Before the Tour fades from our attention, new EuroTrash-Man Mike Fee shares memories of the triumphant, the woe-provoking, and the surprising from a Grand Boucle that brought us more of the same, and some of what’s to come — and checks in on the Tour de France Femmes as it enters its second half.
TOP STORY:
- Well, not really a story…just a chance to enjoy some just-off-the-front-page Tour footage, including those onboard views you love (and that Unchained under-offered).
ALSO BELOW:
- More best-of footage from the Tour
- Tour Trivia!
- Editorializing on the controversial new Stage 21 parcours
- A mid-point photo report on the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
PLUS:
- I’ll be taking on EuroTrash compilation from your beloved Alastair, hopefully maintaining the level of quality, depth, and cheeky irreverence you’ve come to expect, while offering the perspective of someone who fell far short of the pro ranks but never stopped trying (or at least watching). This week’s Trash is a bit different — heavy on the video content from the just-wrapped Tour, shorter on the non-TDF/TDFF news. Enjoy! – Mike
TOP STORY: Everything but the Winning Moves: Here’s a chance to relive the rest of a glorious Tour de France: high-fives, handshakes, missed bottles, tumbles, near-tumbles, parting crowds, all the on-board camera views you’re looking for — and even a Tour-end smooch.
OK — NOW THE ACTUAL HIGHLIGHTS: Winning moves, victory salutes, drone shots, sweeping landscapes…classic Tour footage. (And another smooch.)
ALL-ONBOARD STAGE 21: Rider-level views of the stage that has everyone exclaiming “Again, please!” — and asking, “Can you imagine if Van der Poel had been there?”
TOUR TRIVIA (After STAGE 19 – ALBERTVILLE – LA PLAGNE)
The ASO has really ramped up its media outreach in recent years, with 2025 being the best we’ve seen ever. For example, they’re following pro-baseball’s lead by digging into the stats – and no surprise now that we have so much data being tracked from just about everything we – and in this case Le Tour riders – do. Here’s a solid sample of what popped up after Stage 19…
2: DUTCH CLIMBERS’ NEW STAR: Winner in Superbagnères six days ago, Thymen Arensman raises his arms for the 2nd time and gives the Netherlands its 170th Tour victory. He is the first Dutchman to win two mountain stages since Peter Winnen, who triumphed at L’Alpe d’Huez in 1981 and 1983, over 40 years ago!
1981: NEOS GOING PAST ONE
Two riders, Jonathan Milan and Thymen Arensman, scored 2 stage wins in their first Tour. Not a common sight: the last time it happened was in 1981, with both Ad Wijnands and Daniel Willems scoring 2 stage wins at their first participation. Before Milan and Arensman, the last “neo” to win two Tour stages was Tadej Pogacar in 2020.
6/12: A HALF… MORE THAN A HALF
Thymen Arensman 1st (2 wins), Tadej Pogacar 3rd (4), Ben Healy 8th (1), Valentin Paret-Peintre 9th (1), Simon Yates 10th (1), Ben O’Connor 12th (1): half of the top-12 riders have won more than half of the stages contested (10 out of 19)!
52: POGACAR LIKE ANQUETIL
Tadej Pogacar still leads the general classification and equals Jacques Anquetil as the 5th rider with the most Yellow Jerseys (52). His next target is Christopher Froome (59).
2000: GALL FOR AUSTRIA
Félix Gall reaches 5th place in the general classification, the best ever achieved by this rider, who is finishing his third Tour de France (8th and stage winner in 2023). He has never done as well in a Grand Tour, his references being a 6th place in the Vuelta (2022, stages 4-5) and a 18th place in the Giro (2024, stage 1). He is the first Austrian to be in the top 5 of the Tour de France since Peter Luttenberger, who was 5th after stages 10 and 11 in… 2000!
6: JOHANNESSEN IS MAKING HISTORY
Moving from 7th to 6th overall, Tobias Johannessen improves a result that would be historic for Norway. A Norwegian has never finished in the top 10 of the Tour, the highest ranking being Jostein Wilmann’s 14th place in 1980.
10: VINGEGAARD BEATS POGACAR. FINALLY!
Tadej Pogacar had beaten Jonas Vingegaard in the last 10 mountain stages. Even if it wasn’t for today’s victory, the Dane (2nd) ended this streak by finally beating the Slovenian (3rd) in La Plagne. It hadn’t happened since the 11th stage of the Tour 2024, won by Vingegaard in Le Lioran.
TRADITION OR INNOVATION? (An editorial)
Last Sunday, we were treated to a rarity: an open, thrilling final stage of the Tour de France.
Good thing that the promise of three ascents of Montmartre to the base of Sacre Coeur proved gripping to the fans, though, because most riders seemed less than thrilled at the prospect of a departure from the traditional romp up and down the Champs Elysées; indeed, much of the peloton appeared simply to sit in, sit back and sit it out…
- Click here to read more from Mike’s soapbox on the final stage.
TOUR DE FRANCE FEMMES AVEC ZWIFT PHOTO COMPILATION:
AFTER 5 STAGES, SOMETHING FOR (ALMOST) EVERYONE
Marianne Vos showed in stage 1 — once again — that she can win on nearly every kind of parcours.
Stage 2: Just like the men’s Tour, the Tour de France Femmes serves as a French travelogue.
Stage 3 winner Lorena Wiebes shows off the classiest victory salute in cycling.
Green over Yellow: Wiebes edged out Vos to nab her second win in Stage 4.
It wasn’t all fun and games in Stage 5, as crashes took out several key riders — and as the attacking Alison Jackson (pictured here) later succumbed to the peloton’s brisk pace up the final climb.
Watch the PEZ YOUTUBE Channel here
Follow PEZ INSTAGRAM here
The PEZ NEWSWIRE!
Don’t forget to check the “NEWSWIRE” section, you can find it on the homepage, just above the PEZ Shop section. The bits of news that missed the EuroTrash deadline are in there, plus any news as-it-happens will be added there too.
The post EUROTRASH Thursday: A TDF Video Look-Back, and a TDFF Check In appeared first on PezCycling News.
