How Much Luck Does The Yellow Jersey Need
Two minutes and 42 seconds can feel like a wall, right up until the Tour de France reminds you it’s paper thin. We take the Tour de France 2026 rest day to reset the race: where the general classification stands, how the first nine stages actually played out, and why the yellow jersey fight between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard still has plenty of room to turn.
We walk through the opening stretch from the Barcelona start, including the early time trial impact, the first real mountain separation, and how brutal heat has already shaped tactics, recovery, and even stage design. Then we dig into the practical question every fan is asking: what does it really take to find 2:42 in the mountains, and how quickly can that gap disappear without any “catastrophe”? Along the way, we check in on the other Tour de France classifications, including the green jersey points race, the polka dot climbing competition, and the white jersey battle that’s tighter than it looks on paper.
We also preview Stage 10 on Bastille Day, when French riders traditionally go hunting for the breakaway and the whole peloton races with a little extra emotion. Expect Tour lore, a few fun local details, and what we’re watching for as the race ramps back up. Plus: community messages, a RAGBRAI meetup invite, and a ridiculous donut-fueled racing debate that somehow belongs in a cycling podcast.
If you’re enjoying these daily Tour de France recaps, subscribe, share the show with a cycling friend, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find us.
Adam and Michael’s friendship has grown through years of shared miles, challenges, and laughter on the bike. Their passion for cycling has carried them through life’s twists and turns, creating a bond full of stories, jokes, and unforgettable rides. In their podcast, they bring that same spirit to the mic—sharing adventures, trading banter, and welcoming listeners into their cycling community. Whether tackling steep climbs or cruising open roads, their conversations capture the fun, friendship, and freedom that cycling brings. Tune in for stories that celebrate the ride and the camaraderie that makes it unforgettable.
and Remember,
It's a Great Day for a Bike Ride!
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1 SPEAKER_01: All right.
Well, good day, everyone.
Uh, it's now time for another one of Cycling Men of Leisure's
Leisure Breakaway, which is our mini podcast following every day
of the Tour de France.
I'm Michael, and with me, as always, is my good friend Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Well, good evening or good morning.
I guess it'll be morning when you're listening to this.
Good morning, everybody.
Good morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm uh I'm once again uh still in Arkansas.
Uh did not have good internet service where I was at.
So I have uh I've taken the uh the podcast on the road here in
Hot Springs.
SPEAKER_00: So are you having a good time with the family?
That's the most important thing.
SPEAKER_01: We are having a good time.
Hot Springs is a fun, a fun, cool town, lots of history.
There's a national park here, uh, all sorts of things to do.
We did a little little hike today to some falls, uh, went to
a distillery, um, had some moonshine, so that was always a
good time.
I mean, I had some moonshine.
My daughter did not have moonshine, and my my wife had
some.
But uh having a good time here.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's wonderful.
I'm happy to hear that.
Uh we got uh a couple things here.
Um got uh I got a recap um for anyone who is just catching this
episode.
Uh got a recap of where we are, where we stand on the Tour de
France 2026.
A couple of announcements, uh, mentioned it before, but I'm
happy to say we are now on Spotify video.
If you like to watch us as opposed to listen to us, um, you
can go to Spotify Video.
For those of you who don't know, on the Spotify platform, Apple
platform, uh you can actually just click a small little button
there.
It says video off or video on.
Um, and so um also a little exciting thing we're gonna be
trying tonight with YouTube, a little integration.
Everything's gonna be a one-touch button, which I am a
huge fan of.
So uh excited about that.
We'll see how that all goes.
SPEAKER_01: Um before before you get going, yes, sir.
Let me let me preface that I've got something to to say.
We can save it till the end.
Uh, but I did want to say uh today's rest day.
Let's let's make sure we make that perfectly clear.
Rest day on the tour.
SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say I was working on the budget.
I wasn't resting.
SPEAKER_01: No rest day for you.
SPEAKER_00: No.
Yes, today is the rest day.
Um, and got some facts and figures about that.
We'll get to that.
Uh, what I thought I would do, if it's okay with you, is I'd
just kind of give give us a snapshot of where we are today.
Is that all right?
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, go for it.
Catch us up in case we we haven't been paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
So this is the 113th edition of the Tour de France.
3,333 kilometers.
Barcelona, this is the third Spanish start.
I have episodes, I'm episodes.
I have stage one through nine, uh, and through the rest days,
some facts and figures.
So stage one was Saturday, July 4th, left Barcelona.
Uh those were the time trial days.
It was 19.7 kilometers.
Um Visma Lisa bike uh won the team trials.
Uh each rider got an individual time.
Vandegaard takes the first yellow jersey and he finished.
Um he did uh yeah, he finished.
And then uh stage two was Sunday, July the 5th, and we
went 178 kilometers very hilly this day.
UAE first and second um on the on the circuit.
Uh Toddy uh gifts the win to Isaiah Del Toro, only second
Mexican stage winner ever.
Um, as you mentioned before earlier in these miniseries,
Vanguard kept the yellow jersey.
Um on stage three, uh, it was 196 kilometers in the mountains.
Uh Toddy drops Vanegaard in the f and the final ramp, and he won
by over two minutes and takes took the yellow jersey with some
bonus seconds.
And then on stage four was July 7th, it was 182 kilometers.
Very hilly, it says breakaway of 30 plus gets uh 13 minutes.
Um and uh let's see here.
Uno X takes the yellow with the lead with nearly eight minutes.
And then on stage five uh was in Poe, and that was 158
kilometers, and it was uh relatively flat.
Olaf uh uh Kuju Kuju?
Is that how you pronounce it?
I believe it's uh Kovi.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Koivy Koif, I appreciate that.
And he wins uh bunch uh sprint, and then um and so that was an
exciting the next day was uh stage six, uh which gave us 186
kilometers in the mountains, and this was the defining day.
Uh Toddy attacked um and uh set up by Del Toro's acceleration
solos, they beat Van Degar by two minutes and thirty-eight
seconds and breaks the uh tournament climbing record and
retakes the yellow for good, and when they see for good, which
means he hasn't lost it since.
Um brutal heat, though, on on July 9th.
Um uh and stage seven um was 175 kilometers and was flat.
Um Tim uh Merler, he won the bunch of sprints ahead.
Oh yeah, I'm never gonna pronounce that.
I'm gonna try though.
Weren't gold jold.
Uh I know you're getting messages from Armando now, so uh
and then um but um stage eight um was on Saturday, July the
eleventh.
It was 182 kilometers, relatively flat.
Um and then on stage nine, this is kind of interesting.
It was cut by uh just under 31 kilometers, as you mentioned in
yesterday's episode, uh, due to the extreme heat.
As you mentioned in the episode, they did cut it off the front
end, and um but they left the wonderful mountains in the back
end.
So uh where do we stand today?
Uh we have Toddy and UAM Team Emirates.
Uh he's sitting at 321704, and then then Vandegaard is two
minutes and forty-two seconds behind him.
Del Toro is three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, and then
that goes down further.
It's kind of hard to listen to a podcast if you're not watching
us, but um so uh my question to you is two minutes and forty-two
seconds from your time.
Is that short of an accident or short of uh short of something
major?
Is that uh obtainable?
Two minutes and forty-two seconds?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's very much obtainable.
Okay.
Uh as I mentioned early on, I was worried that uh Tod A might
uh you know jump so far ahead that we knew pretty much short
of catastrophe that he was gonna win.
That has not played out.
Um he's ahead.
Two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, that can easily be made
up.
Um I mean if Toddy has one one off day, it is very, very it
would be very easy for uh Vindigo to make up that time and
and do more.
Um I mean obviously if there was a a wreck in the Peloton and
Toddy got cooked up in that, uh if there was some kind of
mechanical uh and Toddy found himself a car not close by or a
teammate close by, uh there's a number of things that could
happen, but it doesn't have to be catastrophic.
I mean, if Toddy just has a bad day or Vindigo just really uh
really tears it up, could easily, easily make up that
time.
So really at this point, it's uh it could it could easily uh go
anywhere at this point.
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about the jerseys and classifications,
uh the green jersey uh is uh Mads Peterson at 268 points.
Uh um and then um we have the Polka Data jersey is Toddy with
leading by 28 points for that.
Um the white jersey, Del Toro leads um, and then the teams, as
you mentioned yesterday, Laddie Trek uh leads the EAU by 27 uh
minutes and eight seconds.
Um uh we do have eight riders that have left uh the race.
They have abandoned the race.
Um and um and then the rest day today, riders do about a 60 to
90 minute uh recovery pace to stay loose.
But for the staff, 12-hour workday, full day.
They have press conferences, medical checks, tactical
debriefs, talking points, um uh Vendegaard can he find two
minutes and forty-two seconds?
Um uh Toddy in yellow, Del Toro in White, uh seven second white
jersey fight, and then uh but also uh Phillipson's winless
sprint campaign, so that we could talk about that.
Do you have anything to add about that?
SPEAKER_01: Uh no, I I I uh there's there's there's more
sprinting to come, so I'm not too worried about that.
I think that he will uh he will get a win uh during this this
tour.
Um I feel pretty confident in that.
Uh I don't really see, I know the white jersey is really
close.
Honestly, I think we'll see at the end of this that Del Toro
will take it.
Del Toro is, I mean, the clock is actually I feel the clock is
actually way closer than than the way that Del Toro is riding,
so I think Del Toro is gonna pull that off as a win.
Um so we'll we'll we'll see.
Uh again, the heat has played a huge factor so far.
Um I think it's gonna continue to play a huge factor uh as we
continue on for the for the final two weeks here.
So uh I think we got a lot of great racing ahead of us.
So we'll have to we'll have to see.
But a lot of sprints left, a lot of mountains left.
We'll see how it goes.
It's anybody's game at this point.
SPEAKER_00: So um what's next?
Uh stage 10 tomorrow, Bastille Day, uh about 167 kilometers.
It's a mountain stage.
There are seven categorized climbs, 38 meters of elevation,
um, and uh the flat hilly days, uh yeah, so that's it.
Um it is a mountain stage.
I apologize.
SPEAKER_01: And I will say something about Bastille Day.
Bastille Day, obviously, uh huge French holiday.
Um that is the day that the French riders, every French
rider out there wants to win on Bastille Day.
Doesn't happen very often.
Uh the last time it happened, I believe, was in 1985, that a
French writer, uh Bernard Inu, I believe, is the last one in '85
who won on Bastille Day.
The French riders are always trying to win on that day
because that would be huge.
You know, it'd be like an American uh writer winning on
the 4th of July.
Um, it would be huge.
Doesn't happen very often, but you will you typically see on
Bastille Day that the French really want, like are really
pushing, regardless of their team, to get out there.
Um if there's a breakaway, they want to be in the breakaway
because they know uh that would be a huge honor.
So that's always exciting to see how that plays out.
SPEAKER_00: Stage 10 will also start in a town that makes over
half of France's umbrellas.
Um it is one of France's rainiest and coldest towns.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you can't have too many French umbrellas, so I
guess that's a good thing.
We are they are they better or worse than say the Swiss or the
German umbrellas?
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know, but oh I bet you the Swiss make a
fine umbrella.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Not a lot of Swiss are very good at making things
that move.
So are the Germans, you know, moving parts.
Not a lot of moving parts to uh to an umbrella, so I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Uh stage 10 will finish where Van Degaard
outsprinted Toddy in one of the great duels of the 2024 tour in
the shadows of Pierre Mary, Europe's largest uh volcano.
And it's extinct.
So it is extinct.
Let's hope so.
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, 2024 Vandegaard uh Vandegaard uh
really really showed uh Toddy.
So we'll see.
I mean, he's got a good track record on that.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I got for today.
That's a little rest day update.
No rest for the wicked for you and I.
But uh yes, I'm uh I'm enjoying, I've learned a lot so far.
I just want I told you that I hope to learn during this during
this.
I've learned that I cannot pronounce French names.
SPEAKER_01: I also have learned that I also can't pronounce
Danish names, Belgium names, uh Spanish names.
It's okay.
SPEAKER_04: Oh, sorry.
Sorry, sorry.
SPEAKER_01: I I will admit I'm not doing a whole lot better.
I did caveat early that I have very little foreign language
experience, but uh I will say to our defense, you listen to
different broadcasts of the tour and different announcers, and
there the professional commentators are not all on the
same page as far as how to pronounce these names.
So I don't feel so bad.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I have a couple things.
Our team member and good friend Ed uh made me smile ear to ear
this morning.
Uh he sent us a message and uh and he said, uh let me find it
here.
He said, uh a breakaway tune earworm at 1.6 is not something
something something you want to experience.
So uh and then of course we know that Melanie reached out.
Uh they're gonna be at Ragbri.
Her and Keith are gonna be there.
They're gonna have uh a Ragbri get together.
Um for those of you who are going to Ragbri in the area.
Um they are gonna be hosting a meet and greet for the team,
anyone going.
It's gonna be Saturday, July 8th from 2.30 to 3 o'clock at the
corner of Iowa Avenue and 7th Street in front of the library.
So come meet other team members if you want to be cycling men or
cycling women of leisure.
I believe that Keith will be sporting his de Brim, and we
obviously love him for that.
Um listen, Keith, do not take any negativity from Michael.
Um and then I thought I would talk about something else.
Our good friend Wade Paul wrote us, and he said, I saw that the
tour to donut was last weekend, and the race where you get time
taken off for every donut you eat at two donut shops in the
middle of the 36-mile race.
This raises the question Who do you think win a five-mile race
at 2% incline where you have to eat six donuts before riding?
Joey Chestnut or Toddy Puchacor?
Uh obviously a bicycle and gear would all be the same.
So that's question to Ponder.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Chestnut, who didn't he just win another eating
contest or uh he's always winning, you know, hot dog
eating contests or whatever, but I don't know if he can ride
worth diddly.
SPEAKER_00: So can you imagine like being a doctor, one of
those people like, so how's your cholesterol?
SPEAKER_01: You know, the doctor just like he walks in the door,
it's like you're gonna die if you don't stop this.
This is not a healthy relationship with food.
SPEAKER_00: I've won 15 years in a row.
Yeah, let me show you your medical chart.
I believe you.
SPEAKER_01: You've never seen one of those guys make it to
like age 80, have you?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
But uh appreciate the community reaching out.
Um, we will uh mention the Ragbri meetup up until uh makes
logical sense.
Uh obviously what we don't want to mention it past, but uh we
appreciate Keith and Melanie doing that.
Um, and I really hope that you and the family are enjoying your
your trip.
SPEAKER_01: We are, and I did want to say, even if you're
you've not done anything with our community, these cycling men
or the cycling women of leisure, uh, and you're gonna be at
Ragbri, you don't have to have a card, you don't have to do
anything.
All you have to do is show up and and uh say hello and and
join in the in the community that they're creating there.
So I just wanted to have an open invitation to anybody that
there's no special requirement for you to attend the meet and
greet or anything like that.
It's just an open community, get together, meet some new people,
that type of thing.
So I would encourage anybody who's got some time there on
Saturday.
Once you get in, you got some free time, go down there, hang
out, and uh meet some fellow cyclists.
SPEAKER_00: So definitely.
I I I uh definitely know that meeting Keith and Millenni would
be a lot of fun and other people that are probably there as well.
I've been watching people uh on social media already comments,
so that's great.
Um unless you have anything else, I will I will give
everybody what I know they've stuck around this long for.
SPEAKER_01: More of me?
SPEAKER_00: No.
No.
SPEAKER_03: Listen to the blue.