by Edward Gilder
Those of you who have followed my ramblings over the years about this fantastic sports event, can’t but fail to have noticed that I am a bit of a Mark Cavendish fan. The sweary kid from the Isle of Man now domiciled in Essex. The best sprinter in the world and now the holder of 35 Tour de France stage wins, having blown away the opposition on Stage 5. What can you say? His response, having recovered his composure after the event was to say that “…. this is just a bike race; family are what matters”. And there they all were lined up to greet him at the finish.
Having watched him both on the track and on the road, Mark Cavendish sporting hero, husband and father I salute you.
Now where were we? – oh yes the the Pogacar and Vinegegaard show. No one else really got a look in with Pagacar having things pretty well sewn up some days before the end in Nice, with the final time trial. His winning margin being 6mins and 17 seconds. But the SNEDS quiz is never about the obvious. Your challenge was to pick the King of the Mountains – the rider who gets to wear the polka dot jersey. This year Richard Carapaz from Ecuador was the man in red and white by the end and no I didn’t guess that correctly. His winning margin was 25 points over – you guessed itTadej Pogacar with Jonas Vingegaard third in the KOM points with70.
Not only can the tour winner and the runner up do it on the flat, but between them they pretty much bossed it in the mountains as well.
I can’t finish without a special mention for Biniam Girmay of Eritrea, the first black rider to win a tour stage and then the first black rider to win three tour stages – a brilliant sprinter he will no doubt be looking to claim Mark Cavendish’s crown in years to come. A well deserved green jersey winner.
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