The Tour organizers have clearly been busy brainstorming new ways to improve the race, from restructuring the points competition to making changes to the daily sign on routine, both for the riders and the fans. The most notable of these sign on changes is the sign on itself. No longer satisfied with old fashioned paper and pen, the peloton will sign on digitally for the 102nd race edition. Race staff were seen explaining the new sign on process to the UCI commissarie shortly before the riders were due to arrive. A couple of people told me the system was recently tested with success. The riders would sign with a stylus and pressed the confirm/validate button, whereupon his signature would appear on a large screen for the crowd to see.
When the sixty minute sign on window opened, it took another ten minutes as usual for the first riders to show up. Gorka Izagirre and the bulk of Cofidis climbed the steps to the podium and were promptly told to take a seat. Having never seen the UCI make riders wait like this, I can only assume it was due to the new sign on screen.
Whatever the delay was, it was soon resolved.
But first Luis Angel Mate made himself at home.
No surprise that Lars Boom received huge cheers, though his presence at the Tour at all is something of a surprise. And simultaneously not at all a surprise. Late Friday night, after the deadline for last minute rider substitutions had passed, the MPCC notified the Dutch rider his test results showed low levels of cortisol and that, according to the requirements of the organization, he was required to sit out from any competition for 8 days or until his cortisol levels returned to normal. When Lotto Jumbo received the same news on the eve of the Giro d’Italia, they followed the rules of the voluntary organization and sidelined George Bennet. The kiwi climber was later able to prove that his test results were the consequence of a permitted inhaler. Low cortisol levels may indicate any number of things including elevated stress or doping.
Astana has spent much of the past winter and spring fighting to maintain their World Tour license after several positive doping tests came back for Astana riders and riders in their development squad. One might expect Astana to bench Boom and adhere to the MPCC’s rules as a display that they take rider health and anti-doping seriously. Instead, team manager Alexander Vinokourov, himself a retired rider who served a 2 year doping ban and has been accused of buying a race win, opted to start the Classics specialist. As far as my two cents goes, I never expected Vinokourov to pull Boom, a rider he added to Astana’s roster during the off season specifically to support 2014 Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali in the stage 4 cobbles. While the team’s decision may be subject to debate, I’d like to raise the issue of why the MPCC has on several occasions notified teams at the last minute that one of their Grand Tour riders displayed low cortisol levels. I’m in favor of looking out for the health of the riders and to investigate possible doping, but it seems almost like the World Tour teams who have voluntarily agreed to follow a series of rules more strict than what the UCI requires essentially risk being punished when the MPCC is able to demand a team withdraws a rider and start a three week race with only eight cyclists. Can the MPCC not alert teams when it’s still possible to call in a reserve rider?
Bauke Mollema signed autographs for fans amid a scrum of photographers.
When Lotto Jumbo arrived to claim their awards as the best overall team (if you’d like to see their prize, simply scroll up to the photo of Mate and the stuffed cows again), the stage was chock full of riders waiting to sign on. The UCI and Tour officials cleared the riders from the stage, saying they didn’t need to sign on, and ushered Lotto Jumbo up for the brief award ceremony. It seems one feature of the new sign on system is that someone can simply press “validate” and then a rider is considered signed on. I may be wrong about that, but I witnessed around 15 riders being sent away without having signed on. And not once did a signature appear on the screen. Curious.
The street was full of screaming fans, riders, media, and race cars trying to drive towards the start.
Several BMC riders and their former teammate Steve Morabito took the opportunity to retreat to the relative calm of shaded seats ahead of the race start.
In the final minutes before the peloton rolled out to start stage 2, the mast few riders who had returned to their team buses zipped by one last time.
Ian Stannard.
Sep Vanmarcke got a thumbs up from the kid next to me.
Jan Bakelants.
Jakob Fuglsang and Damien Gaudin.
Johan Vansummeren.
An anxious Peter Sagan worked with a team mechanic to resolve a mechanical issue.
While the stage’s profile was dead flat, it promised to be a tough day. The peloton expected echelons and the weather conditions were so harsh at the finish that the inflatable arch marking the final kilometer had to be taken down. The day started sunny but quickly turned miserable due to driving rain and winds.
The peloton allowed a four man break to escape but they were kept in a short leash, never gaining more than a couple of minutes. Over the 166 kilometers, the peloton split and rejoined several times, pulled back breaks only to let new breaks go clear, and was held up due to several crashes. Dropped riders got back on while other riders got dropped. With under 40k remaining, a front group with about 25 GC and stage favorites gained an advantage that ultimately exceed one minute. It was from this group that a sprint was launched, snatched by Andre Greipel ahead of Sagan and Fabian Cancellara. The result saw a redistribution of jerseys after just one day in yellow for Rohan Dennis with Cancellara claiming yellow.
Tomorrow’s stage will offer no rest for the weary. With four categorized climbs, the race finishes atop the punishing Mur de Huy after 159.5 kilometers. Look for Alejandro Valverde, Dan Martin, Michal Kwiatkowski, Joaquim Rodriguez, Bauke Mollema, Michael Albasini, and Rui Costa to be among those to have a crack at the stage. Cycling in Belgium is racing at its best and several riders have been eyeing this stage since the route was announced.
Today’s 35 autographs came from: 7 Michele Scarponi, 9 Lieuwe Westra, 27 Steve Morabito, 39 Geraint Thomas, 47 Peter Sagan, 52 Winner Anacona, 54 Alex Dowsett, 59 Alejandro Valverde, 68 Greg Van Avermaet, 72 Lars Bak, 79 Tim Wellens, 86 Simon Gescke, 91 Joaquim Rodriguez, 98 Tiago Machado, 111 Michal Kwiatkowski, 112 Mark Cavendish, 118 Rigoberto Uran, 119 Julien Vermote, 122 Bryan Coquard, 123 Cyril Gautier, 144 Stijn Devolder, 148 Gregory Rast, 149 Haimar Zubeldia, 155 Nelson Oliveira, 156 Ruben Plaza, 157 Filippo Pozzato, 159 Rafael Valls, 174 Luis Angel Mate, 178 Geoffrey Soupe, 187 Reto Hollenstein, 191 Emanuel Buchmann, 196 Bartosz Huzarski, 203 Anthony Delaplace, 207 Arnaud Gerard, and 214 Tyler Farrar.
