Cavendish & Girmay make history AND epic gravel battle at Tour de France | The Gruppetto

🇫🇷 Watch EVERY stage of the Tour de France 2024 live and on-demand on @discovery+, @eurosport & MAX 🚴‍♂️

0:00 Welcome to the Gruppetto
0:24 Tour de France Week 1 Race
7:07 Rest day with Matt Stephens
9:06 Matt on Cavendish victory
13:17 How Astana Qazaqstan Team have grown
15:00 How Mark Cavendish deals with pressure
17:18 The Tour of the underdog
21:10 Can Jonas Vingegaard win the Tour de France?
23:52 Matt Stephens on the Moto
25:39 Biniam Girmay creates history at the Tour de France
26:34 In the car with EF Education EasyPost
29:18 Week 2 at the Tour de France
30:15 Tour de France montage

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[Music] there is nothing more powerful in the world than a good story and this week at the to of HS we have been spoiled we’ll do our best on this week’s show to retell them recapped get action and reaction from those close to the action and of course we’ll be with record-breaking Cavendish brilliant bie so let’s get into this rest day gretto the week at the tour to France began in Italy with the trip to in being a slow one after what had been a blockbuster opening weekend the expected Sprint took place after a late crash and when it came It produced a moment for the history books erat Tran Superstar biniam gmai already a trail Glazer in the cob Classics and at the Jalia produced the power with impeccable timing to become the first ever black African Rider to win a stage of the tour to France an incredible moment for World cycling and a special one to for his Anto Mar team who had never previously won with any of their athletes at the world’s biggest race with four Riders still tied on time at the top of the standings another story developed soon after the finish in chein as Richard kapaz became the first Ecuadorian ever to pull on the race leaders yellow Jersey the former jeto winner had now led all three grand Tours hot on the heels of the best French start to the race since the 1960s this was now fast becoming the fairy tale tour next up was the first contact with the Alps the fourth stage leaving Italy via the mountains and all set to finish in Vala a last call for good coffee and pizza a cester and the mighty Gali were taken on along the way over 2,600 M at the top never had the tour gone so high so soon any hopes that a hard fought Breakaway had of surviving were white out when the UAE Emirates dream team went to work with all of their power and might one by one they came to pull riding stars and champions off their wheels on the way to setting a record Ascent of the galib capped off by a leader and two-time tour winner in t poacha who went and went alone before the Slovenian attack just under a kilometer from the top those victims to the PACE included race leader kapaz who would lose plenty of time gacha went over the top with a small advantage on yonas vagor but that then grew on The Descent with over half a minute put into Rivals who also included REM coapo and Primo RIT a 21st Grand Tour stage win for pogy although it’s safe to say that he came of age a long time before notching up that number the mount action resulted in the yellow Jersey swiftly returning to the shoulders of pachar and an Alpine GC shakeup The Day After the revolution was controlled by the sprinters and it was a chance to rip up the record books after a mostly slow stressfree day on the way to saula this happened there is mar cavish through the center he’s hit the front here Mark cavish is there there’s a crash behind mark cavish this is history first there was Ms now it’s Mark Cavendish as well as that number 35 record-breaking finish for Mark cendes there was further good news for biniam who pulled on the Green jersey for the first time as he took the lead in the points classification much of the attention around Dylan kruna had centered around a new nose piece on his sunglasses were they Arrow gains was it to block out the sun did he want to feel like a superhero well on stage six in another Sprint Bruce Wayne became Batman kovan beating an eventually relegated yasper philipson to the finish in djel Friday was time trial a 25 km test around the burgundy Vineyards it looked great it was fast and all the favorites came out to play 37 seconds separated the big four on the day with Victor kard showing that he was the best of the rest Vore finished fourth RIT was three seconds better than the DNE but the big battle was between pachad and IAP the Belgian was up and stayed up over the course of the three time checks winning his first ever tour to France St stage by 12 seconds but poy remained the leader stage eight was another Sprint uphill this time and with some of the faster Riders dropped the green jersey taught those remaining a lesson nobody could touch him and Bam’s second win provoked these scenes in the erat Tran Capital asada after those celebrations in the streets we were all set for a champagne finish to the first block of racing but the fans should have really had popcorn at the ready as the loop around TWA turned out to be box office just under 200 km to ride in the champagne Hills but with 32 km to be ridden on 14 off-road sectors proper gravel was on the route of the men’s to of France for the first time ever the action was on from the start and it was nonstop chaotic with a fight for a breakaway that eventually saw 14 Riders up the road the GC group almost caught them at different points with the battle to be on the sectors RIT having to rescue a worrying moment from behind a split PA gachard attacking a naol doing the same Vore having to take a teammate Spike and following but not crucially contributing and Pog packing more of a punch in the finale attacking once again it all resulted in the Breakaway just about able to hold off another group that included world champion Mata fodo yasper Stan looked like he’d possibly won it with a late attack but he was caught just inside the final agonizing kilometer the result would be a third French win of the week Anon Tois having his career high moment and winning for toal a Lifeline for a team that has struggled for success in recent years it was a blockbuster of a day on which everything seemed to happen but nothing at the very top of the GC actually changed t poacha leads the tour to France going into the second week of racing 33 seconds ahead of Remco Evo defending Champion yonas Vore remains in third and primar Rit has fought hard for fourth we’re all set up for another fine six stages to come this week over in Italy it was a start of the second women’s grand tour of the season the J Italia women with Alisa Longo borini Italian champion on the road winning the opening time trial in bia by a single set we’ll review the J Italia women and get expert opinion in full on next week’s [Music] show before we carry on we know that you do not want to miss a single moment of the T of France I know that some of you have to be at work it’s not all holidays is it around here but don’t fear Eurosport cycling YouTube channel subscribe like this video comment below and chat about all the big moments with all of the rest of the Euros sport cycling community so it’s rest day time I thought it’d be a good time to catch up with our very own Matt Stevens on the ground in France he was having breakfast with producer pee well Mt is rest day coffee for you how is it going my man I guess the most important question where you are is what time does breakfast close breakfast closes um in about 10 minutes but me and Pete have um had quite a leisurely breakfast producer Pete of course uh we have got a lovely coffee and we’ve adopted a technique cuz not all coffee machines are particularly good at making coffee so it’s an espresso pores then milk on on the top and you’re good to go 7 out of 10 what’s going on today anyway rest day what’s it like for you I imagine there’s a few bits and Bobs to do washing machine and all that yeah there’s a well needed rest day for all of us it’s been a great week as as we all know um from a racing perspective and there’s a real intensity especially in our role at the beginning and the end of the day but we’re all in need of a rest day yeah laundry to be done um hopping on this pod then this afternoon well I’ve got to go and get a couple of little bits for my motorbike Adventure which starts tomorrow I can feel we talk about that in a minute yes yeah and then I’m going to have a sit down chat with Mark Cavendish um wow to talk all things well Cav that historic wind the other day which um was absolutely amazing so a nice afternoon and hopefully I’ll get a little ride in as well at some point so a nice relatively leisurely day with some with some little bits of work but uh not too stressful and we’re in a lovely environment a beautiful uh hotel in the in the countryside um wonderful temperature so it’s ideal mate absolutely ideal right then let’s get on the serious stuff because as soon as that happened the other day I knew we had to speak to you I know that you’re very close to Mark Cavendish you followed exactly what it means for him to make all the sacrifices that he’s made be away from the family um I saw your professional reaction as a mate what was your reaction there behind the scenes um I think we’ve all got right I think if there was one of the only times and we’ve all got um riders in the peleton who we who we know um reasonbly well as friends um and quite often when something like this happens this is really rare isn’t it that the lines are blurred between friendship and and um and professionalism and I think that’s fine on the odd occasion because of how emotional sport is and especially the the seismic event that that was it it really was something big and and I I spoke to just to put that into a little bit of perspective I spoke to Mr prudom in the mix Zone afterwards and his face was beaming with delight and I said and he’d been asked some questions previous and I thought what what question can I ask him and I said well Christian what was your personal reaction to when Mark cend crossed the line and he said I was I was smiling I cheered and um also I watched the faces of the two riders that were second and third um philipson and Kristoff and I’ve never seen second or third and a bunch Sprint um smiling as they crossed the line even even yasper philipson you know um um I think that gives you a sense of of the occasion but for me yeah it was I I saw Peter Cavendish before I saw his son Who’s acting an a Finn Who’s acting as a his kind of personal photographer he’s only young lad out out on the tour with with his with his dad uh and there everybody was very nervous and it was it was a finish as as you know as you called it superbly Rob out in the sticks a little bit so it wasn’t too densely packed with people so you could move around with relative Freedom compared to some of the city center finishes so I had a good opportunity to chat and was a bag of nerves blessed with all the kids and uh and so it was Finn and then I don’t know we we I had your coms in my ear I was actually with Anders um and we have our phones with the footage on but it’s generally a bit of a delay in a bunch Sprint so I Anders had one headphone I had one I was leaning into him and then then I heard your commentary um and then then you saw the reaction which I won’t repeat on here uh there was an expesive an exive that popped out and that was me and and that was me because uh we I know what he’s gone through I know the sacrifices he’s made to a degree um and I think from for Mark it’s the amount is how hard he’s had to work to be competitive in this new era you know when you we we we talk about his age his longevity the span of Victories um the different eras of sprinting which is passed through and excelled every single time okay that the winds are fewer now um but he can still do it and to be at that level takes a remarkable amount of sacrifice and and we we text quite a bit and then there was this period before the tour of probably two months where I didn’t hear from him at all and and then he messages out of the blue about something apologizing it hadn’t been a touch as it’s Fally said but he said I’ve just locked myself down wasn’t speaking to friends really just just family went and trained and trained and trained and trained and he said um it’s been really hard but he’s worked so hard worked worked on his climbing as well and we saw that the other day Al They the the second stage that bin him in won there was a lot of the big sprinters out the back and KF was there wasn’t he you know that he’s he’s he’s in he’s in good Nick but to get to good Nick at 39 years of age although he’s got you know so much class he’s got to work super super hard um and I think it’s that the amount of time he spent away from his family and now he’s finally got that win um it was a cathartic release for him for his family and for everybody who knows him um it it was a it was a momentous moment it really really was but it was it was just over the place was just full of joy it there wasn’t a dry eye in the house um and the Riders were were queuing up to file past him just to Pat him on the back or give him a little bit of a wave and acknowledge what he’ achieved so to be on the ground and witness it Rob was a a real privilege well even if we hadn’t seen it just listening to you there for the last couple of minutes really Paints the picture and paints the picture of how emotionally important it is for you in terms of the team you could also tell there was buying straight from day one yeah I mean he had an army around him when he was suffering in the heat there in in Tuscany and then going over to to r on that first stage they bought in as well and you can see what they did with the equipment the suit you could just looking you could tell that it was a slightly different color than the rest of the team so different material the bead on the bikes you know Mark renchel come all the way over from Australia vinarov team been in a bit of trouble let’s be honest they haven’t been winning so he believed that is also one of the most incredible things the project you know I don’t know how much it required selling to them but they really bought in yeah definitely um and I think the most as well as that I mean what that does having all that trust in you now not so much trust Faith uh trust are faith and trust are two different things but faith in a rider to to deliver and the obviously all the Riders they’ve signed moov ballerini for example riders that he he’s ridden with in the past assembling this team and when you look at the Asana Squad say fet senko who’s who does his own thing really doesn’t he um because they they do have to win races elsewhere but essentially it’s it’s Cav’s team um and if you if you I mean it’s almost like vinor had all his chips on a on a on a table down in in Monaco at some Casino It’s Going push them all into the center and they’ve all got C on them right that’s it we’re all in and and what that creates um as well well as resource for cab to work with um and every detail looked at with with people that he trusts what it creates is pressure and the pressure was ramped up and ramped up and and that extraordinary 5 days between him suffering and almost we were everybody was worried about it like I mean it was the but also him knowing that this was just a heat it was a blip but the transformation in that period of time was absolutely extraordinary and in terms of a narrative Arc how dramatic can you get it I mean literally even our own commentators U this looks bad we couldn’t Yen’s on the bike this looks bad you can’t you could not acknowledge what we were seeing unfolding and it was it was sad wasn’t it but he somehow pulled himself through and it seems when you look at what he’s achieved look at back a couple of years ago last year to the Juro his final Juro in the national champions Jersey you know he’d had a lot of bad luck in the Sprints he delivers when the pressure is at his highest that’s when Mark caver somehow and that’s what makes him the champion that he is that’s the motivation the most acute ridiculously hard pressure um that’s where he comes into his own functions at a level that most people would completely nly capitulate and um that’s the fascinating thing for me him as a person how he copes with that how he thrives on it his Serenity his calmness on the day before he won and the day before actually um I’ve never seen him so calm normally is like Twitchy and moving around and you have to follow him with the mic you know he knows this but he’s been ridiculously composed uh markedly different than previous editions of the tour I’ve spoken to him um and and he delivered and and what an incredible Sprint um it wasn’t your classic moov droing moth creating loads of space he had to think he had to he had to ride on the Instinct that separates him from the rest that’s why he is the greatest Sprinter of all time because sprinting is about power but it’s about the applic of power and it’s about craft and that sort of Craft um it’s shame it kind of didn’t happen in Italy because it was Renaissance esque it was it was a master stroke of of innate Instinct that we saw uh and I think it was not just because of the number I think when you look at back a lot of his wins when HTC for example dominated the lead out when there nobody else really had a chance um that wasn’t an armchair okay he was put in the right place but still 800 M of K to was on his own wasn’t he and um it was that it’s like ah okay he still got it you know uh and that Sprint will live my memory for forever more one of his finest and it was just one of the stories of what’s been a tremendous week I mean it’s been a bit of a fairy tale week hasn’t it because what about bam gay that man is on fire man yeah um and he’s been a pleasure to to get to know um and that’s the wonderful thing about being on the ground Rob as as you know is is the interaction we get with the teams um and then and obviously there are character that reappear a lot because they’re holding a jersey and wi is the only rider yet to have won multiple stages and what a be what just a beautiful wonderful human being is you know an inspiration and and ridiculously modest but clearly in the form of his life and I think it was yesterday morning I said B are you in the form of your life um and he he said to think so but I also think I’ve been in the form of my life for a couple of years but I haven’t had the run of the green he hasn’t had he’s had a lot of bad luck which happens in bik racing sometimes so there’s a I think the form that we’re seeing now is the form that he’s had since he he burst onto the scene really with his his first standout Victory again again W gun and he says I’m not far off that but he is better and more confident and the sorts of riders that he’s beating here I mean I know mads pison isn’t here but I tell you what I think he would have run matad pison pretty close on that one um so he has been a revelation and it’s been it’s been a tour sa for pogacha who’s just doing pagat things and that’s we come to that in the moment it has been a tour for the underdog really when when you look at it inter marhe with two stage wins toon nlgs I would call them almost a forgotten team with the greatest of respect a big team that is constantly underd delivered um but T has been there knocking on the door for a couple of years now and what a win that was and then B I mean I mean yeah and then B vam liy the French it’s it’s it’s pretty hard actually living with Louis Pian now on on the team he’s he’s absolutely enjoy himself is he he’s really enjoyed himself but it has been every we bump into a lot of our colleagues in uh different TV stations and the press and I think to a to a to a person and within our Euros sport team as well this is vintage and we’re and we’ve still got we’re not even halfway we’ve only done nine stage stages Rob and um so yeah gai stand out um he’s looking good to win the green jersey now I I really do think he’s going to win that uh because of his consistency his ability to fight on all terrains more than anybody you know he’s uh you know kind of K esque really isn’t he can win Bunch Sprints and also he can climb pretty well um but and yesterday’s yesterday’s stage uh blind me astonishing what a bike race it and there’s a lot of talk isn’t there is does gravel have a place in grand Tours and I think it does I think it’s you know I asked don’t ask a certain couple team bosses no no no um but again I’m not maybe maybe I’d have a different point of view if I was still riding and and and in there I might have a different point of view but right now what I know is they are entertaining us they are thrilling us with um they’re racing with abandon you know and uh and that’s that’s important because because of the way the sport is in terms of training in terms of uh in terms of the fitness levels of these riders in they they’re still riding like it was like 1985 or something like that or back in the 70s they just taken chunks out of each other and and it was spectacular and and confounding as well when you know yonas wouldn’t ride with with Tad or with Remco and at the press conference both Tad and Remco were a little bit angry and the fact they’re angry means that you could argue that yonas is kind of winning the Mind Games thing I love it this tension Rob is just brilliant isn’t it if he is as good in the third week mountains as he can be and there’s still a question mark because yes he might be good now he’s raised to get fit and where he is now is an absolute Miracle compared to where he was in that hospital in the Bas country but if he is that good in the third week that is where he comes into his own and he’ll think well minute and a little bit thank you very much so yeah the race is on and the other two probably know that to sleep a little easier at night they could do with some time yeah um and one thing I’ve noticed um especially with with Anders who chats a lot to uh to to yonas in the mornings is is Jonas’s comportment he is very relaxed because the pressure’s off really um he wasn’t expect I mean it was 50/50 to even ride the Tour of France let alone be in legitimate contention and you’re quite right um as the weeks as the days go on and we get towards that brutal final week and we’ve got two mountain stages at the end of this week coming haven’t we leading into the rest day and a few more flat undulating stages and just to build that shape AP uh I actually think he’s a is a threat and and the sharpness um of his reactions on terrain that didn’t favor him yesterday um when he got across gaps he was isolated at points but never really looked to be in trouble and actually never really showed his hand he never never attacked didn’t really need to um and I think it was wise actually not to r with the others um Remco was angry because he he was definitely angry he cuz he I think he thought if they’ have ridden together they would have distanced rogl and it would have been a three horse race eliminating rogl and that now isn’t the case rogl is still there in the mix and that’s frustrated Remco but you know Jonas is I think he’s a legitimate threat and I would imagine the odds are now coming down against um yeah it’s still Tad’s to lose Tad looks good he looks imperious but um and I just love the way that that man races sometimes it puzzles me some of the moves he makes but boy it’s entertaining but he just he just Forces teams to Chase isn’t he and and he’s got that sort of engine um but for his sake I just hope he doesn’t run out run out of fuel but we’ll we’ll see it’s certainly a magnificent spectacle Rob I mean in yesterday’s stage I mean actually shapo to the organizers for creating a stage like that um even even that without the gravel would have been a really Punchy difficult stage with the Crosswinds and stuff I I like the circuit classic esque stages I do think they have a place now you mentioned fuel there I could sit talking to you all day about the Tour of France I absolutely love speaking to you about the racing especially with your experience and how close you’re getting but what we don’t want you to do is run out of fuel yourself this week because you are making your debut on the motorbike um you know imagine I’m the one in the mix zone now you’re walking through you’re the one making your debut and I’m asking you how are you feeling um I’ll say good morning Rob thanks mate um I’ll probably I’ll probably I’ll probably say something like I think I’m going to take this day by day and I am going to take it day by day but uh well firstly I’m thrilled opportunity uh to be offered to to give it give it a crack is is brilliant um and I’ve got big I’ve got big big boots to Phil haven’t I you know coming off the back of Yen’s incredible n-day stint and what he does he’s made that role his own as had Adam and I’ve had been sharing a lot of time with with Yen he’s been very generous in his advice about how to approach things um and look at it from your own unique perspective I think that’s the key um so Pete as well who’s behind the scenes making sure we’re well equipped and advised on how things work technically we’ll probably have a a deeper chat this afternoon about how things go um final few tweaks my Moto kit but um I’m really I’m I’m excited I’m a little bit anxious but I think anxiety mild anxiety nervousness is a good thing when you’re doing something quite new um but I’ve got a nice Sprint stage to bed myself in I’m not going to be thrown into the gravel or a Mountain Stage so a nice Sprint stage to bed myself in and then we’ll just see I’m going to take it day by day but I’m I’m thrilled I’m thrilled at the opportunity to to be amongst it the tour and and hopefully give you my unique perspective that that’s been been offered up to me so I’m very excited mate and you can catch Matt’s chat with Mark Cades across our coverage this week live and On Demand on Euros Sport and Discovery plus elsewhere it’s been quite the fight for the green jersey hasn’t it we talked about bam gay who had a troubled spring there or thereabouts ending with a nasty crash though in the Italia since then however it’s been quite the comeback is on the barriers here is going be a to the line oh B has done it that is amazing bam G wins it for inter Mar G has picked himself back up from absolutely nowhere and is waiting to go for this oh G kicks back and says thank you very much so many were in the frame but in the end the power of the green jersey has delivered time to go behind the scenes at the tour now and into the car with ef education easy Bo over the last few years teams have become increasingly aware of their environmental impact and how a team operates this year in the Tour of France it’s the first time that some teams have made the switch to a fully electric vehicle within the Convoy one of those teams is EF education easy post and this beautiful pink it’s almost giving hey Barbie Vibes Cadillac this is the first vehicle that that uh I’ve encountered that can actually make the r Race distance electric vehicle that can actually make the race distances day in day out um and can complete the entirety of the tour to France we experimented with electric vehicles back in 2018 and we were the first team to do that as well and those cars did not have the range to do the tour to fronts and and so this is the first time where the technology of cars has caught up with the technology of bikes inside you’ve got the full setup here just talk me through almost the the cockpit for the sports director okay well the sports director the guy running the race is always going to be in the passenger seat because we want the driver concentrating on driving um first off we have three different radios first is race radio meaning that’s communication from ASO from the race jury uh giving us instructions um that’s obviously listen only the second radio is just from car to car this is internal communication from car to car and then the pink radio is from card Rider then we’ve got this will the a television screen to watch the race um for the director that sitting in the passenger seat and then this right here is for an iPad where we’re looking at uh Maps courses uh gradient changes all the information that we have downloaded about the course that day so the way an electric motor works is very different from a gasoline engine uh with an electric motor on the descents of the mountains um it’s actually recharging the battery the entire time the other part is is driving in the Convoy and the Caravan of the race you know at the speeds that we’re at which is generally between 40 and 60 km an hour uh an electric motor is actually amazingly efficient at those speeds um so you know I just love pink Cadillac I mean it’s you know there there I don’t know how many songs are there about pink Cadillacs floating around out there so I mean they’re 80s songs okay but you know we get a little 80s Vibe going on with a little bit of 2024 um I mean I I love the color and and uh it I mean you you’re going to be able to see this thing from Outer Space six stages coming up this week at the tour to France week two of racing and the race heading south with possibility of Crosswinds Sprint stages breakaways a day in the massive sentral and a big weekend in the Pyrenees it’s getting very very serious after it’s been a fair retail opening 9 days you can join us as always Euros sport Discovery Plus for all the live and On Demand Action in the evenings on the Euros Sports cycling YouTube channel we’ll be back with the short highlights plus you can see clips of the last few kilometers of each stage if you have to miss anything anywhere now the second women’s grand tour of the season is also on way that’s in Italy the the J Italia women is live on Eurosport Discovery plus as well you us viewers can join us on Max everything each and every day for all of you cycling fans so what’s going to happen next the tour is on the way it’s been quite the opening nine days hasn’t it and we’ve had those beautiful beautiful stories so we’ll leave you with this it’s worth one more view isn’t it the one thing I’ve always tried harder to inspire than anything else is a never give attitude here we go as with every Sprint day at this tour to France we could be witnesses to history sit yourselves down strap yourselves in this is going to go super sonic Mark Cavendish a shot at glory a chance for immortality in cycling terms it is time to go it’s time to Sprint only now they will start to see the Finish Line there is Mark cavage through the center he’s hitting the front here Mark cage is there this is his first there was mer now it’s Mark cavish the greatest of all time w a little bit of disbelief I’ve done 15 tour to Frances now things have to still go your way big gam come here and try and win at least one stage you know and we yeah we’ve done it he’s just a fine one he has just been Mega committed I don’t know how many days he’s been with his family but this year it’s not many he was is and will stay the greatest Sprinter in the history of the [Music]