This Tour de France has been largely enjoyable so far, I think it's fair to say. Some good racing (particularly over the first five days), some cracking scenery (as we'd expect) and generally good vibes.
But what has been lacking is a bit of bite. Turbulent events that give the race a good shake, animate it, make it the pre-eminent bike race it is rather than a sumptuous Gran Fondo across France.
Last year, we went into the Tour de France with in-fighting over at UAE Team Emirates with their final day Giro d'Italia meltdown hanging overhead, the questions surrounding Ineos over David Rozman's 'Milram stuff', Soudal-Quick Step's inability to quash the rumours that Remco Evenepoel wanted out... Those are big stories.
Yes, the spectre of doping and rider disquiet at their teams isn't the positive spin that many fans and those within the sport want on the big billboard advertising cycling when the world's eyes are on it for the month of July, but they provide narrative, edge, intrigue. Without the colourful backstories and plot lines, we'd just have boys doing successive days of exercise across a country.
And that's where Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz and their enabler, the Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe cycling team, come in.
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