My Friday edition of In the Drops came at you from the Eurostar, and now I’m writing this as I prepare to head back.
Or, given the state of travelling recently, maybe I’ll be in Paris for another week. I’m sure there are worse fates.
Since I last saw you dear reader, so much has happened.
Lorena Wiebes won the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France Femmes as Marianne Vos pulled a typical Marianne Vos on the second day, winning the stage and moving to first on general classification.
Jonas Vingegaard secured his first Tour de France victory as Jasper Philipsen won on the iconic Champs-Élysées.
Sprint teams unsurprisingly snuffed out any chance of a breakaway victory, and my hopes of finally seeing such a win on the cobbles with it.
Aside from the Tour de France races (shocking I know!), we interviewed artist Lucy Pittaway on her contemporary cycling artwork and reviewed the Vittoria Corsa N.EXT tyres.
But let’s relive the drama and get into another edition of my Extremely Online Round-up.
Geraint Thomas, meet Tadej Pogačar
There’s a market for celebrity lookalikes. What about cyclist namealikes?
Geraint Thomas was a PR person’s dream with his post-Stage 17 tweet directed at Pogačar, congatulating the Slovenian on his win.
But Thomas tagged the wrong account and passed on the misidentification baton.
When Thomas won the Tour de France in 2018, an abundance of celebratory mentions befell another Geraint Thomas on Twitter.
So after the Welshman tagged the wrong account, Pogačar went one better.
Wait, another Geraint Thomas? How many are there?!
Back to work
Biniam Girmay’s battles with Mathieu van der Poel were a delight at the Giro d’Italia.
We could have seen more but unfortunately Girmay popped a champagne cork into his eye after a glorious stage victory, prompting an immediate trip to hospital and a DNS the next day.
He now has a permanent reminder to point the cork away from his face.
His new helmet features a popped cork with boxing gloves.
I just want a slice of the pie next to it.
Cycling meme of the week
More than once, Jonas Vingegaard had been on the phone when Tadej Pogačar came up to congratulate his rival after a Tour de France stage.
The latest instalment, with Vingegaard on the phone to his partner after Stage 18, prompted a flurry of tweets.
Take this one from Phil Gaimon for example.
I hate cold callers. Even if they’re in a yellow jersey.
Cyclist meme of the week
I’m a simple girl. I see a cyclist using a meme, I like the tweet.
Geraint Thomas – the real one – used Moe Szyslak and Barney Gumble from The Simpsons to showcase his ability to keep up with the youngsters at this year’s Tour.
If he was left behind as they attacked, it was no sweat. Well, some actual sweat. But he made it back eventually after taking the climb at his own pace.
It worked and he finished third overall. Not bad eh?
Home alone
Poor Dan Lloyd. You turn up to the GCN studio every day for three weeks, only to be ditched for Paris on the last day.
I mean, what’s so good about Paris after all?
The Champs-Élysées? Sunshine?
Warm weather? Happiness?
Me? Oh – actually, probably better off at home mate.
Special shoutout: Tour de France Femmes
I can’t even begin to explain how it felt to witness the women’s peloton race on the Champs-Élysées for the first time.
Which is always good when I have to write a magazine article about it.
To see the Tour de France Femmes in glorious sunshine powering their way over the cobbles and fighting for the yellow jersey will be ingrained in my brain forever.
Lorena Wiebes, with her explosive sprint, overtook Marianne Vos before the finish line to be the first rider wearing the maillot jaune.
And then Vos cemented her GOAT status the next stage with a decisive victory that earned her the yellow jersey.
She was truly born to wear yellow. And I’m so glad we could all witness it.
See you next week!