The jury result was unanimous. After 170km in the breakaway, 140 of them on his own, Uno-X's Jonas Abrahamsen was awarded the prize for the most combative rider on stage eight of the Tour de France. Journalists nodded in agreement when the message came through in the WhatsApp group. Who else, they figured, but the race's solo Norwegian?
The lashing rain at the start of the day pointed to an afternoon of attrition. Fans lined the finishing straight in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises with plastic ponchos and yellow umbrellas, in high spirits despite the downpours. It was a day, for the average hobby cyclist, to stay at home and wait for clearer skies. For Abrahamsen, it was another chance to show off his polka-dot jersey.
