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Cycling Weekly
Cycling Weekly
Sport
Tom Davidson

Tour de France rest day tweets: Cosnefroy lets loose, Pogačar secures a rabbit, and Remco’s rainbow pizza

Benoit Cosnefroy smiling with three tweets embossed on the image

Can you believe it’s the second rest day at the Tour de France already? In less than a week from now the race will be finished, leaving Tadej Pogačar with just a handful of opportunities to distance Jonas Vingegaard, and steal the yellow jersey off his shoulders.

It has been a GC battle for the ages so far, but let’s put that to one side for the moment. Let’s talk about something different. Let’s talk about Benoît Cosnefroy. 

The 27-year-old Frenchman is the gift that keeps on giving. Cast your minds back to late 2021, and you might remember scenes from the French squad’s celebrations of Julian Alaphilippe’s second World Championships victory. If you don’t, let me paint the picture for you. 

Valentin Madouas and Clément Russo dance joyfully in a restaurant, clutching the newly-won rainbow jersey. The camera pans to the right, and we catch sight of Cosnefroy, lager in hand and innocently bespectacled. 

Then comes the realisation. The AG2R Citroën rider has the jersey clamped between his teeth. He wrestles it away from his teammates and thrashes his head from side to side, like a crocodile nullifying its prey. Cosnefroy then releases his death grip and, as if nothing had happened, jigs along happily to the music.

On stage 14 of this year’s Tour, the Frenchman’s dance moves were back, this time mid-race. On the ascent of the hors catégorie Col de Joux Plane, he hopped off his bike and plunged into a crowd of French fans. While the GC guys were clocking KOMs, Cosnefroy danced for 40 seconds in a cloud of blue smoke, holding his bike aloft, surrounded by frenzied supporters. 

“It’s my twin brother,” he wrote on Twitter afterwards. But nobody was fooled. Cosnefroy had given the public another gift, and bedded himself deeper into cycling fans' hearts. 

Elsewhere on social media, Victor Lafay secured his dream bucket hat, Pogačar helped a little girl get a pet bunny, and Remco Evenepoel received some strange looks for his questionable pizza topping arrangement. 

1. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Benoît Cosnefroy

2. Bread and water, that's all you need to win the Tour de France 

3. Victor Lafay treasures his new Cochonou hat more than his stage win

4. Rumour has it he wears it to bed, too

5. Would the real Magnus Cort please stand up? 

6. Everyone's favourite Pizza Hut ambassador is at it again

7. Pogačar seems more excited than the little girl 

8. 'Hi, I'll have a double espresso and ten bonus seconds please'

9. You can't fault the logic

10. There's a career waiting for Giulio Ciccone as an underwear model

11. Here's your reminder to Watch The (Tour de France) Femmes, which starts this Sunday!

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