Top Banana: Tour de France 2018 stage 9 – Oliver Naesen

Top Banana: Tour de France 2018 stage 9 – Oliver Naesen

Stage 9 brought us a second splendid serving of stones for 2018, though it could have also brought the house down on so many Tour de France contenders. That it didn’t was down to their domestiques. Oliver Naesen was a level head and strong Belgian shoulders above them all


If I’m out with someone on a ride and they pick up a puncture, I’ll absolutely help them fix it. If their fingers aren’t so nimble, I might even do it for them. We’ve all been there.

If they get a second, I’ll curse their bad luck and probably lend them a tube. By the third, I will bitch and moan like nobody’s business, but I promise I’ll stick around and make sure they get home okay. At number four, I will be questioning their mechanical skills, check they’ve got enough cash for a cab, and then it’s adios, amigo.

You’d better believe I’m not giving you a wheel and a push. That’s probably why Oliver Naesen is a Tour de France domestique, and I’m not.

Today’s stage promised fireworks, but it also threatened general classification casualties. It delivered both. Romain Bardet should have been among them, but he wasn’t, finishing just seven seconds behind the group of favourites. 

That he is still (just about) in the race is down to the colossal work his colleagues put in to keep him there. 

Not only did they repeatedly bury themselves on the bike to bring him back to the bunch, but their lightening quick (release) reactions meant he was rarely off the road for long. Bardet might consider himself unlucky to suffer so many mechanicals on a single stage – even one such as this – but it could have been much worse.

Read: Romain Bardet – Off the wall 

Reports that Oliver Naesen crossed the line on a makeshift unicycle are still to be substantiated, but he was certainly with his leader until the end. 

After he dragged Mikel Landa back from the dead as well, there ought to be a level above “super” in cycling’s nomenclature to describe domestiques. I propose “naesenesque”.

 

The post Top Banana: Tour de France 2018 stage 9 – Oliver Naesen appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine.


READ MORE

Tour de France 2025 stage 11

The ties that bind: a day of temporary and fast-changing alliances

Stage 11 was defined by the temporary alliances formed over the course of the stage, and the fight between two groups of five riders, working...

Leggi di più
Tadej Pogacar

‘It’s fair play’ - Cycling and the complexity of the gentleman’s agreement

After his crash in the closing five kilometres of stage 11, Tadej Pogačar’s rivals waited for him to return to the peloton in the name...

Leggi di più
Ben Healy

‘A crazy, crazy day’ - Professional cycling no longer has any rules

Stage 11 of the 2025 Tour de France was one of the wildest ever with non-stop attacks – this is bike racing in 2025

Leggi di più
Tour de France 2025

Tour de France 2025 stage 12 preview: The first summit finish

The first mountain-top finish of the Tour to Hautacam looms

Leggi di più
Ben Healy

Tour de France 2025 standings: the results after stage 11

The latest results and standings from the Tour de France 2025

Leggi di più
EF Education-EasyPost riders at the Tour de France 2025

Tour de France 2025 team ratings: How all 23 squads stack up on the first rest day

Rouleur assesses the best and the worst-performing teams after 10 days of racing

Leggi di più

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE