From the profile of stage 19 of the 2023 Tour de France, Friday's stage should have been a fairly unstressful trek through the foothills of the Jura mountains for the main overall contenders. Instead, a colossal fight for the breakaway that went on for 100 of the day's 172.8 kilometres made for a much more gruelling challenge and resulted in one of the fastest stages in history.
Once the definitive breakaway of 31 had gone, the peloton sat up and tried to recover its strength. But for the riders ahead, there was no such respite, with the pitched battle for the last transition stage of the 2023 race continuing all the way to the line, where Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) won in a photo finish.
Subject to final confirmation, the day's average speed of 49.13kph on a stage featuring more than 2,000 metres of vertical climbing was reported as the fifth-fastest non-time trial Tour de France stage in history. Stage 4 of the 1999 Tour de France from Laval to Blois still tops the ranking at 50.36kph, but stage 19 of the 2023 Tour, at least for the first 32 riders on the stage classification, was hardly gentle on the legs.
As exhausted riders picked their way through the dense crowds milling around the finish area in search of the team buses on the long straightaway behind it, team directors reflected on why it had been such a high-speed day.
"When you looked at the profile this morning you knew it would be a tough day because everybody had a chance," Ineos Grenadiers racing director Rod Ellingworth told Cyclingnews.
"It was a day for everybody. That's why it was such a tough day. It was quite dramatic seeing some small guys like Tom Pidcock out there in the same front group with some of the biggest sprinters in the peloton.
"I'm not surprised it was full gas, though. There are some key teams who still haven't won a stage," he added. There were 19 teams represented in the attack with only Movistar, DSM-Firmenich and Astana-Qazaqstan missing out.
That made for a very different, faster race than with just 10 riders up the road, Ellingworth said. "When it [the initial break] got up to a minute, I thought that was it. But fair play to Uno-X" - with Anthon Charmig and Rasmus Tiller in the move - "they did a smashing job, they put themselves in the mix and had people in the break. It was an exciting day of racing, that's for sure."
The terrain also lent itself to a breakaway sticking, Ellingworth pointed out, with a lot of twisty, technical roads and a hefty amount of climbing. Many directors and riders pointed out that the stage was more like a Classic than a Tour stage and, with only one major mountain stage and one bunch sprint remaining in, 'nothing to lose' summed up many teams' attitudes on Friday.
"Even if the team that won has already taken a couple of stages, that's cycling - there's only a few chances left and they've all got to go for it," Ellingworth said. "Tom gave it the best he could, but once those three guys that got away were away, there wasn't much he could do - they were the strongest on the day. And for Mohoric to get it, with all that's happened, that was a very special win.
"I had been scratching my head about how I could win," the lightly built Pidcock admitted afterwards, on a stage where he faced some formidable opposition ranging from top sprinters to top rouleurs.
Of finishing 10th he said, "I think I did all right. I tried to save what I could and see if any opportunities arose but that was probably as good as it was going to get."
He agreed the stage was ridden like a Classic, with moves going from the gun and non-stop action on the front. "The start was full, full gas. I was in the big move and then it came back together and literally just as we sat up the next move went. I hesitated for a moment and missed it but came across after the sprint. It felt good to be racing.
"There certainly were some guys with some kilos on me so I needed a few bigger hills to play to my advantage. When the group ahead kept on pulling it [the gap] out with four or five kilometres to go, though, I kind of knew that we wouldn't pull it back unless they started looking at each other but Matej and [stage 18 winner Kasper Asgreen, Soudal-QuickStep] Asgreen know how to win from a break."
As one reporter pointed out collaboration in the group had been good although there were a couple of people that looked tired - "yeah, me," Pidcock quipped - but the fact it stayed away was a testament to the strength of the three riders ahead.
"Some people in my group were complaining about motorbikes or whatever, but everybody seems to be complaining about motorbikes these days. But fair play, these three guys - they're pretty strong, aren't they, it'd have taken some legs to bring them back.
"But it feels nice to be back in the race, and back bike racing."
Meanwhile, Carlos Rodriguez, Ineos' GC option, stayed safely in the bunch, waiting for the final day of mountain climbing on Saturday. He too commented on how fraught the first part of the race had been until the definitive break of 36 went clear.
"It's been incredible how we went, absolutely flat out, people sprinting every way," Rodríguez said. "Finally things went calmer, but tomorrow [Saturday] a lot of people's legs are going to be feeling how the first half of the day went today."
