Experienced rider, former stage winner on the Tropicale Amissa Bongo, in Gabon, the Frenchman Adrien Petit is competing at 32 in his 5ᵉ Tour de France. His mission this year: to supervise the Eritrean Biniam Girmay, leader of the Intermarché-Circus-Wanty team and candidate for a stage victory. He tells us about the race from the inside, its good and its bad moments, in weekly road diaries. Today, third episode, on the occasion of the rest day, this Monday, July 10.
Rest your head and legs
No alarm today, it’s the little happiness of the “off” day: waking up naturally, coffee in the cool and breakfast in the sun. It feels good, but be careful not to think you’re on vacation! I learned from my youthful mistakes, from the aftermath of rest days when I was winded, even completely stuck. First of all, you have to avoid eating as much as on a race day, because obviously you make less effort and you burn fewer calories, and then it’s important to rotate your legs to remind the body that we must not fall asleep, that there is still work to do. It can be hard on your mind to go riding when you want to recover, but it’s necessary. This morning, for example, I did a 45 kilometer outing, with a good climb, and then, after the meal, I will be able to rest and meet up with relatives for about fifteen minutes. It allows me to cut a little bit, to do a little “reset” in my head, and then it’s off again for 2/3 of a lap, motivated!
Memorable day at Puy-de-Dôme
I will remember this Puy-de-Dôme stage on Sunday. Before the climb, the day was already complicated, not a meter flat, in overwhelming heat. Then the ascent: when I arrived in the 5 last kilometres, the hardest, on a very small road, when I saw the aerial from the summit, I said to myself “how far away! “, it seemed endless, but the reward is nice. It’s very beautiful, we dominate the Volcanoes of Auvergne, it’s also very special: we arrive directly in the grass, and since the public is not authorized in the final part (note: the site is classified as UNESCO World Heritage Site and motorized access is prohibited), the contrast with the noise of the crowd that accompanies us just before is striking. I even heard myself breathing, in full effort. It was also a day full of emotion, with the departure from the village of “Poupou” (note: Raymond Poulidor, legend of French cycling and grandfather of Mathieu Van der Poel, who died in 2019) and the climbing of this mythical Puy-de-Dome, 35 years after the last passage of the Tour de France on these slopes. It wasn’t always fun on the bike, but I’m happy to have had the chance to experience this important moment in the history of our sport.
Soon the right one for Biniam?
The 3rd place of my Eritrean teammate Biniam Girmay in Bordeaux on Friday leaves me torn between satisfaction and frustration. It’s good to go for this podium, it confirms us in the idea that he has the win in his legs, and at the same time Biniam was hampered during this sprint and it forced him to cut his effort ( nldr: the Intermarché-Wanty-Circus team will file a complaint for a suspicious movement by the winner, Jasper Philipsen, complaint rejected). We attacked the next day’s stage, towards Limoges, with a lot of confidence, but this time Bini didn’t have enough juice left to join the fight. I think he has the talent, he also knows how to be respected, to jostle when necessary, and at the same time, he is not going to do anything. There’s no point in arguing, we have to move on. Me, I still retain the positive points: we have a close-knit team, focused on its objective and a leader who can raise his arms.
Social media star… in spite of myself
Well, I think you saw the video, I had a little mishap in the ascent of the Col d’Aspin, last Thursday. Concentrated in my effort, no longer very lucid, I packed into the aisle Alexis Renard, from the Cofidis team, a guy with whom I get along very well. I apologized at least 5 or 6 times and we had a good laugh afterwards. As the scene was filmed, it turned out well on social networks, and I took it for my rank. On the one hand it’s nice, it shows the difficulty of the race too, on the other it gives the opportunity to some to go there with their not very intelligent comments. Not everyone understood that it was totally involuntary. I try not to take into account the opinions “from the bottom of the sofa” but hey, social networks, you also have to learn to use them…
Adrien Petit, Clermont-Ferrand