«Wouterise» : the neologism for non-connoisseurs of cycling is not very telling, but, in the middle, it is crystalline. Contraction of Wout, for Wout van Aert, and pulverized, it signifies the domination of the Belgian rider of the Jumbo-Visma on this Tour de France 2022, with three stage victories, a green jersey, breakaways in shambles, a title of super-combative, etc. The term was coined by Romain Bardet (DSM team) after arriving in Calais, on his Strava profile, a sports social network, where the Frenchman distills the right words. At the time, we were at the start of the Tour and the future seventh overall did not believe he was writing so well as this domination had grown stronger over the days.
When we ask riders or supervisors if the overpowering of the Jumbo-Visma team and their opponent Tadej Pogacar (second and best young rider) is not surprising, even boring, the answers are polite. For one, there have always been people above the rest, “look at Lance Armstrong”. For another, they are champions who are reinventing cycling, attacking all the time, the public should be happy. For a third, money is the sinews of war and, as in football, the higher the budget, the more the results follow.
It is then necessary to slip into the interstices, to follow the small words released like the pebbles of Petit Poucet to grasp the discomfort. It’s Bardet and his «Wouterise». Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM team), still on Strava, talks about an outing in “electric bike”. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers team) wonders what the Pogacar teammates ate for breakfast. Maxime Bouet (Team Arkéa Samsic) admits, on the set of France TV: “What am I doing here, what am I doing here?” Yoann Offredo, consultant on the public service, former pro retired for two years, stretches the pole several times. He says : “I feel like I quit at the right time. The bike is getting harder and harder”or : “Thibaut Pinot must be disappointed [à Hautacam, ndlr]. He was once again at the front. He comes across a runner like Wout van Aert who is in the green jersey [et donc en théorie plus à l’aise sur les sprints en plaine, ndlr] and who manages to get it.”
Improved hardware
The numbers are implacable. This Tour will be the fastest in history, at more than 42 km/h on average, erasing from the shelves the 2005 edition won by Lance Armstrong. Several passes climbing time records have been beaten or approached, flirting with those of the fury of the EPO years. The three ogres, Vingegaard, Van Aert and Pogacar, have monopolized eight victories and twenty possible podiums out of sixty (before the stage arriving on the Champs-Elysées on Sunday July 24). Eight minutes and thirteen seconds behind, the third, Geraint Thomas, floats in the distant times of Joseba Beloki in 2001 and Raimondas Rumsas in 2002, when Lance the Texan shone. And we have to go back to 1997 to find a tenth (Roberto Conti clocked in at 32′26″) more behind on the yellow jersey than Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers team) this year (25′43″). As for the green jersey, Wout van Aert is doing better than Peter Sagan at his best, both in points and ahead of his pursuer.
The reasons given to justify these performances are multiple: the improvement of the material (carbon, disc brakes, gear ratios), unanimously cited, the wind at the back, the quality of the bitumen, etc. But this does not only concern the Jumbo-Visma and does not explain the differences in performance even with usually powerful teams, such as Ineos Grenadiers, Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl or Bahrain-Victorious (rather disastrous since the searches carried out for suspicion of doping just before the big departure from Copenhagen).
share of angels
The Dutch, who accepted that Netflix cameras follow them throughout the event, proof of a certain transparency, for their part defend a precise organization and a more accomplished physical and mental preparation than among the French teams. The use of ketones, energy drinks with uncertain doping effects that part of the peloton refuses, would only be a marginal gain. They’re not the only ones taking it either. “Ketones are the most ridiculous debate in cycling, laughed the manager of the Jumbo Merijn Zeeman in the team. It’s just 1% of our work. To hear Pinot, Bardet or Démare talk about two-speed cycling is nonsense.
There remains the part of the angels, the mysteries of faith to which the follower does not have access. Asked after the Rocamadour time trial about the suspicions of doping that invariably affect winners in cycling, Wout van Aert was offended: “I don’t even want to answer, it’s a shitty question. […] We worked very hard to get there, the bike has changed. It’s not fun to answer these kinds of questions. We do all the checks, at any time of the year, they can come and test us at home. Look at the team, how we have progressed. We don’t come from nowhere.” Jonas Vingegaard, calmer, very happy with his final victory, defended the model of yellow and black: “We are clean. I can guarantee it, tell you all. Nobody does anything illegal. If we were so good, it’s because we did a great preparation. We do courses at altitude and we go very far during these courses. We do our best in terms of equipment, food… This is why you have to trust us.” Trust how? Like Aladdin reaching out to Jasmine? Or like the serpent Kaa mesmerizing Mowgli?