Has Tadej Pogačar got what it takes to win an egg and spoon race? Can anyone challenge Remco Evenepoel in a boccia tournament? Will Filippo Ganna be the anchor in the Netcompany Ineos tug-of-war team?
These are all questions we’ve been asking ourselves after spotting the Tour de France peloton donning baggy tabards just after the finish line.
But that’s not why the usually aero-obsessed pros have changed into something resembling the flappy primary-coloured outfits of a school sports day.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The bibs are handed out to the riders at several of the summit finishes including Gavarnie-Gèdrestage on stage six and Plateau de Solaison on stage 15.
They are to protect the riders as they descended off the mountain on days where the team buses have to park at the bottom of the final climb due to extremely limited parking at the top.
In those circumstances, Tour riders are allowed to descend back down the course to get back to their bus or hotel even if the groupetto is still making its way up the climb.
However, there is always a risk that spectators looking down the hill for the riders still racing won’t see them coming. The bibs help mark them out and riders are also given whistles engraved with their race number to help them alert people.
The bibs also reduce the chances of gendarmes tasked with keeping the route clear from taking mistaking them for spectators and taking exception to the pros riding back down the course.
Luke Durbridge is among the fans of the bibs in the peloton. “I’ve been waiting all week to put this on,” he said when presented with it on stage six.
The next day when asked, jokingly, on Jayco-AlUla’s Instgram is he slept in it he replied: “Oh yeah, it’s a great vest.”
The risk its working against is real in 2018 Tour de France winner Chris Froome was pulled from his bike by a gendame who mistook him for a fan riding on the course as he descended off the remote Col de Portet.
At the time Froome was wearing a large coat that obscured his team kit. The confrontation resulted in an angry Froome swearing at the policeman.
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