On Sunday, July 23, the Tour’s director, Javier Guillén, woke in Madrid as riders rolled out along the same highway, traveling from the Vosges toward the outskirts of Paris. He received a call from France and initially suspected a prank. “Jonas Vingegaard is coming on tour,” came the message. It sounded unbelievable. He reportedly treated it as if a bomb had dropped. Yet no deception was involved. The decision, kept under wraps since Christmas, placed the winner of the Tour de France in a testing ground for the Spanish round, a three-week challenge designed to test quality, emotion, contrast, and resilience, starting this Saturday in Barcelona.”
