Your oller, your doller!
With Simon Geschke (36), you really couldn’t count on such a Tour de France.
In his old professional age, he breaks the record of the German with the most days in a mountain jersey in the history of the Tour every day. After the rest day on Monday he will be there on Tuesday on the way from Carcassonne to Foix it will be his seventh, nobody has managed that since 1903.
On Saturday from Saint-Étienne to Mende he defended his jersey, on Sunday from Rodez to Carcassonne a driver could score a maximum of four points, but Geschke had a seven lead.
So he had already reached his interim goal in Mende of having the dress by the rest day. “The record is a funny statistic. I also didn’t know that only seven Germans wore it in front of me. That makes me proud,” Geschke told BILD am SONNTAG.
He is also surprised that after his stage win in 2015 he is once again in the headlines of the most important race in the world. But late career successes run in the family. Geschke: “My father was also 34 when he had his greatest success.” Jürgen, known as Tutti, Geschke, now 79, won the 1977 world championship title in the track cycling sprint.
Tomorrow is a rest day, so the Berliner still wants the red dotted jersey. “Then it’s off to the Pyrenees, it’s going to be very difficult there,” he knows. He therefore sees his tenth tour realistically. “Yes, it’s going well, but I’ve also been lucky in the last few days.”
Therefore he sees his stage win in 2015 as even more valuable. “The echo was bigger then, but this is like a dream too. That’s super cool. It’s quite an achievement to get the jersey at all. Now I can hardly keep up reading all the congratulations. That’s when you realize how big the tour is,” says the professional from the French Cofidis team.
In the meantime he needs additional luggage for the many jerseys. “They don’t all fit in my suitcase.” He gets five or six pieces every day. They will be distributed after the tour: parents, coaches, friends. “We’ve had enough people wanting one,” he laughs.
Simon Geschke (r.) With the wearer of the sprint jersey, Wout van Aert
Stage winner in Carcassonne: Belgian Jasper Philipsen (24). Yellow remains with the Dane Jonas Vingegaard (25). Geschke finished 113th and was able to conserve more energy.
The day didn’t go quite so well for Vingegaard, even if he continues to lead. His team Jumbo Visma put down a real fall aria. The Dane himself also went down, but was able to continue, just like Thijs Bennot (28). On the other hand, Steven Kruijswijk (35) had to give up, Primoz Roglic (32) didn’t even start the stage. The aftermath of his fall early in the tour is too strong.