Monday, April 21, 2025

R&R For Some: TdF Stage 13 (mountaintop)

-

HomeJournalsGarmin Physio Toby WatsonR&R For Some: TdF Stage 13 (mountaintop)

After a single day of respite from the searing heat of the majority of this race, we were back into a bright sunny day for TdF Stage 13 with high temperatures. This meant the support crew were back up the road helping our boys as best we were able on the big climbs.

When standing and helping (and watching) on the mountains there are two groups we tend to pay closest attention to: the leaders and the grupetto.

TdF Stage 13
Ryder is doing a great job.

We watch the leaders to see how our man Ryder’s travelling, as well as what’s going down with the race in general, and we watch the grupetto to ensure our boys (if there) are not suffering too greatly, nor that they are in any danger of missing the time cut.

Yesterday was very nice from both of these perspectives. Ryder was looking great up with the leaders — so good he even blew a kiss to his lovely fiancee Ashley (who hung out with us yesterday). While the grupetto had equally good news, with Julian being our only man in the bunch, and he was looking very comfortable at the front.

Ryder had another fantastic day, and is right in contention for a top 10 finish overall. Keep it up Weight of a Nation!

Yesterday was an added bonus for some of the staff as we didn’t need to change hotels. This meant no need to send the truck off to the next hotel super early, no packing the bag before bed, a chance to catch up on laundry (that situation was dire for some) and perhaps even work on the tan. Nice for the hotel crew!

However we’re back into full swing tomorrow: another tough mountain stage for the boys, and a hotel transfer over some mountain passes in the truck for the staff. Game on.

Toby Watson
Toby Watsonhttps://www.veloveritas.co.uk
Ex-Garmin Transitions physiotherapist and soigneur Toby Watson brings you inside the squad, and shows you what it's like to be working with a top team on the biggest races in the world. Through his regular blog updates, Toby shares his sense of drama and fun that were essential parts of his job. Toby is Australian, and currently lives in Girona with his fiancee Amanda. If he has any time, he enjoys reading and running, and occasionally skiing too, when he can.

Related Articles

Will They or Won’t They? (Preview: TDF 2012 Stage 10)

Will They or Won't They? Stage 10 has the classic look of a day when they break will get away and stay away all through to the finish. It is 194km long through high mountains, but the final 43km of the stage has 33km of descending in it. This is the sort of stage that Thor Hushovd won on last year, and will see the usual breakaway specialists licking their lips at the prospect of a shot at a stage win.

The Tour Down Under 2012 – Rolling!

The Tour Down Under 2012, alrighty! We’ve had the little teaser of a crit race around a park on the edge of Adelaide’s CBD, which Andre Greipel emphatically dominated, we’ve had head knocks and called cops for GreenEDGE riders.

Are we ready yet? Are we ready yet? Can we start yet?

Are we ready yet. Two days out from the start of the Tour. The whole team has arrived at the hotel, and the Show is about to begin! It's very exciting, but not much is really going on.

Return To Normal Proceedings; Andre Greipel back on top

After the W Clarke bolt from the blue of yesterday, there was no way that Stage 3 of the TDU was going to be anything but a bunch sprint, and all of the key teams worked together to guarantee this today, with Andre Greipel from Lotto again the winner. The big man can sprint! Will he finally threaten Cav this year?

At Random

Michael Mørkøv – “Whoever is involved in the lead out, we’re getting it right!”

Quickstep's win total for the year now stands at 24 with the victories not just down to one man but spread across the team – remarkable. How do they do it? To find out, we got in touch with our old friend and key leadout man in the QuickStep machine, Michael Mørkøv - who was instrumental in Jakobsen’s most recent triumph and similarly ‘pilot fished’ Hodeg to a stage win in the Tour of Catalonia – to get ‘the word’ from the horse’s mouth.

Mark Stewart – “It’s all about the track”

The last time we spoke to 22 year-old Scotsman Mark Stewart he’d just ridden a cracking U23 Road Worlds in Bergen – cue total contrast from big blue skies, solitude, fjords and fresh air to The Kuipke with light about as artificial as you can get, wall to wall people, scary steep boards and the smell of burgers frying ... and Jupiler pils. Mark’s partner for the six nights of Europop and autograph requests was Worlds U23 road race fourth placed man and GB team mate, Ollie Woods. The interview was conducted in the authentic but cramped surroundings of his trackside cabin at the Kuipke.

Junior Tour of the Kingdom 2019 goes to Finn Fisher-Black

Overhauling a 34 second deficit from Saturday’s savage Lomond Hills Stage One finale, New Zealand rider Finn Fisher-Black in the colours of Netherlands outfit WWV Junioren took Stage Two and the overall win at the Junior Tour of the Kingdom in Kennoway on Sunday.

Whats going on, David McLean?

It’s been a while since David McLean posted, he intended to do something a little more regularly but unfortunately he's been preoccupied with health problems for much longer than expected.