tour_de_france tender_square i love listening to the commentary from phil liggett and bob roll, they compliment each other, giving insight into the cyclists, the terrain, and the historical places passed. i've only ever watched the race in the era of covid, not realizing until today that the two men are typically onsite rather than watching the action from separate studios that broadcast their voices from london and the us. it's good to see them. it's even better to see them together. 220701 ... tender_square on the second stage yesterday, 25-year-old fabio jakobsen nabbed his first win in the biggest bike race in the world. two years ago, he suffered a heinous crash in the tour de pologne that could've killed him when he hit the barriers at speed of 60 kph. he was put into a medically-induced coma. he lost a heavy amount of blood and teeth, damaged his brain and his upper respiratory tract. his current team, quick-step, decided to bet on jakobsen as their sprinter instead of bringing 37-year-old veteran mark cavendish, after cavendish tied eddie merckx last year for the most amount of career stage wins in le tour. the acceleration jakobsen showed at the end of 200km route was incredible, beating out both wout van aert and peter sagan. quick-step has already won the first two stages of this year's tour. 220703 ... tender_square tadej pogačar slipped into the yellow jersey on yesterday's stage six after wout van aert lost too much energy in an early breakaway, falling further behind in the standings. pogačar's won the tour the past two years in a row. he's only 23 years old. he's a dynamic and gifted cyclist who excels in sprints *and* climbs and is probably one of the youngest gc riders these competing cycling teams have--he rides with a maturity and skill that defies his years. but a part of me is bummed that this year's winner could already been decided in the tour's first week. it'd be nice to have some shakeups and surprises. 220708 ... tender_square hugo houle, a 31 year old rider from quebec, won stage 16 of the tour, his first ever road race win, during a very difficult route in the pyrenees. canada has not won a stage since 1988. houle's teammate on israel-premier tech, michael woods, came in third. in last year's tour, i watched houle attempt a stage win. he had gotten into an early breakaway and led the pack, but was overtaken by other riders. this morning, he broke away with 29 others, and attacked when he reached the final climb of mur de péguère. houle was riding in honour of his younger brother, pierrik, who had died in a hit-and-run 10 years prior. pierrik was training to be a pro-cyclist alongside his brother. when hugo crossed the finish line in foix, a full minute ahead of his chasers, he raised his head and pointed to the sky. i wept. 220719 ... tender_square two weeks ago, i wrote that i was hoping the 2022 tour was not a forgone conclusion at the end of week one, with pogačar wearing the yellow jersey in paris. a few days later, i got my wish; jonas vingegaard, a 25-year-old rider from denmark nabbed stage 11 and with it, the yellow jersey moved from team uae to team jumbo-visma. vingegaard and pogačar have been chasing one another ever since, shadowing the other's moves. at the start of stage 18, pogačar was in second place for the yellow jersey, nearly two and half minutes behind vingegaard, a gap that could only be shortened on the final moutain stage through the pyrenees before sunday's finish. the most incredible scene occurred, even phil liggett, a tour commentator for fifty years said he'd never seen anything like it. pogačar and vingegaard were descending the second-to-last climb together, on a dangerous stretch of pavement with loose gravel in the corners on the turns. pogačar was attacking, pushing vingegaard to take risks on each sharp turn. at one point, vingegaard's back tire skidded; he extended his left leg from the bike and somehow righted himself, and out of skill and sheer luck, managed to keep himself upright and on the wheel of pogačar. not long after, pogačar heavily slowed into a left turn and vingegaard overtook him. pogačar left the road, his bike sliding into the loose gravel and grass and he fell off his bike. he made a quick recovery and got back on. vingegaard could have attacked at this point, cycling further ahead of his competitor. instead, he slowed down and kept looking behind him, waiting for pogačar to catch up. when pogačar arrived, vingegaard held out his hand and pogačar took it in his and they shook as they cycled, taking it easy on the rest of roadway. vingegaard didn't want to keep the yellow jersey if it meant that he was taking advantage of a fallen rider. the scene brought tears to my eyes. and on top of that, pogačar has been so gracious as vingegaard has remained in the yellow jersey day after day, offering his heartfelt congratulations in the cool-down area at the finish line of each stage. on the final climb, pogačar was dropped and vingegaard pushed ahead under the pace-making of van aert. when van aert dropped away, the yellow jersey was left alone, cycling for the summit of the hautacam. vingegaard managed to put another minute between him and pogačar, which means vingegaard--baring injury or catching covid over the next couple of days--will be the 2022 winner of the tour de france on sunday. 220721 ... tender_square stage one of 2023's race begins today in bilbao. the next three weeks of racing are going to be riveting. 230701 ... tender_square the tour is about to enter its third week and i wish i had written more about some of the stages, especially canadian michael wood's amazing first-time stage win. but what i do want to say is this: i'm really fucking tired of spectators with cell phones being inattentive and causing crashes with the riders. it's disrespectful, selfish, and dangerous. is it worth risking the career of a professional rider so that you can get footage for your socials? 230716 what's it to you? who go blather from