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Tour de France<\/a><\/p>\n Even a bad day for Biniam Girmay is a great day for the Eritrean fans of wherever he goes. <\/p>\n Cor Vos and Iain Treloar<\/p>\n It was \u2013\u00a0and I think this is the technical term\u00a0\u2013 pissing rain in Valence. The humid heat broke at some point between our arrival in the press centre \u2013 a handball stadium on the gritty outskirts of town \u2013\u00a0and the peloton arriving; first with rain on the roads from an hour or so out, and then, as the race closed on the finish line like a gathering storm, outside the press centre. There was nothing to be done about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of waiting at bike races. Waiting for reception. Waiting in traffic jams. Waiting for the finish. Waiting for Paris. Waiting for the sweet embrace of death. Today, there was the added component of waiting and walking: a bike race in dire conditions, watched on phone screens under umbrellas on the trudge to the buses, five minutes walk away. Then it was time to choose where to wait: hedging bets on the bus to stand at, on the off-chance that you\u2019ll choose the right one for the most immediate reactions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inside an Uno-X Tour stage win, three years in the making<\/p>\n One of the Tour\u2019s breakout stars finally got the breakaway win his team, Uno-X Mobility, has been chasing. And then things got teary.<\/p>\n I chose wrongly. Jonas Abrahamsen was away \u2013 still one of the few riders who might, possibly, be capable of holding off a charging peloton, but the catch was made after a few minutes standing in the rain at the Uno-X Mobility bus. That wasn\u2019t so bad: there was an awning, and unlike other buses (which may or may not belong to Visma-Lease a Bike) at least the driver gave a heads-up that he was about to push the canvas up with the tip of his umbrella, setting loose a waterfall off the edge of the awning. <\/p>\n One crash, then, under the flamme rouge, another one. \u201cFaen,\u201d came the collective outburst from Norway\u2019s squeaky-clean TV2 broadcasters and a couple of Uno-X staffers. \u201cDet var Stian,\u201d said someone. He was right. It was Stian Fredheim, caught up in the crash, a red and yellow figure in a pile of battered bodies.\u00a0<\/p>\n There’s more after the jump, but you’ll have to be a member to read it. Escape Collective is 100% membership-funded, with no advertising and no affiliate links in our product reviews. Our worm including our Tour de France coverage, is only possible through your support. <\/p>\n Need another reason to join? Our Member Purchase program offers discounts of 20% or more from participating brands like Velocio, Ritchey, Hunt Wheels and more (we get no revenue from your purchases; this is purely a member benefit).<\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Iain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Iain-Treloar-150x150.jpg\")
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