As Mike Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) closed in on Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) on the upper slopes of the Puy de Dôme, French TV commentators could not stop repeating how brilliantly the Canadian climbing veteran had managed to time his ascent of the brutally difficult climb.
“He was two minutes down on Jorgenson at the bottom and he’s going to get come past him just in time near the top to win,” they pointed out.
That much was true. But as Woods told reporters after becoming the first non-European to triumph on the Puy de Dôme in the race’s 12 ascents, his managing to catch Jorgenson was not something he had calculated on being able to do. In fact, up until that point, just the opposite was true.
“I wish I could say it was all planned, I had wanted to be up front with Jorgenson when he attacked,” Woods said. “But it was just the way the cards played out.”
“I knew I was probably the most marked man in the group and didn’t play my cards super right. When I got to four kilometres to go” - and the steepest part of the ascent - “I didn’t even think about the win, just about time trialling it all the way to the top and getting the best result I could.”
When Johnny Weltz won on the Puy de Dôme back in 1988, the last time the Tour tackled the race, the Dane was a second-year pro. 35 years on, Woods admitted that at 36, he wasn’t quite inside the last chance saloon to get a Tour de France stage, but as he put it
“I was starting to feel the window was closing. But this was my career goal, the greatest result I’ve ever had.”
“I’m turning 37 this year, so I’m not getting any younger. And that the dream has come true now - I’m super proud and really grateful. I feel so fortunate to have so many great people behind - my family, my wife, my parents, my team…”
Woods said that the experience of racing on the Puy de Dôme, bereft of fans in the interests of nature conservation, both took him back to the years of COVID-19, when roadside supporters were also barred from the race, and to his first of two Vuelta a España wins, on the brutally steep Balcon de Bizkaia climb deep in the Basque Country.
“The thing was, it was deafening up to five kilometres to go, and then when the barriers started, it was silence, you were alone with your thoughts, trying to pick off the guys one by one.”
“It was a really cool climb, you could see it from ways away, it was so unique because there were no fans. It was almost like COVID racing a few years ago - so a beautiful climb, really cool climb.”
The rolling approach through central France, and then the ascent of the Puy de Dôme brought back memories of his 2018 Vuelta a España stage duel against Dylan Teuns five years ago at BMC, but now a teammate with Woods, racing alongside the Canadian at the Tour.
“Today was possibly one of the hardest climbs I could do, everybody was riding so hard throughout and we had those attacks from 60 kilometres to go. In 2018 in the Vuelta, when Teuns attacked I had to come back on him and suffer through those final metres. So in that sense, it was like the Puy de Dôme today.”
Woods was interrupted at one point during his press conference by Israel teammates Simon Clark - himself a stage winner in last year’s Tour - and fellow Canadian Hugo Houle, giving a victory hug and recounting how the race radio blackout on the Puy de Dôme had prevented them from knowing he had won.
But Woods delight at his first Tour de France triumph, and Israel-Premier Tech’s first WorldTour win of the 2023 season into the bargain, was plain to see in any case. And to take it on an ascent as mythical as Puy de Dôme only made it even more special.
