Coincidence or not. The Pyrenees have bears again. Those animals responsible for what is now considered a thriving population came from Slovenia.
Tadej Pogacar’s fiancé is named Urska which translates as strong as a bear and finally the place I was staying before the final mountain range is assaulted by this TdF was L’Ours des Corbieres. The last word being the mountain range I could see from my window and of course l’ours means bear in French.
I began to imagine that somehow all this was tied together by the soft toy given to the yellow jersey-wearer each day on the podium but that’s when it doesn’t bear up anymore. The riders are given a lion.
I can’t even bring it back with the famous nursery rhyme where three furry characters discover someone has been eating their porridge as Geraint Thomas in the last podium position has his claws out just to stay there. He won’t be stealing anything from under the noses of his rivals.
This race is lining up to be an affair between two individuals and like the Pyrenees it’s all the more authentic for it. The Tour functions best when there’s a rivalry. If there’s animosity then all the better, though this younger generation seem to have bypassed personal aggression for likes on Instagram and self-depreciation on Twitter.
Authenticity awaits them on stages 18 and 19 despite the last of the mountain days starting in Lourdes, a place which promises miracles for the desperate and the broken. The peloton isn’t the audience they usually serve and probably won’t be duped into buying a flashing effigy of the Virgin Mary. It’s not like that’ll save the ones that do anyway.
Your performances or lack of in the third week of a Grand Tour aren’t influenced by prayer, you can offer thanks afterwards when you see the road to Paris is considerably less difficult than you’ve just had to deal with but being hopeful before won’t make much difference.
There’s a natural brutality in this region that’s missing from the more glamorous Alps, the weather has more affect, the terrain is more rugged, the accumulation of efforts more unforgiving. Throw in a thunderstorm or two and the battle for yellow has the potential to become of epic proportions. Pogacar is going to hunt down Vingegaard at every opportunity in the coming days, one sign of weakness and he’ll be pounced on like the sheep that the Slovenian bears are blamed for killing.
Those same locals won’t be as hostile to him though as the crowds that come to the race are as enthusiastic as you can get. There’ll be a similar number of flags being waved like at Dutch Corner on Alpe D’Huez however they belong to the Catalans, a fiercely proud people of northern Spain that have an extensive cycling history. They might not have anyone who is going to trouble the current hierarchy however. Enric Mas is in the top ten but he has as many hot days as he does cold ones.
The latter is something everyone could do with a bit of because as much as we feared the race being crushed by Pogacar a week ago, the heat has done it instead. I’m sure the organisers ASO would like to see a proper finale to this Tour.
One which they’ve designed to prolong the suspense until potentially the time trial on Saturday. However, the peloton is entering bear country and anything and everything tends to happen. Racing in a thunderstorm with lightning thrown in for good measure is proper scary and yet it’s one of life’s great experiences. Spotting a wild bear might be just as good.
