Greig Leach

Yesterday, Brent Van Moer (Lotto Soudal) surprised the peloton and soloed to a stage win. I had titled the painting of his victory salute, "The Stage and Two Jerseys", alas, I was wrong. He had actually won all four leaders' jerseys of the Dauphine. He became the overall leader, the best young rider, the sprint points leader, and the King of the Mountain. Sadly, it looks like he will be surrendering all of those jersey today. It is the Cote de la foret de Porcheresse that seems to be his undoing. His teammate (and team leader) Tim Wellens is doing his best to encourage his young charge. Jeremy Bellicaud (Intermache-Wanty Gobert Materiaux) was happy to have a wheel to hold on the penultimate climb of the day.