Can you believe it’s the second rest day at the Tour de France already? In less than a week from now the race will be finished, leaving Tadej Pogačar with just a handful of opportunities to distance Jonas Vingegaard, and steal the yellow jersey off his shoulders.
It has been a GC battle for the ages so far, but let’s put that to one side for the moment. Let’s talk about something different. Let’s talk about Benoît Cosnefroy.
The 27-year-old Frenchman is the gift that keeps on giving. Cast your minds back to late 2021, and you might remember scenes from the French squad’s celebrations of Julian Alaphilippe’s second World Championships victory. If you don’t, let me paint the picture for you.
Valentin Madouas and Clément Russo dance joyfully in a restaurant, clutching the newly-won rainbow jersey. The camera pans to the right, and we catch sight of Cosnefroy, lager in hand and innocently bespectacled.
Then comes the realisation. The AG2R Citroën rider has the jersey clamped between his teeth. He wrestles it away from his teammates and thrashes his head from side to side, like a crocodile nullifying its prey. Cosnefroy then releases his death grip and, as if nothing had happened, jigs along happily to the music.
On stage 14 of this year’s Tour, the Frenchman’s dance moves were back, this time mid-race. On the ascent of the hors catégorie Col de Joux Plane, he hopped off his bike and plunged into a crowd of French fans. While the GC guys were clocking KOMs, Cosnefroy danced for 40 seconds in a cloud of blue smoke, holding his bike aloft, surrounded by frenzied supporters.
“It’s my twin brother,” he wrote on Twitter afterwards. But nobody was fooled. Cosnefroy had given the public another gift, and bedded himself deeper into cycling fans' hearts.
Elsewhere on social media, Victor Lafay secured his dream bucket hat, Pogačar helped a little girl get a pet bunny, and Remco Evenepoel received some strange looks for his questionable pizza topping arrangement.
1. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Benoît Cosnefroy
La folie des supporters de @BenoitCosnefroy et @AurelienParetP dans Joux Plane 🔥🔥🔥Le vélo qu’on y aime #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/UXvvWQU7nFJuly 15, 2023
2. Bread and water, that's all you need to win the Tour de France
3. Victor Lafay treasures his new Cochonou hat more than his stage win
Cet homme a définitivement réussi son #TDF2023 🤩👋 @victorlafay pic.twitter.com/kaOciafvrOJuly 14, 2023
4. Rumour has it he wears it to bed, too
⭐It's called Fashion, look it up. ⭐La mode, une spécialité française. #TDF2023 | @victorlafay pic.twitter.com/Ikcsdv3pdTJuly 14, 2023
5. Would the real Magnus Cort please stand up?
6. Everyone's favourite Pizza Hut ambassador is at it again
7. Pogačar seems more excited than the little girl
🥰🐰 @TamauPogi helped make her wishes come true. #TDF2023 #WeAreUAE pic.twitter.com/UnX2ndIQcyJuly 16, 2023
8. 'Hi, I'll have a double espresso and ten bonus seconds please'
Heading into the rest day and straight to the coffee shop with @j_vingegaard ☕️🤝#tdf2023 pic.twitter.com/UfbHkC2qZkJuly 16, 2023
9. You can't fault the logic
Friebe: "Arsène, welcome to the Tour de France, what brings you here?"Wenger: "Well, I am French..." 😅#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/Qg3Y71SdMlJuly 16, 2023
10. There's a career waiting for Giulio Ciccone as an underwear model
Bet you didn’t know @giuliocicco1 was this ripped 😳 pic.twitter.com/wUKf72ctUOJuly 15, 2023
11. Here's your reminder to Watch The (Tour de France) Femmes, which starts this Sunday!
This is not a drill! You have just a week to get ready to #watchthefemmes Next Sunday it'll be go time! pic.twitter.com/4DAxXZFtl1July 16, 2023
