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Michael Woods is the oldest cyclist to win a mountaintop finish since…Raymond Poulidor

The links and coincidences on the stage are as dizzying as the climb up Puy de Dôme itself

Mathieu van der Poel celebrating the late Raymond Poulidor
July 10, 2023
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On Sunday, Michael Woods took an incredible win at Stage 9 of the Tour de France, but there were some beautiful parallels to one of the greatest cyclists ever, Raymond Poulidor.

Legend of the Puy de Dôme: Michael Woods becomes third Canadian to win a Tour de France stage

Stage 9 began in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, which is the hometown of the Tour de France legend, Poulidor. “PouPou” won seven stages of the Tour, and famously finished second on three occasions, giving him his other nickname, “The Eternal Second.”

One of the most famous families in pro cycling

His son-in-law, Adrie van der Poel, was CX world champion, and won two Tour de France stages, and was considered one of the greats in the late ‘80s and ’90s. Adri’s son, Mathieu, is now one of the dominant riders in the pro peloton, whether it’s on the road, cyclocross, or MTB.

In 2021, Mathieu van der Poel took the yellow jersey wearing special throwback kits made to resemble his grandfather’s Mercier team.

To celebrate his grandfather’s hometown Mathieu van der Poel rode a special painted bike. The organizers also had him on stage to speak about Poulidor. MvdP couldn’t say much as he was overwhelmed with emotion for his late grandfather.

Here’s where things get really interesting. On a day where Poulidor was celebrated, some curious coincidences occurred, as pointed out by Belgian journalist Jonas Creteur.“You can’t make this up: today in the Tour de France , on top of the Puy de Dôme, Canada’s Michael Woods became the oldest rider (36 years and 270 days) to win a mountain top stage finish in the TDF since…Raymond Poulidor won on top of Saint-Lary-Soulan in 1974 at the age of 38 years and 91 days.

On the beautiful coincidences in sports

Sports history may not repeat, but it certainly tends to rhyme. In 1988, when Johnny Weltz won on Puy de Dôme, who was 28th on that stage and holding on to fourth overall? Put another way, who should you always guess whenever it’s Canadian road cycling trivia? Steve Bauer. The first Canuck to win a road stage at the TdF, 17 days earlier.

Now, stick with me here as I riff about baseball. You may remember David Cone throwing a perfect game in 1999 on “Yogi Berra Day.” On that day, former Yankee pitcher Don Larsen threw the first pitch to Berra. Larsen is the only pitcher to ever have pitched a perfect game in a World Series. He hadn’t been to a ball game in years..and the one he happened to show up at resulted in one of the rarest events in the sport.

Oh by the way, the Yankees were playing the Montreal Expos, so there’s a bit of CanCon for you.

These kinds of things are what makes sports beautiful. Also, kudos to Uncle Matt for bringing in a bit of baseball history, amirite?