The German veteran of the sport has already had his name up in lights at the Tour de France when he won the stage into Pra Loup in the 2015 Tour, and he lapped up the limelight again on the podium at the end of the stage after climbing his way into the polka dot jersey on Stage 9 of this year’s race.
“Getting the polka-dot jersey was my goal for this stage,” said Simon Geschke. “It was more realistic to have a go today than in the high mountains. I already had four points on my books, so I decided to go in the break and chase the KOM points all day long.”
Geschke fought to get into the breakaway and then on the second categorised climb of the day, the Col des Mosses, he fought to second place, with a big attack from Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) claiming the top prize of five points.
Geschke then bridged up to lone attacker Bob Jungels (AG2R-Citroen) on the Col de la Croix and passed him to take the 10 points on offer there to take the virtual lead in the battle for the dots. He then dropped away on the descent as Jungels went on to what would be a stage-winning move.
“When Bob Jungels and I went away, I was on my limit,” said Geschke. “I had just enough energy to be the first atop the summit. When I lost his wheel on the descent, I thought it was wiser to wait for the big group that was riding behind us.
“But then it turned out he was faster on the downhill and the flats than the group was. It’s the one mistake I made today.”
The 36-year-old did manage to hold on for what would prove to be a jersey-clinching two points with fifth place on the final categorised climb of the day, the Pas de Morgins, allowing him to leapfrog Jungels at the top of the classification by a single point.
“It took me a big effort on the last climb, but in the end I grabbed just enough points to land the leadership on the standings,” said Geschke. “I’m honoured to take this jersey into the rest day. I will try to keep it for as long as possible, but I am aware that there are many big climbs to come.”
The Tour de France now enters a rest day, with racing resuming on Tuesday night (AEST) with a 148-kilometre stage from Morzine les Portes du Soleil to Megeve. Watch all the action live from 9:20pm AEST on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker, or 9:30pm AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand.
