‘Nice to have friends in the peloton’ – Michael Matthews benefits from a small act of sportsmanship on the Tour de France’s hottest day

One of the broadcasting innovations at the Tour de France in recent years has been the near-live broadcast of select snippets of team radio. The snatches of in-race transmissions have given TV viewers some insight into how the race runs, as well as what riders say on those long days in the saddle.

Perhaps the most famous of these clips has been Tadej Pogačar’s “I’m gone, I’m dead” as he cracked on the Col de la Loze three years ago, all but handing the overall title to Jonas Vingegaard.

Racing through the Massif Central, 40km from the finish of the heat-shortened stage, Michael Matthews was among the remains of the peloton chasing down the breakaway, and the four-time Tour de France stage winner was in with a shot of adding another to his palmarès.

Only he was isolated in the group of around 40 men as they chased through sweltering 38ºC temperatures in pursuit of the day’s break, which included Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, and Tobias Halland Johannessen. To make matters worse, his radio had broken.

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With no way of communicating with his team car, and with no way of knowing exactly where in the Tour traffic jam it could be, Matthews could rely on a rival team to help out.

There was no need to panic as the familiar voice of Luke Rowe, former Ineos racer turned Decathlon CMA CGM directeur sportif, crackled across the radio, ready to lend a hand.

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“Boys, listen up. Michael Matthews from Jayco is in the group with you,” he said, instructing his riders to pass the message on.

“His radio is broken and the team asked for a favour. If you can tell Matthews that his team car is here. Cheers, boys.”

It may have been a small gesture, but it showed the comradeship that exists within the Tour de France peloton.

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The relay of messages and display of good sportmanship reunited Matthews and his team car. They were reunited 5km down the road, where Matthews took on much-needed ice on the hottest day of the Tour so far – as well as a working radio.

He wouldn’t race to glory in Ussel in the end, however, as Van der Poel surged clear of his fellow breakaway survivors to take his third career stage win, while Matthews raced to seventh, third in the chasing group, and clearly with form in his legs for the coming days.

“Nice to have friends in the peloton,” Matthews wrote alongside a clip of the episode on social media.

The incident is another example of sportsmanship in this Tour de France after Isaac del Toro was serviced by Visma-Lease a Bike and Netcompany Ineos mechanics after his own UAE team cars had driven past him on stage 2 of the race.

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