At the start of the 2021 Tour de France many saw the top contenders as the two who finished first and second in 2020’s race, UAE Team Emirates Tadej Pogacar and Team Jumbo-Visma’s Primoz Roglic with one of the Ineos Grenadiers top four riders as a possible spoiler. Crashes in the first week sorted out the Ineos hierarchy with Richard Carapaz looking to be their best hope at the moment, and injuries from said crashes taking toll on Roglic’s chances as he faltered on stage 7. Pogacar looks to be in the best position but has a battered team to support him, and showed on stage 7 they would have a difficult time controlling the race. At the moment however Alpecin-Fenix’s phenom Mathieu van der Poel wears the yellow jersey after his sublime thrilling ride to victory on stage two as well as his impressive stage 5 time trial. Riding in the break on stage 7 furthered his tenure in yellow although van der Poels longtime cyclocross rival Team Jumbo-Visma’s Wout van Aert sits just 30 seconds in arrears and appears to have better climbing abilities than Mathieu. What drama and action to come, after already an amazing week that saw Deceuninck – Quick Step’s late addition to the Tour Mark Cavendish taking his 31st and 32nd career Tour stage victories! So much has happened yet so much to come!!!