Podcast
How EF are surviving the Tour - Domestique Hotseat with Ben Healy and Michael Valgren
Ben Healy and Michael Valgren sat down with us on the first rest day of the Tour de France, nine days into one of the hottest editions in memory. The result is an honest conversation about racing in temperatures that have barely dropped below 35 degrees, and what it takes for a team like EF Education to keep chasing wins in the heat.
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Healy is refreshingly open about his biggest weakness. The heat, he says, is a real Achilles heel, and it is stopping him from performing at his best when it matters most. He explains how the team manages his cooling, why it did not fall to him in yesterday's breakaway, and why his teammate got the nod instead on a brutally hot day.
Valgren talks through his own rest-day form, the world-class company in that breakaway, and why EF keep backing themselves to be in every move that reaches the line. We also get into the numbers behind the cooling effort, the bottles, the ice socks and the soigneurs working late into the night, and how a rider knows when their body is starting to overheat.
Then the tactical picture. With UAE locking the race down and seemingly fixated on the team classification, we ask both riders how you even beat a team riding like that, where the real chances are in the final two weeks, and what they made of Sean Quinn's standout Tour so far. Healy and Valgren also reflect on what Richard Carapaz brings to the team beyond a GC result, their goals for the rest of the race, and the small moments that make the Tour worth coming back for.
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