Bonjour!  Stage 13 was the individual time trial in Pau. The course was bumpy rather than hilly, the serious climbs will come next, so this was a chance for everyone to strut their stuff before the going gets really hard.  Julian Alaphilippe began the day in yellow, a colour he is enjoying and becoming accustomed to wearing. The contest for him, and arguably, everyone else was against Geraint Thomas, who was expected to win this stage. With other riders such as Uran, De Gendt and Wout van Aert also in the frame, there was great anticipation.

The sad part of the day was a heavy fall for van Aert, who almost completed a phenomenal ride. De Gendt took the lead afterwards until, Geraint Thomas stormed round. He held first place for 14.67 seconds when the Musketeer in Yellow ripped up the hill to take the win. It was an astonishing ride by Alaphalippe, he is a joy to watch.

For me, the challenge is capturing an individual time-trial in a way that doesn’t look static. The single figure can look solitary, which doesn’t happen when a team races together. This time, I experimented with drawing different views on the same page as the rider progressed around the course. The results are quite abstract, which I rather like, but not sure if it tells the story of their run particularly well. It’s a bit different anyway. See what you think…

Here are my pictures… click on an image to see it full size.

Stage 13 – Traces of Wout van Aert

Stage 13 – De Gendt flashes round to take the lead

Stage13 – Dragon rider, Geraint!

Stage 13 – Rigoberto Uran

Stage 13 – Bernal-Gomez

Stage 13 – Alaphilippe, The ride of a lifetime!

Click on an image to see in full – Medium and measurements are listed below. Click here if you wish to enquire further

All images copyright Maxine Dodd.

For in-depth race analysis, delivered with fun and wit, I highly recommend ‘Velovoices’ but don’t forget to come back to ‘Racing Lines’ for the pictures!

Have a great day! 🙂