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Lilian Calmejane starts a new story
In a narrative sense, it helps if stage winners are already known, but of course new riders are appearing all the time otherwise we’d be watching a load of pensioners in these races. Stage four was taken by Lilian Calmejane and I make no apologies for not knowing him, because no-one else knew the 23-year-old…
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Alexandre Geniez makes the most of a head start
I always enjoy seeing the riders tackle short, steep climbs. There’s an intensity to proceedings, not just in terms of effort, but in terms of drama. You seem to get as many attacks and implosions in five minutes as you do on the longer mountain passes. On stage two, Alexandre Geniez emerged victorious. He had…
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Gianni Meersman – I’ve heard of him
Watching the highlights of stage two, they did the usual run-through of the sprint contenders in the closing kilometres, setting the scene for the sprint to come. There were a lot of names I barely recognised and then there was Gianni Meersman. ‘Yes, Meersman,’ I thought. ‘I’ve heard of him. He’ll win.’ And he did.…
