Nobody dies more beautifully than a swan.
Except Richard Carapaz.
What the 28-year-old professional cyclist from Tulcán, Ecuador, offered the audience as a performer in the final section of the 17th stage, the toughest of this Tour de France, almost exceeded what he achieved as an athlete, and that was not a little.
The 17th stage was one of those unreasonable demands that only the route planners of the great tours can think of, on the Tour of Italy and Spain and of course on the Tour de France, which owes its myth to such dubious sensations.
In any case, this stage was the perfect example of a mountain test taken to extremes. It led in the Pyrenees over 178.4 kilometers from Muret to the Col du Portet. The drag began at 120 km on the Col de Peyresourde, a classic first category Pyrenees climb, 13.2 kilometers long and an average of seven percent steep.
Carapaz was still bicycling lively, in a good mood and happy about his racing life. Because his team, the proud Ineos Grenadiers from Britain, who had been spoiled for success for years, had not won a single time in the past 16 stages (which was all the more bitter in connection with the lost soccer final), his mission was clear: this stage had to be he win no matter how. He should be able to do so in fourth place overall. On the second mountain, the Col de Val Louron-Azet, 7.4 kilometers long and an average of 8.3 percent steep, Carapaz still cut a good figure all round. A man, determined to do everything, strong and fast, wonderfully supported by his team, who also carried him up this incline like the coming king of the mountains, so that he could do his job on the third ascent.
This ascent, the Col du Portet, is not a normal mountain, but a stone monster. It's 16 kilometers uphill, the gradient is 8.7 percent on average. That would be just within the scope of what you should expect a professional cyclist to expect, the only problem was that Tadej Pogacar competed with them. And then the last spark of fun is quickly lost in the ditch.
The man in yellow somehow has a different relationship with mountains. He drives them up relaxed, at an absurdly high speed, no matter how steep they are. When he started eight kilometers from the summit and left most of his competitors in a state of utter despair, he found only two riders on his rear wheel: the young Dane Jonas Vingegaard - and Richard Carapaz. And now the Ecuadorian died a very slow, very painful death. The other two were doing the work at the front, sometimes trying to drive away, Carapaz, his face contorted with pain and in a visibly miserable state, only kept up with the last bit of strength. You would have wanted to flag the ambulance over for oxygen, but it just kept going. Even the television commentators, otherwise not inclined to pityworried about him. The poor guy. At the end of his tether.
Nobody dies more beautifully than a swan.
Except Richard Carapaz.
Right at the top, at around 2200 meters above sea level, just before the finish line, the Ecuadorian suddenly came to life.
Having escaped near death, he shot past Pogacar and Vingegaard with a powerful acceleration.
It was all just a bluff.
Quasi pity tour.
All the grimaces were of no use.
Pogacar first countered the start of the acting talent and then, just as dryly, his entire performance.
Of course, he said, he knew Carapaz was bluffing.
So does he have to practice a bit, the Ecuadorian.
Either mountain driving or acting.
Mountain driving would probably be a better choice.
Incidentally, the Ecuadorian Carapaz did not invent the swan trick.
It is as old as cycling itself. One of the best performances was given by the Texan Lance Armstrong, whom Carapaz may have taken as a model. Ironically, Armstrong, the man in the iron mask who usually never pulled a face, gave the dead swan on the 2001 tour. On the climb to the Col de la Madeleine he fell back to the end of the lead group, sweaty, suffering, with a contorted face. The gullible Jan Ullrich let his helpers go fast and saw himself as a triumphant at the finish line, but when it was up the ramps to the Alpe d'Huez in the final, Armstrong chased away with his usual freshness.