. So I have uh I've taken the uh the podcast on the road here in Hot Springs.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

So are you having a good time with the family? That's the most important thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

We are having a good time. Hot Springs is a fun, a fun, cool town, lots of history. There's a national park here, uh, all sorts of things to do. We did a little little hike today to some falls, uh, went to a distillery, um, had some moonshine, so that was always a good time. I mean, I had some moonshine. My daughter did not have moonshine, and my my wife had some. But uh having a good time here.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Well, that's wonderful. I'm happy to hear that. Uh we got uh a couple things here. Um got uh I got a recap um for anyone who is just catching this episode. Uh got a recap of where we are, where we stand on the Tour de France 2026. A couple of announcements, uh, mentioned it before, but I'm happy to say we are now on Spotify video. If you like to watch us as opposed to listen to us, um, you can go to Spotify Video. For those of you who don't know, on the Spotify platform, Apple platform, uh you can actually just click a small little button there. It says video off or video on. Um, and so um also a little exciting thing we're gonna be trying tonight

Stage-By-Stage Recap Through Stage 9

SPEAKER_00 3:26

with YouTube, a little integration. Everything's gonna be a one-touch button, which I am a huge fan of. So uh excited about that. We'll see how that all goes.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Um before before you get going, yes, sir. Let me let me preface that I've got something to to say. We can save it till the end. Uh, but I did want to say uh today's rest day. Let's let's make sure we make that perfectly clear. Rest day on the tour.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

I was gonna say I was working on the budget. I wasn't resting.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

No rest day for you.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

No. Yes, today is the rest day. Um, and got some facts and figures about that. We'll get to that. Uh, what I thought I would do, if it's okay with you, is I'd just kind of give give us a snapshot of where we are today. Is that all right?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Uh yeah, go for it. Catch us up in case we we haven't been paying attention.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

All right. So this is the 113th edition of the Tour de France. 3,333 kilometers. Barcelona, this is the third Spanish start. I have episodes, I'm episodes. I have stage one through nine, uh, and through the rest days, some facts and figures. So stage one was Saturday, July 4th, left Barcelona. Uh those were the time trial days. It was 19.7 kilometers. Um Visma Lisa bike uh won the team trials. Uh each rider got an individual time. Vandegaard takes the first yellow jersey and he finished. Um he did uh yeah, he finished. And then uh stage two was Sunday, July the 5th, and we went 178 kilometers very hilly this day. UAE first and second um on the on the circuit. Uh Toddy uh gifts the win to Isaiah Del Toro, only second Mexican stage winner ever. Um, as you mentioned before earlier in these miniseries, Vanguard kept the yellow jersey. Um on stage three, uh, it was 196 kilometers in the mountains. Uh Toddy drops Vanegaard in the f and the final ramp, and he won by over two minutes and takes took the yellow jersey with some bonus seconds. And then on stage four was July 7th, it was 182 kilometers. Very hilly, it says breakaway of 30 plus gets uh 13 minutes. Um and uh let's see here. Uno X takes the yellow with the lead with nearly eight minutes. And then on stage five uh was in Poe, and that was 158 kilometers, and it was uh relatively flat. Olaf uh uh Kuju Kuju? Is that how you pronounce it? I believe it's uh Kovi. Thank you. Thank you. Koivy Koif, I appreciate that. And he wins uh bunch uh sprint, and then um and so that was an exciting the next day was uh stage six, uh which gave us 186 kilometers in the mountains, and this was the defining day. Uh Toddy attacked um and uh set up by Del Toro's acceleration solos, they beat Van Degar by two minutes and thirty-eight seconds and breaks the uh tournament climbing record and retakes the yellow for good, and when they see for good, which means he hasn't lost it since. Um brutal heat, though, on on July 9th. Um uh and stage seven um was 175 kilometers and was flat. Um Tim uh Merler, he won the bunch of sprints ahead. Oh yeah, I'm never gonna pronounce that. I'm gonna try though. Weren't gold jold. Uh I know you're getting messages from Armando now, so uh and then um but um stage eight um was on Saturday, July the eleventh. It was 182 kilometers, relatively flat. Um and then on stage nine, this is kind of interesting. It was cut by uh just under 31 kilometers, as you mentioned in yesterday's episode, uh, due to the extreme heat. As you mentioned in the episode, they did cut it off the front end, and um but they left the wonderful mountains in the back end. So uh where do we stand today? Uh we have Toddy and UAM Team Emirates. Uh he's sitting at 321704, and then then Vandegaard is two minutes and forty-two seconds behind him. Del Toro is three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, and then that goes down further. It's kind of hard to listen to a podcast if you're not watching us, but um so uh my question to you is two minutes and forty-two seconds from your time. Is that short of an accident or short of uh short of something major? Is that

GC Gap Talk And Who Can Crack

SPEAKER_00 8:36

uh obtainable? Two minutes and forty-two seconds?

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Oh, it's very much obtainable. Okay. Uh as I mentioned early on, I was worried that uh Tod A might uh you know jump so far ahead that we knew pretty much short of catastrophe that he was gonna win. That has not played out. Um he's ahead. Two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, that can easily be made up. Um I mean if Toddy has one one off day, it is very, very it would be very easy for uh Vindigo to make up that time and and do more. Um I mean obviously if there was a a wreck in the Peloton and Toddy got cooked up in that, uh if there was some kind of mechanical uh and Toddy found himself a car not close by or a teammate close by, uh there's a number of things that could happen, but it doesn't have to be catastrophic. I mean, if Toddy just has a bad day or Vindigo just really uh really tears it up, could easily, easily make up that time. So really at this point, it's uh it could it could easily uh go anywhere at this point.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

When we talk about the jerseys and classifications, uh the green jersey uh is uh Mads Peterson at 268 points. Uh um and then um we have the Polka Data jersey is Toddy with leading by 28 points for that. Um the white jersey, Del Toro leads um, and then the teams, as you mentioned yesterday, Laddie Trek uh leads the EAU by 27 uh minutes and eight seconds. Um uh we do have eight riders that have left uh the race. They have abandoned the race. Um and um and then the rest day today, riders do about a 60 to 90 minute uh recovery pace to stay loose. But for the staff, 12-hour workday, full day. They have press conferences, medical checks, tactical debriefs, talking points, um uh Vendegaard can he find two minutes and forty-two seconds? Um uh Toddy in yellow, Del Toro in White, uh seven second white jersey fight, and then uh but also uh Phillipson's winless sprint campaign, so that we could talk about that. Do you have anything to add about that?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Uh no, I I I uh there's there's there's more sprinting to come, so I'm not too worried about that. I think that he will uh he will get a win uh during this this tour. Um I feel pretty confident in that. Uh I don't really see, I know the white jersey is really close. Honestly, I think we'll see at the end of this that Del Toro will take it. Del Toro

Jerseys Rest Day Workload And Heat

SPEAKER_01 11:36

is, I mean, the clock is actually I feel the clock is actually way closer than than the way that Del Toro is riding, so I think Del Toro is gonna pull that off as a win. Um so we'll we'll we'll see. Uh again, the heat has played a huge factor so far. Um I think it's gonna continue to play a huge factor uh as we continue on for the for the final two weeks here. So uh I think we got a lot of great racing ahead of us. So we'll have to we'll have to see. But a lot of sprints left, a lot of mountains left. We'll see how it goes. It's anybody's game at this point.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

So um what's next? Uh stage 10 tomorrow, Bastille Day, uh about 167 kilometers. It's a mountain stage. There are seven categorized climbs, 38 meters of elevation, um, and uh the flat hilly days, uh yeah, so that's it. Um it is a mountain stage. I apologize.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

And I will say something about Bastille Day. Bastille Day, obviously, uh huge French holiday. Um that is the day that the French riders, every French rider out there wants to win on Bastille Day. Doesn't happen very often. Uh the last time it happened, I believe, was in 1985, that a French writer, uh Bernard Inu, I believe, is the last one in '85 who won on Bastille Day. The French riders are always trying to win on that day because that would be huge. You know, it'd be like an American uh writer winning on the 4th of July. Um, it would be huge. Doesn't happen very often, but you will you typically see on Bastille Day that the French really want, like are really pushing, regardless of their team, to get out there. Um if there's a breakaway, they want to be in the breakaway because they know uh that would be a huge honor. So that's always exciting to see how that plays out.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Stage 10 will also start in a town that makes over half of France's umbrellas. Um it is one of France's rainiest and coldest towns.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Well, you can't have too many French umbrellas, so I guess that's a good thing. We are they are they better or worse than say the Swiss or the German umbrellas?

SPEAKER_00 14:09

I I don't know, but oh I bet you the Swiss make a fine umbrella. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Not a lot of

Stage 10 Bastille Day Preview

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Swiss are very good at making things that move. So are the Germans, you know, moving parts. Not a lot of moving parts to uh to an umbrella, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Uh stage 10 will finish where Van Degaard outsprinted Toddy in one of the great duels of the 2024 tour in the shadows of Pierre Mary, Europe's largest uh volcano. And it's extinct. So it is extinct. Let's hope so.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Uh yeah, 2024 Vandegaard uh Vandegaard uh really really showed uh Toddy. So we'll see. I mean, he's got a good track record on that.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

That's all I got for today. That's a little rest day update. No rest for the wicked for you and I. But uh yes, I'm uh I'm enjoying, I've learned a lot so far. I just want I told you that I hope to learn during this during this. I've learned that I cannot pronounce French names.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

I also have learned that I also can't pronounce Danish names, Belgium names, uh Spanish names. It's okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Oh, sorry. Sorry, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

I I will admit I'm not doing a whole lot better. I did caveat early that I have very little foreign language experience, but uh I will say to our defense, you listen to different broadcasts of the tour and different announcers, and there the professional commentators are not all on the same page as far as how to pronounce these names. So I don't feel so bad.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Well, I have a couple things. Our team member and good friend Ed uh made me smile ear to ear this morning. Uh he sent us a message and uh and he said, uh let me find it here. He said, uh a breakaway tune earworm at 1.6 is not something something something you want to experience. So uh and then of course we know that Melanie reached out. Uh they're gonna be at Ragbri. Her and Keith are gonna be there. They're gonna have uh a Ragbri get together. Um for those of you who are going to Ragbri in the area. Um they are gonna be hosting a meet and greet for the team, anyone going. It's gonna be Saturday, July 8th from 2.30 to 3 o'clock at the corner of Iowa Avenue and 7th Street in front of the library. So come meet other team members if you want to be cycling men or cycling women of leisure. I believe that Keith will be sporting his de Brim, and we obviously love him for that. Um listen, Keith, do not take any negativity from Michael. Um and then I thought I would talk about something else. Our good friend Wade Paul wrote us, and he said, I saw that

Umbrellas Volcano Finish And Name Struggles

SPEAKER_00 17:06

the tour to donut was last weekend, and the race where you get time taken off for every donut you eat at two donut shops in the middle of the 36-mile race. This raises the question Who do you think win a five-mile race at 2% incline where you have to eat six donuts before riding? Joey Chestnut or Toddy Puchacor? Uh obviously a bicycle and gear would all be the same. So that's question to Ponder. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Chestnut, who didn't he just win another eating contest or uh he's always winning, you know, hot dog eating contests or whatever, but I don't know if he can ride worth diddly.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

So can you imagine like being a doctor, one of those people like, so how's your cholesterol?

SPEAKER_01 17:57

You know, the doctor just like he walks in the door, it's like you're gonna die if you don't stop this. This is not a healthy relationship with food.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

I've won 15 years in a row. Yeah, let me show you your medical chart. I believe you.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

You've never seen one of those guys make it to like age 80, have you?

SPEAKER_00 18:16

No, no, no. But uh appreciate the community reaching out. Um, we will uh mention the Ragbri meetup up until uh makes logical sense. Uh obviously what we don't want to mention it past, but uh we appreciate Keith and Melanie doing that. Um, and I really hope that you and the family are enjoying your your trip.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

We are, and I did want to say, even if you're you've not done anything with our community, these cycling men or the cycling women of leisure, uh, and you're gonna be at Ragbri, you don't have to have a card, you don't have to do anything. All you have to do is show up and and uh say hello and and join in the in the community that they're creating there. So I just wanted to have an open invitation to anybody that there's no special requirement for you to attend the meet and greet or anything like that. It's just an open community,

Listener Notes Ragbrai Meetup And Donut Debate

SPEAKER_01 19:06

get together, meet some new people, that type of thing. So I would encourage anybody who's got some time there on Saturday. Once you get in, you got some free time, go down there, hang out, and uh meet some fellow cyclists.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

So definitely. I I I uh definitely know that meeting Keith and Millenni would be a lot of fun and other people that are probably there as well. I've been watching people uh on social media already comments, so that's great. Um unless you have anything else, I will I will give everybody what I know they've stuck around this long for.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

More of me?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

No. No.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Listen to the blue.