Spin Cycle is Escape Collective’s news digest, published every Monday and Friday. You can read it on this website (obviously) or have it delivered straight to your inbox. You can sign up here.
Hello!
Welcome back to Spin Cycle! Escape Collective’s news digest.
We are so far into the Tour de France that I can’t exactly remember what life was like before there was this Tour de France. Therefore, we have a bumper ‘Spotted at the Tour’ section as we keep our eyes peeled whilst walking around start and finish areas, and find our legs well down the stretch of this Grand Tour.
There is also some Christoph Roodhooft pouting, an unbelievable series of stage win predictions, and an entirely new section! It’s called ‘Industry Talk’, because why leave all the fun for road racing when there’s a big weird bike industry out there too!
Plus, why didn’t any Americans tell us the NBC in-studio Tour team all wear uncomfortable-looking suits?!
Joey Chestnut is the king of France
Bastille Day should be enough of a day of flagrant patriotism that it’s something Americans can look at and be like, “Okay France, we kind of get you now.” That’s not enough for Texan Lawson Craddock, who said that while French riders would be looking to win from the breakaway on stage 13 for France’s national day, that the country “doesn’t have a hero like Joey Chestnut.”
For the uninitiated who need more info than Joey Chestnut simply being a man who’s “slammin’ hot dogs all day,” Mr. Chestnut is an American competitive eater, ranked number one in the world, in fact.
He is a 16-time ‘Annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest’ champion. At the most recent 2023 contest in New York, held July 4th of course, he ate 62 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes to win the men’s competition. A few shy of his record of 76 in 2021. It’s hard to say which is harder, Chestnut’s achievements or a stage win atop the Grand Colombier.
Also, another story that may not be news to American readers but is something the rest of the world ought to know. The presenters of the the NBC coverage of the Tour de France (note Sam Bewley in the middle and Brent Bookwalter on the right) are forced to wear suits for the coverage. This isn’t ESPN’s SportsCenter! This is cycling! Come on guys, loosen up a bit. Bewley is a bit more funeral attire while Bookwalter looks ready to represent himself in small-claims court.
? Spotted at the Tour ?
Astana-Qazaqstan’s best Mark?
Sloping off for a quick spin after the finish of stage 12 was Astana-Qazaqstan’s sprint consultant Mark Renshaw in full team-issue kit. Already training for Cavendish’s comeback and new final Tour in 2024?
Yellow trapeze near miss
The start village (a fake cordoned off area inside the actual start town of the stage) is a time to steady yourself in the morning at the Tour.
A time to trade gossip with other reporters, spot who’s about, drink some shit coffee, eat some free snacks and try and snag some freebies (all of which are also enjoyed by the day’s VIPs and invited guests).
It’s a generally good time, but was even better before the start of stage 13 courtesy of the new-fangled bike + trapeze artist set-up of the jersey entertainers (variously coloured-dress performers representing the yellow, polka dot, green and white often dance on the small stage in the village to…entertain(?) those gathered).
Anyway, the man on the bike in the photo below now trundles around the village while the brown-haired woman in yellow spins around on the hoop. Except today nearly spelled disaster, as she almost toppled off and had to be caught mid-air to stop her crashing to the ground. Luckily, all was well and the trio were laughing about the mishap moments later (shortly after the below photo was taken). A rare moment of peril in the start village, where the only other thing to usually watch is Dan Martin walking around in full ASO uniform.
Who knew the E in EF stood for *Enhance*
So it turns out one of the EF Education EasyPost riders is a bit short-sighted, at least judging by size of the stage profile stuck to their handlebars before stage 13.
Police badge collector
One unnamed member of staff at the Tour has a fun hobby: collecting police officer badges! Mightily impressive to get the CRS (Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité, effectively riot police) crest, as these police are what we affectionately call ‘the scary ones.’
? Industry talk ?
Introducing a new segment into these not-so-hallowed pages! Why let racing have all the fun when there’s a whole bike industry teeming with nonsense and hijinks.
Today’s question:
Which major bike brand has a giant water cooler in their office filled with leftover Skratch (a sports drink) mixed with tequila in it from an event they held last week? Because some employees have been drinking it in vast quantities not knowing that said Skratch had tequila in it. “No wonder work’s been so pleasant,” one slightly tipsy employee told us.
If you work in the bike industry and want to dish some gossip (we’ll keep you anonymous), feel free to get in touch: [email protected]
Feed Zone ?
? Jayco-AlUla will co-sponsor the Hagens Berman Axeon squad next year.
? Tim Merlier will not ride the Vuelta (and therefore not make a Grand Tour appearance at all this year) as the team once again aim at the overall classification with Remco Evenepoel.
?⚕️ Mark Cavendish has undergone successful surgery on the collarbone he broke in his Tour crash.
?? Peter Sagan’s contract with TotalEnergies will end a year early at the end of 2023 and he’ll instead continue into next year as an individual athlete as he looks to contest the Olympic mountain bike event.
? 22-year-old Italian Luca Cretti of Colpack Ballan CSB has tested positive for Clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid.
? Movistar boss Eusebio Unzué is looking for a co-sponsor next year, the intrepid scoopsmiths at RadioCycling report.
Cycling on TV ?
Saturday
Tour de France, stage 14
GCN+ (07:45-13:00 ET/12:45-18:00 BST/21:45-03:00 AEST)
Coverage also available for American viewers on Peacock premium
Sunday
Tour de France, stage 15
GCN+ (07:45-13:45 ET/12:45-18:45 BST/21:45-03:45 AEST)
Coverage also available for American viewers on Peacock premium
Monday
No televised racing!
? Christoph Roodhooft smile challenge (impossible) ?
Maybe it’s due to the size of the bonus Philipsen gets for each Tour stage win?
? Honouring the Tour quote of the week ?
“What position on the bike hurts your wrist the most,” the voice of Radio Tour Seb Piquet asked Tadej Pogačar one day in the usual TV flash interview.
“When there are shit roads,” Pogačar answered honestly.
“So I guess it never hurts then?” Piquet followed up, as the first rule of the Tour is that everything in France is amazing and wonderful.
“Yes,” Pogačar twigged. “Because in France we always have beautiful roads.”
And finally…
Joe Timms, who works for GCN, managed to predict not just one breakaway stage winner, but TWO. On consecutive days.
First of all, a bet was placed on Ion Izagirre, at 80/1 (the price is shown when you expand the photo) with the Cofidis rider besting the rest of his breakaway companions on stage 12 into Belleville-en-Beaujolais.
Rather than bank however much was made off the Izagirre bet (we’ve asked but not received a reply yet), £9 of those winnings were punted on Michał Kwiatkowski to win stage 13 atop the Grand Colombier, which netted Timms more than £1,000. Not bad for a couple of days’ work!
Corrections corner ?
A sorrowful return of this section but a necessary one, as email readers of Monday’s edition were served an unreadable image of the Tour de France laundry list. We are very sorry. Hopefully you popped over to our website to view the article format. If you’ve been living in a world without knowledge of the exorbitant fees all week, wondering how much a wash of a simple polo shirt would cost, we don’t know how to make it up to you.
? Primes (for helpful members) ?
Thanks once again to Benjamin Derrien for today’s laundromat photo.
As always, we are accepting your own laundry photos (especially ones with the doors open so we can Photoshop riders inside the drum) to star in Spin Cycle. Either send them via the Discord or shoot me an email: [email protected]
Until next time …
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