Alex Edmondson resembled Superman as he made a operating begin to stage 16 of the Tour de France, ditching time trial ceremony to mount his bike and start the ultimate week of the race in a single fluid motion.
Blink and you’d have missed Edmondson – who TV crews incorrectly known as his dsm-firmenich teammate Sam Welsford – as he skipped the normal standing begin with countdown in Passy for the hurried maneuver that Welsford repeated simply moments after.
The confusion didn’t cease there, with one other dsm-firmenich teammate, John Degenkolb, who was the subsequent to depart, struggling pores and skin abrasions to his leg after crashing on the primary nook, the place Nils Eekhoff would later additionally come down.
Edmondson tried to get better as a lot time after his miscue on the beginning line and arrived on the end in Combloux dripping in sweat from the hassle, the hilly terrain of the 22.4km check, and the warmth. He finally positioned 112th, 6:59 slower than the profitable time of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).
“I’d have cherished to have given it a red-hot crack nevertheless it’s a fairly hilly spot,” Edmondson mentioned.
Moments later Welsford, who went seven seconds faster than his teammate to fit into a hundred and fifth, rode up alongside him. The pair, talking with endearing humility, held courtroom in entrance of a huddle of journalists, making an attempt to find out what occurred at the beginning and the situation of their teammates who crashed.
“Yeah, what was that about?” Welsford requested Edmondson.
“Mate, I don’t know. I’m fairly certain I used to be 11 [minutes] previous [one], and also you had been 12 previous,” Edmondson mentioned of the scheduled departure occasions.
The 29-year-old was proper about that, however the organised chaos of the Tour, after the second relaxation day, with human foot site visitors, automobiles, bikes, vans and the workforce bus parked some 2km away meant they had been late.
“I feel they [officials] had been early,” Welsford continued. “I don’t know. I used to be taking off my ice vest and rolled up they usually had been like, ‘Go, go’.”
Edmondson added: “It was like cyclo-cross. I needed to do a operating begin.
“I actually was taking the ice vest off after which it was go time. Ran and jumped. It’s probably not what you need to do on the Tour de France is it?
“However we didn’t do it on function. Let’s hopefully make the time reduce.” Which in fact they did.
The Tour has been a studying curve for the pair who’re Olympic medalists on the observe however are making their debut on the race this 12 months.
Welsford has been gunning for dash levels, which the workforce is now set to completely concentrate on with French climber Romain Bardet abandoning the Tour final week.
For Edmondson, 29, being on the Tour is the realisation of a long-term intention.
“I used to be all the time shut however to lastly be right here is one thing that’s ticked that off. That’s been a objective,” he mentioned.
“Clearly right here with dsm-firmenich we haven’t had the outcomes that we wish. We had a little bit of unhealthy luck with Romain having to withdraw from a nasty crash the opposite day.
“However the particular factor that we’ve performed is we’ve bought an superior group occurring for the time being. The environment within the workforce is one thing that we’ve labored on actually laborious. It’s not by lack of making an attempt and we’ve nonetheless bought one other six [five – ed.] days to go.
“So, it’s all about making an attempt to complete issues off as finest we are able to.”
Attending to the sprints
The sentiment wasn’t lip-service both, as Edmondson pedalled over to Degenkolb on the end, to verify if the German, who was sporting a bloodied knee, was alright, having been unaware of his crash till informed on the end.
Degenkolb, the previous Paris-Roubaix champion, is a Tour veteran however even he was confused on Tuesday morning, unsure of how he got here down.
“To be sincere I actually don’t know. I didn’t begin like loopy, I didn’t begin too enthusiastic. I feel there’s all the time a primary time for something and that was I feel to me the primary time I’ve crashed in a TT,” Degenkolb quipped.
“That’s the very last thing you need on day like this, so I’m fortunate I didn’t break one thing. I bought fairly some street rash, and it was actually unlucky.
“I used to be on the white marks of the tarmac however usually it’s not an issue. I additionally couldn’t appropriate it, so my entrance wheel was slipping, and I used to be immediately gone.”
Welsford will face stiff competitors within the potential three remaining sprints that function this week, after Wednesday’s queen stage that features the Col de la Loze.
Edmondson, who claimed silver within the males’s workforce pursuit alongside Welsford on the Rio Olympics, has confidence in his compatriot’s pace, and the workforce has been working diligently on its lead-out all through the Tour.
“It’s a difficult one to try to get the ultimate proper,” Edmondson mentioned. “First time for me being right here, it’s a studying curve however on the similar time we all know that he’s bought the pace and it’s nearly getting slightly little bit of luck within the ultimate and likewise placing every part that we all know that we are able to use, the horsepower, in the suitable place.”
Edmondson and the remainder of the peloton might want to clear the Col de la Loze first, earlier than they get one other alternative to dash on Thursday.
“We’ve bought a giant day tomorrow with 5000 plus metres of climbing and it’s all about making an attempt to get the massive boys to assist me by,” he mentioned.
“We’ve had a fairly large grupetto. Some days it’s been higher than others, with different folks desirous to push tougher and never taking care of everybody.
“There’s a little bit of time. There’s the stress of time reduce so some folks panic and different folks don’t. However we’ve all the time simply caught collectively, with Nils, John and myself with Sammy. We’ve had a little bit of enjoyable. Typically it feels a bit bizarre. We get to the end, and we’ve nonetheless bought power to snort and joke however you see different individuals are lifeless.
“Nevertheless it’s all only a studying curve, and I’m simply actually having fun with it.”
