Tim WELLENS. 110 with honors. Completes his collection of Grand Tour stage wins, winning with the Belgian champion's jersey on the roads of France. They might be the joke of the French (for the cousins, Belgians are their Carabinieri), but today they're the ones laughing, and laughing well. Carcassonne plays the Belgian national anthem. Under the magnificent fortification of Lady Carcas, who was able to resist Charlemagne and for this made the bells ring in celebration (Caracas sonne, Carcas sounds), Tim resists and rings the bells for everyone. Great celebration at UAE Emirates, who couldn't help but lose, especially because they sent someone in the breakaway who is not just any rider, but a true cyclist, capable of winning classics and conquering stages in Giro, Tour, and Vuelta. The 34-year-old Belgian gladiator enters the club of those with stage win collections: he is the 113th in cycling history. 110 with honors.

Victor CAMPENARTS. 9. Gladiatorial race, with elevated and absolute competition, racing today at a crazy average speed (47.434 km/h). They don't hold back, they know no breaks, and especially looking at the protagonists, it's clear there are no unknown riders, but absolutely valuable cyclists. Victor is one of these.

Julian ALAPHILIPPE. 10. Lives everything and its opposite, just like in this recent period. LouLou wants the stage, desires it like never before. He falls badly after a few kilometers, even sees retirement due to a violent shoulder hit that makes him suffer, but he recovers and holds on. The former world champion doesn't give up, because he's a champion, a model and an example of an athlete. In the fall, he breaks his radio, runs in the wind's silence. He sees the finish line and sprints: he's convinced he's won. There are two in front: his joy transforms into bitterness. The shoulder hurts, but the heart takes the hardest blow.

Wout VAN AERT. 2. He wants to give himself a gift, wants to give one to his 2-year-old child. Today is his birthday, his little Jerome's. Dad runs for him, runs to break the fast, runs to give meaning to everything, not just to this day which is already a celebration. He doesn't make it, dad only comes fourth, but today that's okay. Let there be celebration!

Tadej POGACAR. 8. Group fall. Alaphilippe falls, but also Lipowitz, and Vingegaard is forced to put a foot down. Via radio, the UAE team car warns the captain: "Crash of a small group, Lipowitz and Vingegaard in difficulty. Tadej, if you can, stop the group". He stops it. When he had fallen, Visma and the yellow jersey Healy had behaved the same way. As Gianetti says: "This is how you behave; this is how cycling distinguishes itself".

Quinn SIMMONS. 7. Captain America attacks with fourteen other attackers. A race of rare beauty and these protagonists deserve our applause. I'll remind you of them, one by one, except for Captain America, the leader. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Wout Van Aert, Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step), Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL), Kaden Groves, Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Matteo Vercher (Total Energies), Alexey Lutsenko, Jake Stewart (Israel Premier Tech), Arnaud De Lie, Jarrad Drizners (Lotto).