David Stanley
2026 Tour de France Week Two:
Brutal, Glorious, Redemptive
David Stanley is an experienced cycling writer. His work has appeared in Velo, Velo-news.com, Road, Peloton, and the late, lamented Bicycle Guide (my favorite all-time cycling magazine). Here's his Facebook page. He is also a highly regarded voice artist with many audiobooks to his credit, including McGann Publishing's The Story of the Tour de France and Cycling Heroes.
David L. Stanley
David L. Stanley's masterful telling of his bout with skin cancer Melanoma: It Started with a Freckle is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
David L. Stanley writes:
Written as I watched Stage 15, which culminated on the Plateau de Solaison.
1) Tadej is ruining the Tour de France!
No, he’s not. In this year’s Tour, apparently the fans were not told that the Tour had been ruined by Tadej’s joyous exploits. Did you see Stage 14, the 155 km from Mulhouse to Le Markstein-Fellering? Just after the Woodstock Festival, late August 1969, Joni Mitchell wrote the classic song Woodstock … by the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong! Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young made it famous soon after. That was the entire day across the three major climbs. Woodstock, with the peloton, not Jimi and Janis and the Dead, as the stars. Half a million people at every climb. As far as you could see, fans were packed like Japanese businessfolk on a Kyoto commuter train for this, a “ruined Tour.”
2026 Tour stage 14 as Pogacar takes off with the road packed with race fans.
Note: I don’t know that there were actually 600,000 humans on every climb and if you want to debate it, go elsewhere. What I do know is that there were people as far as the eyes could see up every single square meter of climb and hundreds of meters back from the roadway. It was as if they didn’t care about the meaningless Third Place World Cup game that would soon be staged between FRA and ENG here in the States.
2) Stage finishes need homologation, not suggestions.
Stages 11 & 12 – who was the dumbass that decided a curve in the closing km of a sprint stage was okay? The high-speed bunch sprint was heavily compressed by a highly technical route. A sharp right-hand turn, a hairpin left, and the sprinters hit a long curve to the right leading into the final 500 meters. The combination of narrow barriers and the sweeping curve caused chaos, with a touch of wheels triggering a domino-effect pileup in the final kilometer.
Stage 12 finish: Crash victims Jenno Berckmoes (broken collarbone) & Liam Slock. Sirotti photo
We are not in 1952, where Jacques Goddet squeezed every franc so tightly that Napoleon III squealed like a piggie. The premier ASO event costs $150 million US to stage and still, ASO runs the Tour on a 21% profit margin. At this stage of events, they can tell the finish cities that if they can’t find a relatively straight 500 meter run-in for the finish, they can either build one or be taken off the list of acceptable finish towns until they do. Because I guarantee there is another metropolis ready to take their place.
Sprinting is for the stout of heart and those who courage is beyond normal boundaries. 45 MPH perched over a saddle, holding onto handlebars, feet locked onto a set of Look Keos, all while gripped to the road with some Conti GP 5000s with a total contact patch of two postage stamps. With a heartbeat of 208. And generating 1400 Watts. All in the midst of 30 other guys in exactly the same situation with the same amount of drive, ambition, and guts. But sure, let’s throw in a wicked curve just before the finish to keep the whole scene of madmen on their toes.
Tim Merlier is the fastest of the fast at the end of a big sprint to finish stage seven. Sirotti photo
By the way, for a well-researched breakdown of the finances of the Tour, check out https://thehustle.co/the-economics-of-the-tour-de-france .
Even if there is no real skin damage from the crash, it still hurts like a MF’er. Road rash (such a cute name for 1st and 2nd degree burns) plays havoc with good sleep and recovery. Doubt me? Then go jump out of a car at 40 mph and tumble and skid along the tarmac for 100 yards. It really beats the shit out of your insides, too.
3) 32 MPH over 3 hours and 10 minutes
Stage 11, as you know by now, was the fastest Tour stage in history with an average speed of 31.67 mph/50.91 kph. When, if ever, was the last time you hit 32 mph on your bike on the flats? For me, it was around 15 years ago when I motorpaced to get ready for Masters Track Nationals. And that was for 1000 meters intervals. Not for 3hr 12sec, which happens to be average length of time for an NFL game. Yes, the NFL last season averaged 3:12 for their typical game measured in real-world time. And these Beasts of the Road averaged 32 mph, which also meant that for a goodly portion of the race, they were well over 36 mph as they slowed significantly for the hilly sections. Tailwind be damned, that’s hors categorie, bien sûr.
Soren Wærenskjold wins stage 11, the fastest stage in Tour history.
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4) Kudos to the UCI.
In a sporting world where every decision can flip millions of dollars, it was good to see the UCI take charge and come through with a correct decision. Every professional sport, except for tennis’s French Open, uses computer and video tech to ensure that calls and decisions are as accurate as possible.
In the Stage 11 sprint, Jasper bumped into another rider. In a sprint, there is always contact. The question: did the contact in question impede or put other riders in danger? To be fair, the man once known as Jasper the Disaster now has a target on his back for irregular sprinting in his early days. But at 28, he’s now a seasoned and safe sprinting pro. He was relegated almost instantly for a slight move. Discussion ensued. And relatively quickly, JP was placed back into 3rd place where he belonged. Kudos to UCI for using available tech to get things correct.
Another shot of the stage 11 finish. Third-place Jasper Philipsen is to the right of stage winner Søren Wærenskjold with the blue jersey and white helmet. Sirotti photo
5) Random Stage 12 Thoughts.
When the hell is Quinn Simmons gonna win his stage? He is a fearless and relentless beast. Watching him low-five his dad in mid-attack at the 20 km mark was epic. It was the smile we all needed. We also needed the post-green jersey-points-sprint handshake between Biniam, Mads, and Jasper after they dashed over the line around the 60 km to go line.
6) Where’s the GPS?
Richard Carapaz and Ben Healy took the wrong turn. The EF Education-EasyPost riders were in the early breakaway on Stage 14 of the Tour de France when they missed the proper route onto the Ballon d'Alsace climb in the Vosges. How, in a world of GPS, in the greatest race in the world with the most to gain and lose and the world’s eyes upon you, can riders in a breakaway be allowed to take a wrong turn AWAY from an epic climb like the Ballon d’Alsace? There are marshals on the course. There is GPS loaded onto the motos. Now, to be fair, I couldn’t find any video, and perhaps the riders were at fault. I find that unlikely.
Richard Carapaz finishes eighth in stage fourteen. Sirotti photo
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7) That Rabbit’s Dynamite!
It may have been the Col du Haag but for everyone who chased Pogs up it, it was the Col du AAAAAARRGGGGGGHHHH, with Tadej as the Rabbit of Caerbannog; the rabbit of the razor sharp teeth. I wonder if Jonas and Remco have access to the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and the Book of Armaments as read by Brother Maynard. That might be the only thing to stop the UAE Express, on its own TGV path to Paris.
8) Shout-out Richard Carapaz!
Relentless attacking is always a joy to watch. Richie is a serious climber with a massive fighting spirit. Now, it doesn’t hurt that he is nearly 20 minutes down. When he attacks, the GC teams have tended to let him go. I don’t care. When he jumps up and away from the group on a 9% grade, I sit up and take notice. He’ll win a stage in week III. It sets up perfectly for a man of his caliber and daring. Root for Richie, why don’t you? It’ll do your heart good.
Richard Carapaz attacks on the Puy Mary in stage ten.
9) Markstein
I’m a panelist on a terrific podcast: the Feed-Zone p/b by CyclingLegends.co.uk. It’s staged by Chris Sidwells, a UK cycling historian the equal of our own Bill McGann right here with BikeRaceInfo. (Yes, I shout-out Bill and BRI on the podcast all the time, too). On the Rest Day 1 show, I said that if Jonas and Remco, et al, had anything special they were holding onto, we’d see an explosion on Le Markstein.
They didn’t.
We saw Tadej take nearly a minute out of any of the men who mattered to bump his GC lead to 4:30 over 2nd place Jonas Vingegaard. It’s clear that barring incident, Jonas’s big worry is not catching Tadej. His main task is to stay clear of Remco, 34 seconds behind him, Seixas @53 seconds back, and Ayuso @56 seconds as of Saturday’s GC. JV is a fine time trialist, but Remco is the best GC contender TT man in the race, and Tuesday may see Jonas bumped down to 3rd on the podium.
Remco Evenepoel finishes fifth in stage fourteen. Sirotti photo
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This Just In: At 10:58, EDT, Jonas was involved in a crash and has been forced from the race. Horrible, horrible news. Here’s a thought. He misjudged badly a tight turn which featured lots of road furniture. He went down very hard and appears to have a broken collarbone. He was awakened at 2:00 am for a doping control. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I am woken up without warning by a pounding on my door at 2:00 am, my panic light starts to flash and it is several hours before I can go back to sleep, and even then, my sleep is fitful.
Jonas Vingegaard is helped into the ambulance after crashing in stage fifteen.
• The upshot: studies have shown repeatedly that driving while fatigued is every bit as bad as driving under the influence. In short, I will state the ITA, under the auspices of the UCI, caused, or at the very least, contributed to this crash. While I fully support the most stringent doping controls, this is absurd. You want to test in the middle of the night? Do it before the rest day, not at the very end of an exhausting week. Were all the top ten on GC tested at 02:00? As far as I have seen/heard/read, only Pogi and Jonas, of the Top Ten GC men were tested.
• Was French phenom Paul Seixas, in a serious fight for a podium spot, tested in the middle of the night? It appears not. I’ve never been a conspiracy theory guy, in any way imaginable. However, when you have the US president openly call the leader of FIFA to have a significant World Cup soccer penalty overturned, well, everything bad is possible in sport in 2026.
• Those kudos I extended in Item 4? Yeah, I take them all the way back.
Sometimes, I hate this shit.
For this piece, I had a clever ending with Tadej, who gave a loud WHOA! on Stage 11. When asked by his team car what happened, as they saw him wobble for a moment, he said, “Hit bidon! Sheet pants!” Gotta say, not quite feeling the humor.
On the other hand, Sunday’s stage on the Plateau de Solaison, had more than a few moments of wonder. Thank-you, Quinn Simmons for your bold ride. And to Remco, for your win in that brutal UAE Team Emirates sandwich sprint? Chapeau! The win moved Remco into 2nd on GC, on a day when he climbed, not just with the world’s best, but as the world’s best. A lovely touch of positivity, as we go into the 2nd rest day, on a gloomy day.
Remco Evenepoel beats Tadej Pogacar for the stage fifteen win. ASO photo.
To Jonas, I say, it’s okay to retire. In December, you turn 30. You are one of only 8 men who have won all three Grand Tours. You have two Tours de France. Your net worth is $15 million. Your career keeps you away from your two small children and your wife for months at a time. Your children will never be young again. Your legacy is etched in the granite of the sport.
David Stanley, like nearly all of us, has spent his life working and playing outdoors. He got a case of Melanoma as a result. Here's his telling of his beating that disease. And when you go out, please put on sunscreen.