On Sunday, Michael Woods took an incredible win at Stage 9 of the Tour de France, but there were some beautiful parallels to one of the greatest cyclists ever, Raymond Poulidor.
Stage 9 began in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, which is the hometown of the Tour de France legend, Poulidor. “PouPou” won seven stages of the Tour, and famously finished second on three occasions, giving him his other nickname, “The Eternal Second.”
One of the most famous families in pro cycling
His son-in-law, Adrie van der Poel, was CX world champion, and won two Tour de France stages, and was considered one of the greats in the late ‘80s and ’90s. Adri’s son, Mathieu, is now one of the dominant riders in the pro peloton, whether it’s on the road, cyclocross, or MTB.
In 2021, Mathieu van der Poel took the yellow jersey wearing special throwback kits made to resemble his grandfather’s Mercier team.
To celebrate his grandfather’s hometown Mathieu van der Poel rode a special painted bike. The organizers also had him on stage to speak about Poulidor. MvdP couldn’t say much as he was overwhelmed with emotion for his late grandfather.
This is brilliant. I love the emotion in this tribute to Raymond Poulidor with his grandson Mathieu van der Poel. #TDF2023 #sbstdf #sbscycling #couchpeloton pic.twitter.com/pfPHepbeDh
— Matthew Keenan (@mwkeenan) July 9, 2023
Here’s where things get really interesting. On a day where Poulidor was celebrated, some curious coincidences occurred, as pointed out by Belgian journalist Jonas Creteur.“You can’t make this up: today in the Tour de France , on top of the Puy de Dôme, Canada’s Michael Woods became the oldest rider (36 years and 270 days) to win a mountain top stage finish in the TDF since…Raymond Poulidor won on top of Saint-Lary-Soulan in 1974 at the age of 38 years and 91 days.
You can’t make this up: today in the #TDF2023 , on top of the Puy de Dôme, Michael Woods @rusty_woods became
the oldest rider (36 years & 270 days) to win a mountain top stage finish (no ITT) in the #TDF since…
Raymond Poulidor won on top of Saint-Lary-Soulan in 1974 at the… https://t.co/IKYvEEy633— Jonas Creteur (@jonas_creteur) July 9, 2023
On the beautiful coincidences in sports
Sports history may not repeat, but it certainly tends to rhyme. If you’re a baseball fan, you may remember David Cone throwing a perfect game on “Yogi Berra Day.” Former Yankee pitcher Don Larsen threw the first pitch to Berra. Larsen is…
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