SPEAKER_04 1:22

All right. Welcome back to the Cycling Men of Leisure's Leisure Breakaway. That is basically our mini podcast tracking the events and the winners and the losers and everything going on at this year's Tour de France. Stage 17 looked like one last opportunity for the sprinters before the race heads into the uh the high alps. Uh, but it certainly delivered a lot of drama, and we're gonna break it down for you. I'm Michael, and with me as always is Adam.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Good evening. I've got breakaway, I've got breakaway, and some more breakaway. A lot of breakaway

Welcome And Stage 17 Stats

SPEAKER_03 2:04

there. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 2:06

Okay. Well, would you like me to start things off?

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Yeah, let's keep it normal. I mean, now that you're back from uh Arkansas and you're back in your studio on a regular basis, we got you grounded. I think everyone is liking the format.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

All right. Well, uh today's distance was 174.7 kilometers. For us Americans, that is 108.6 miles. Elevation gained was about uh 2,360 meters. That's roughly uh 7,750 feet, and today's temperature was actually super nice. 26 degrees Celsius, that's 79 degrees Fahrenheit, which is far better than what they've uh been seeing. Um Jasper Phillipson of Alperson uh took the win today. His winning time was three hours forty-one minutes and thirteen seconds, and he completed that going 47.23 kilometers an hour. That is 29.44 miles per hour. Now, this stage was classified as flat, but I think anybody who watched it did see some, you know, some pretty good hills. There was four categorized climbs, so um I wouldn't call it flat, but they didn't ask me. So and there we have it. And Rimco uh and the Toddy uh little uh spat they're having as far as uh seeing who's gonna be number one and this whole thing's over, uh pretty much stayed exactly the same.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

So cool, cool. Okay, well, that's stage 17. Good show. All right, buddy. We'll see you next. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Well, I'll give you a couple highlights if you'd like me to do that. Yeah, yeah. I got some too, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

Okay. Uh Phillipson finally got his first win at this tour. I think he's won uh 11, counting this one. Uh Tour de France stage victories. And um, so that was was kind of nice. Came through, uh broke through with a powerful sprint. Uh Matthew Vanderpool delivered a beautiful leadout uh for him uh to help him beat a couple of other riders. Um the green jersey did get a little tighter. Uh basically he moved within seven points of uh Pederson. So uh we'll see there. That's uh that could change uh here

Philipsen’s First Win And Green Fight

SPEAKER_04 4:53

in the near future. I told you yesterday that I thought there was gonna be a lot of breakaways and that they were gonna get pulled back. Man, I was not expecting today. There was a lot of breakaways, but man, the Peloton just fragmented. There was times when there was like the the main breakaway, and then there was like three or four other, you know, segments going, you know. It's like we got the Peloton here and this first breakaway and this second breakaway and this third breakaway. I mean, it was crazy, and it went like that most of the day. Uh so I was not expecting that whatsoever. Couple of uh rough moments. One came with Adam Yates, he had a stomach illness, and you could really see it today, and he finished 26 minutes behind, which definitely uh could affect uh UAE's support in the mountains. Uh definitely was not riding the way he normally rides, and it was uh it was pretty pretty obvious something was going on there. And then I in the towards the end of the race, uh Jasper Stoyuan, he made this strong late move and was caught only three kilometers from the end, uh, from the finish line. And let me tell you, when when he broke out, I was like, Oh, this would be so cool if he made it, but he didn't. I I do like uh like his ambition.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Cool. So um you and I both do our own notes. Yours are usually 99.9% right. I took some notes today and um used full AI and and actually I had Claude talking to Chat GPT and and back and forth, which was funny to watch them have a conversation. But I got some pretty cool things here. So um said it took about 75 kilometers for anything to resemble what would be considered a stable breakaway to form. At one point, the race split with the yellow jersey wearer Pagaccha, Evan Poole, and several others contenders in the front section, uh while third place Del

A Shattered Peloton And Key Moments

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Toro caught behind. They briefly made a stage look like as though it could be affect the general classification, so that was kind of interesting. I did kind of see that, but um as you mentioned, the fight for green. We do have the a gamble immediately after the uh intermediate sprint. Jasper um Stuven uh tacked alone. Say it again. I believe it's Stoyuven. Stoyuan, Stoyven, Stoyven. Uh he tacked alone, clever moment. Uh the other riders just had completed an important sprint. Uh he took a gamble, uh, which was kind of he he was finally caught, as you said, three and a half kilometers away. Um the as you mentioned, the uh Patterson now leads for 452 points for the Green Jersey. Kind of a twist today. That was that was great. Um and the overall standings, as you mentioned, but gotcha. 60 hours, four minutes and seventeen seconds, he's been on the bike. Uh that's almost like a full-time job. I'm just kidding, it is a full-time job. Um, as you mentioned, four minutes and 32 seconds, 7 pool, and then 6 minutes and 51 seconds for Del Toro. Um but uh well, you can talk about stage 18 in a second, but uh yesterday I mentioned that I was gonna talk about the breakaway. And um what is it? What it's a for, what what what are the pros, what are the cons. And so I've I've really tried to break this down. Um, this is my own research, actually. So because um I uh you would say the word breakaway, and then of course we did the song, which do you want the song real quick?

SPEAKER_04 9:03

No, I don't want the song, but it's a very catchy tune.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

And and for a guy who had not paid attention up until now uh to the tour, except for you know, I knew about Lance Armstrong and of course the the big scandal. And by the way, you know, when the scandal went off, just as a side note, Nike had these very, very expensive

GC Snapshot And AI Notes

SPEAKER_03 9:26

sweatshirts. They sold them like pennies on the dollar. I still have some to this day. So um, but I was uneducated what the breakaway was, and so of course I've been learning all along, and I have I have a kind of kind of uh a little bit of a breakdown of the breakaway.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Breakawa is a cycling rolling gamble, small group escape uh escapes the main field, works together to build a lead, and then if the Peloton does not catch them, turns on one another for the win. And so that's the short uh version. But I have some cat and mouse game is what it is. Just back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Um it says um picture doll picture the the Tour de France as a large school or fish are moving down the road. The main group is called the Peloton. The breakaway happens when one or two riders, more commonly a handful of riders, accelerates away from that group and establishes a gap. It's called the breakaway for the simplest possible reason. The riders have broken away from the main field. Uh so you may you may hear the commentators call it the break or the escape, or in

What A Breakaway Really Is

SPEAKER_03 10:41

French, uh le chape. How did I do? Uh why don't we just call it a breakaway?

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Breakaway.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Yeah. That's okay because my cousin Mark said, Adam, I love you, but uh no, buddy, you can't pronounce uh he said uh I don't want to misquote him. He said uh he says, I love you, Adam. Bless your heart. Uh Al DeHughes is one of the most iconic switchback and tour has ever showcased. And so I obviously Al Boaz. So yeah, that one's yeah, that one.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Thank you. 21 hairpin turns, by the way. Just something to look forward to. 21 hairpin turns. Oh, very cool. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 11:27

So we could maybe that's our next trip.

SPEAKER_04 11:31

Going down, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Okay. Um, but getting back to the breakaway, um, why riders attempted? Why why would someone do this? For riders, especially those who cannot outsprint the fastest sprinters, uh, breakaway may be their only realistic route to a stage victory. A chance to win, uh, competition points, team tactics, visibility. Um, and so what is what are the costs and the risks of doing a breakaway or taking that taking that initiative? Uh it could be a risk that it's more work. A small group receives much less shelter from the wind than the Peloton. Um you could have tomorrow's

Breakaway Rewards Risks And Cat And Mouse

SPEAKER_03 12:15

price, a rider may empty the tank today, such as their physical tank. They they lower out all the or blow out all their energy, and there's no guarantee. So the group can ride in front for hours and hours and hours, and then eventually the Peloton could catch back up to them. So they could build that lead and come back. Um riders may skip turns, uh attack one another, or stop cooperating as the finish approaches. So here you have a breakaway, and you're like, you look at each other, like, all right, we're gonna do this. And then at the very end, everyone turns on their turns on each other, you know, each other.

SPEAKER_04 12:56

So that's kind of and that's fun to it's fun to watch, actually, because you'll see them, and you know, they they flick their elbow when they're ready for the person, you know, to take over. And there's some times where he flicks his elbow, and then he flicks his elbow again, and the guy behind him's like, Nope, I'm just here for a ride.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

It says the chase, keeping the break on a leash. The Peloton usually wants to catch a breakaway, but not too early. Catch it with 60 meters remaining, 60 kilometers, I'm sorry, uh remaining, and another group may attack. Chasing teams, therefore, often hold the escape uh at a manageable distance, like a fisherman allows a fish to run while keeping the tension on the line. So um fascinating paradox, strong rider's not always the most welcome in the rider breakaway. Sometimes close or an overall lead, the yellow jerseys team will chase the other escapes, may refuse to cooperate with that rider or help drop them. Um, but I wanted to I wanted to kind of look at some breakaway top stories. And so um we have Oscar in 2006, the breakaway that affected that won the tour. Uh uh how do you pronounce P-E-R-E-I-R-O since you've been watching this forever? Pierrio? Pierre. He uh he began stage 13 nearly half an hour behind the race leader, so the Peloton treated him as harmless and allowed his group an enormous advantage. He recovered almost 30 minutes and moved into the yellow. And further twist, Floyd Landis eventually disqualification, which made him the winner of the entire tour. So in 2006. Uh, and then in 2004, an accidental national hero. Could you imagine like and Michael Sharp, the accidental national hero? So I'll take it. I'll take it. All right, fair enough. Uh, this gentleman entered a breakaway, Thomas Vocular.

Famous Breakaways And Cruel Near Misses

SPEAKER_03 15:01

He entered a breakaway that gained enough time to put him in yellow. He was not expected to keep it, but defended the jersey for 10 days, transforming himself into a relatively little known French writer into one of the tourists' most beloved figures. I believe his last name is Vokler. Yeah, that's what it is. Of course, that's exactly what it is. I was just testing you. See, I can't do it if you like spell it to me, but you know. Jack Bauer. You saw the television show 24, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:30

Oh, yeah. Jack was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

Yeah. Well, in 2014, he had the heartbreak after okay, it wasn't really Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer, the cyclist, he had a heartbreak. After riding in the front for almost the entire stage, Bauer was swallowed by the charging Peloton only a few dozen meters from the finish. He collapsed afterwards in tears. Perfectly illustrates the cruelty of a breakaway. Hours of hope can disappear in seconds. And finally, in 2022, something more relevant, closer to what we're talking about today, Mr. Simon Clark. How the gamble paid off. On the tour's cobbled stage, Clark joined the Sixth Rider Escape and won by an extraordinary narrow margin over Taco Van De Hoorn. How's that? Van De Hoorn? Van De Hoorn? Taco? That's good enough. You know what? We just call him Taco. His name is Taco. Go ahead. Buddy, don't eat the shredded lettuce at Taco Bell right now, okay?

SPEAKER_04 16:40

Don't eat shredded lettuce, period.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

Yeah, you know what? It's not just Taco Bell. They're using them as a I was gonna say, because they're using them as an escape coat. Uh it's any of the Taylor Farms lettuce. Stay away. Otherwise, you're gonna end up uh someplace you're gonna go.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

Here's my here's my theory. Just don't eat lettuce.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

This has been your whole this has been your whole plan. This is all part of my master plan to get rid of lettuce. Well, Mr. Taco, right? He crashed and mechanical problems caused chaos among the overall contenders behind them. Being ahead brought both opportunity and some protection from the trouble. So uh, anyways, I I just was uh, you know, when you first mentioned the breakaway, I cannot lie. I'm like, I wonder what a breakaway is. I figured a couple first times watching it, but uh thought it would be a little interesting to uh talk about what a breakaway it is, in case people are like the leisure breakaway. And they're like, What a breakaway is, or unless it's just me.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

So it's where we broke away from our regular podcast and did something completely different.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

We're cursed. No one's caught us yet. I was gonna say, we're cursed. We can't get back to the regular show. We keep trying, we're just having some technical difficulties.

SPEAKER_04 17:59

So it's not technical, it's timing difficulties, I would call it.

SPEAKER_03 18:02

Yeah, timing, timing. You know, if you moved to Eastern time, we wouldn't have this problem.

SPEAKER_04 18:07

So if we moved to Eastern time, there'd be a lot of other problems.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

So well, listen, I mean, let's talk about stage eight. Sprinters have their final realistic opportunity.

SPEAKER_04 18:20

They do. Uh stage eighteen.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

185.2 kilometers, that's 115.1 miles, and that includes approximately 3,900 meters uh or 12,800 feet of climb. It finishes uphill. Um it fall uh following a final climb of about one uh 7.1 kilometers and an average gradient of 6.7 percent. And this is going to be the first of three major alpine stages uh to close out the tour. So the sprinters are likely likely just to be fighting simply to make that time limit because this will definitely not be in the sprinters' wheelhouse.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Well, I uh

Stage 18 Alpine Preview And Bold Prediction

SPEAKER_03 19:16

we're coming to the end of our mini-series. I'm I'm I'm uh gonna ask you every night. So four minutes and thirty-two seconds, stage 18. What do you think?

SPEAKER_04 19:29

Okay as you know, I'm a realist. I try to call things as I see them. I'm not overly pessimistic, but I'm not overly optimistic. I I still think, I still think there is a chance. And I I think you know what, a lot of things have been happening to Toddy's team and things of that nature. Uh I think there is still a chance. We will see after tomorrow's ride if if Rimco does not pick up at least 45 seconds in tomorrow's ride, it's over.

unknown 20:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 20:11

He's got to pick up at least 45 seconds tomorrow to make it work. That's my prediction. My unprofessional opinion. Uh, you know, what does that clown out in Kansas know about right? That's what I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Well, I think you know a lot, and actually, uh I normally wouldn't uh give you a big kiss, kiss, kiss, and and on your butt, but uh you taught me a lot about the tour, and and obviously I don't know how to pronounce anything, but that's just because I'm a stupid American. But uh at the same time, uh I've learned a lot about the tour. I've learned about you know the time I had no clue about the time trials. I knew about the rest days um because when you and I were traveling somewhere, you said, I said you gonna you can put the you can put the race on, and you said no, it's okay, it's a it's a rest day. So um, so I knew about that. Um didn't know the competitiveness, uh, learned a lot about the teams, I've learned about the salary for sure. I had I had no clue I how they got paid. And so uh throughout this journey, I've I've uh I've learned a lot. You give me a new perspective on the tour. And what I'm really loving is is the community members who are tech like Mandy Johnson. I gotta give her credit. She's been texting me about some podcasts and some. You and I talked about um that the hid World War II documents or World War I or two documents within the frame of the bicycle. We talked about that.

SPEAKER_04 21:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

Well, Mandy actually came forward and showed me a book um that is all about that, and it's called Road to Valor, um, a true story of World War II Italy, the Nazis and the Cyclists who inspired a nation. Now she was very truthful that she said that um she said, been meaning to send you this for a few days, not sure about a movie, but there is a book. It gets 4.5 stars. I purchased, I

Listener Messages Book Tip And Swiss Francs

SPEAKER_03 22:09

purchased this four years ago and haven't finished it. Um I can tell her how it ends. I mean, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

Yeah. Should have checked the bike. They should have checked the bike. They may have won. They didn't check the bike. Way to go.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

She says it's a great story, but I don't think the authors have a very good storyteller. I might give it another go, though. So I just thought that was really cool that that you know you and I were talking about it, and I kept saying it's gotta be a movie. But here is the uh, for those who like to watch, here is the uh cover of the book.

SPEAKER_04 22:44

There you go, Road to Valor. So thank you, man. That is a great that is a great story. Uh I mean it's just one of many of all the ways that spies and the French underground and stuff got messages back and forth, but uh it's really cool. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

I feel as though we need to mention our good friend Armando. Uh he says, hey guys, I owe an apology for not getting back to you in a timely manner. Hey, we understand completely. Absolutely. Uh, between coming out to LA, Tahoe, driving back and forth, the hard work with uh keeping up with two grandsons. Hey, congratulations on the grandsons, of course. Uh, he did want to say um here that the penalties are in Swiss francs because the UCI headquarters are in Switzerland. Um, so that's pretty cool. I just wanted to mention that we've talked about the the money going back and forth and francs and Deutsche Marks, and I'm just kidding. But um uh but thank you, Armando. Appreciate your your uh your input there, sir.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

And to and to all of our Swiss listeners, I apologize. I'm I'm just playing. It's real money. I'm just having fun with it. Sorry. I don't want to offend anybody when I, you know, was joking about their money.

SPEAKER_03 23:57

Now, see, that's funny because I always say I'm the Switzerland of transportation because people are like, well, what side of the aisle are you on? I'm like, uh, I'm I'm the Switzerland. I I'm neutral, baby. I am neutral. Well, all right. Listen, for all of those uh who are taking the time to write us and and message us, um, also want to make uh sure we give a little shout out to all of our friends who are at Rag Bri. I am so happy to see that the weather is much cooler for you.

SPEAKER_04 24:25

Cool down, yes.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

Yes, cooled down. So uh I know you're all waiting for the song, so I don't think I should make them wait anymore.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

Let it roll.