The finale was an infernal, marathon day in the Alpine heights, designed for pure climbers. Sepp Kuss is one, a luxury domestique, always putting in effort for his Visma teammate of the moment when the road steepens. The American from Durango had glory within his grasp. And he came as close to it as he did to disaster on a bend where only protection and luck saved him from plunging down the ravine. Richard Carapaz took advantage of it, much credit to him, indefatigable, his Tour impressive with two valuable victories and the mountain jersey. [Narration and classifications]
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Together, they delivered an extraordinary stage, an adventure that only lacked black and white. Carapaz raised his arms alone at the second consecutive finish in Alpe d’Huez; Kuss, bruised, was the image of drama. And Tadej Pogacar, a supportive champion, put himself, as he announced, at the service of Isaac del Toro to secure third place on the podium for his protégé, defeating the phenomenon Paul Seixas, who arrived almost three minutes later alongside Juan Ayuso, brave from the start, and Skeljmose. The leader, to celebrate his fifth Tour, could have gone for the stage win like on Friday, but he didn’t even bite at Remco Evenepoel‘s final attack: he preferred to escort his teammate.
As the culmination of the Tour, a stage from another era remained. “The hardest in history,” exaggerated Christian Prudhomme, proud of his invention. A monstrous ride through the Alps, from peak to peak, each more mythical and impossible, with 5,450 meters of accumulated elevation gain. From the Croix de Fer to the Col du Telegraphe, from the Galibier to Alpe d’Huez, this time via the other slope, new to the Grande Boucle, the Col de Sarenne. A cycling ultratrail after 19 stages, approaching the highest average speed ever.
Juan Ayuso is a born cyclist. One of those who hate defeat, who rebel against it. Suffering throughout the Tour, finally dejected in Alpe d’Huez until falling to seventh place, the Spaniard licked his wounds and went all out. An ‘all in’ from the very start in Le Bourg d’Oisans, with the Croix de Fer as an appetizer. He made the selection, he provoked a breakaway that would thin out as efforts accumulated, leaving only the best. Those who would arrive five hours later at the destination.
To create a colossal stage, with the immense Carapaz cresting every summit (securing the Mountain jersey), with Mads Pedersen delivering his umpteenth display to secure the Points classification, which he has honored with a magnificent Tour. When the escapees were nearing a five-minute lead on the Telegraphe, Lenny Martínez‘s Bahrain team reacted. But Ben Healy, working for Carapaz, maintained the pace. And on the Galibier, Souvenir Henri Desgrange, the highest point of the entire Tour, Pogacar, now without teammates, had to react personally.
An attack by Carapaz – how many has he led in this Tour? – left the breakaway with just four members, with Ayuso somewhat dropped and coming in with Hindley, Kuss (Riccitello lost all chances on the descent). But Pogacar, pulling alone, showing overwhelming power (“he will help Del Toro for the podium,” he announced after his exhibition on Friday in Alpe d’Huez), reduced the gap by more than a minute and a half before the Sarenne.
But victory was ahead. And Kuss and Carapaz were going to fight for it. The winner of the 2023 Vuelta almost grasped it with his final acceleration before cresting Sarenne. But, pressured on the descent, he had two falls, the second one terrifying for what it could have been. A miracle that, however, left him without glory.
