This will be another truncated essay due to the somber nature of the race.
Juan Ayuso won the GC with a final-stage raid over Carlos Rodriguez, who pulled with him for the stage win, and Mattias Skjelmose, who was wearing the leader’s jersey but got worked over by the UAE team tactics.
But let’s back up. How did these guys end up contending for the GC title when three of the Big Four started the race? The answer is obvious: all three of them crashed out in terrible fashion on a descent on stage four.
Jonas Vingegaard is badly injured and still in the hospital, Remco Evenepoel just underwent surgery for his fractures, and Primoz Roglic looks like a mummy with all of the bandages on his body (but he’s actually the best off despite likely being concussed from a crash on stage three, as well). There were other riders with significant injuries, but all I can do is wish them all the best going forward.
What does this mean for the rest of the season, specifically the Tour de France? Well, R&R should be okay by late June. Jonas will probably not be, and if I had to guess right now, he won’t be on the start line because according to his head DS: “If he is not 100 percent, he will not start.” Of course, first we have to hope that Jonas will recover enough to be a healthy human again. And that is also his team’s priority. I support them fully for that.
But this crash probably means that Tadej Pogacar now is the favorite for the Tour de France. But this is not how he would have wanted to win it. I guess we just need to be patient and wait to see how the recovery goes for each rider. And the way this season is going, Pogacar will probably have a bad crash too. That would really ruin the entire year for me. Let’s hope not.
There are too many crashes in cycling. I don’t know what can be done about that. The riders need to be less aggressive, for one thing. I’m not faulting them, but it needs to be said.
Anyways, until next time.
Jamie
Puncheur 
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