"Something's changed": Is the Tour de France too much pressure?

This is my first trip to the Tour de France, and I knew it would be big. So far, I haven’t seen anything to change that perception.

Today’s rest day has allowed some time for reflection on the ten hectic days we’ve seen so far, and a chance to put things into perspective.

There’s no doubt the weather has contributed to the drama and chaos we’ve seen since the race came to France a week ago.

Before then, the three days in England were like a festival of cycling, with this ginormous bike race just a part of the event. 198 riders set off from Leeds on July 5. By the end of Stage 10, the peloton had reduced to 180 and now that number is 179 with the rest day withdrawal of Trek superstar Fabian Cancellara.

Anyone who’s watched cycling, especially the Tour, knows it’s a race of attrition, and the first week is especially nervous. None of the general classification contenders want to lose the race in the first week. Meanwhile, the opportunists and sprinters want to fill their boots before the big climbs kick in the second and third weeks.

So everyone tries to be at the front of the bunch to avoid the obvious dangers that lurk at the back of a peloton riding at 55kmh. Of course, not everyone can fit at the front, and as we saw with Andrew Talansky at the finish in Nancy, being there when it’s not your normal territory can be painful.

Orica-GreenEDGE’s sports director, Matt White, has commented numerous times that England’s Grand Depart and the Roubaix cobbles have made the opening week of the Tour the hardest of the modern era. Few would argue, especially when you consider the big names that are not going to make it to Paris.

At 34, this is the 10th time Michael Rogers has planned a Paris rendezvous on the final Sunday in July. He’s relaxed about his place in the bunch and in a perverse way his enforced absence from racing, while he contested his positive test to Clenbuterol, has benefitted him.

He has a new perspective on his life as a professional cyclist and seemingly a renewed passion for the sport. And he is winning bike races. Big bike races. But he seems a little troubled at le Tour.

“Something’s changed in the bunch,” he said during a casual rest day catch-up at the team hotel in Besancon. “It’s the like the Tour is 98 per cent and the rest of the races are 2 per cent and because of that the sponsors want the maximum value for their money.”

This results in a pyramid of pressure as the sponsors put pressure on the owners, the owners put pressure on the sports directors and they in turn put pressure on the riders.

“Everyone has to be at the front of the race, we’re always getting told,” says Rogers. But with all the road furniture, which he says there is more of, it gets harder. And there physically isn’t enough room.

One thing I have noticed while driving the big lap of France is the number of roundabouts, both big and small. Then there are the median strips and speed humps to deal with.

You could believe that some riders look at the odds of a crash during this increasingly nervous and tense Tour and decide it’s safer to pull back and set another goal. Riders like Cancellara.

“I will travel home now and take a little break,” said Cancellara in a statement his Trek team released.

“The season has been long for me, starting back in Dubai. I have done 59 days of competition this season so far and I have another big goal at the end of this season: the World Championships. It’s not a secret that I’d like to be in my best shape there, so it’s important that I take some rest.”

Yes, he’s ridden more than most top-ranked riders. Cancellara’s 59 days compares to Alberto Contador’s 43, Alejandro Valverde’s 42, Michał Kwiatkowski’s 46 and Simon Gerrans’ 49.

Adam Hansen has racked up 61 and if he is to continue his assault on the Grand Tour record books, there’ll be at least another 32.

Cancellara’s withdrawal was supported by his team manager, Luca Guercilena.

“We brought Fabian to the Tour to be a factor where his skills allowed it and he didn’t disappoint,” Guercilena told Cyclingnews.

“He’s a rider that always comes to a race to give everything – if you just look at how he was working for Fränk (Schleck) yesterday at 20 kilometres from the finish in a mountain stage.

“Now he gets a short break and then we will build up his condition again to be at his best in Ponferrada.”

There’s no doubt if he stayed Cancellara could have still won a stage or two – Wednesday’s stage to Oyonnax or Thursday’s to St Etienne, for instance. But despite there being seven weeks before the World Championships, maybe the intensity of this race has been too much and riding an extra 11 days will overload Cancellara.

The fact that there is no injury being cited makes me think Cancellara just doesn’t want the stress and risk of the run into Paris.

England was seriously intense for everyone involved in the Tour de France, and there’s no doubt the mood is much more relaxed now we are back in France. The several million people who lined the mostly narrow roads in England only magnified those typical early stage nerves.

Since we’ve come to France, the weather and the parcours have combined to continue the high drama. With the prestige attached to winning in July, maybe the pressure is becoming too much. When riders like Michael Rogers start suggesting things have changed in the bunch at the Tour, and not for the better, it’s worth examining.