Photography by Cor Vos
The 2016 Tour de France took a break from the racing on Monday for the first of two rest days in the race. Andorra hosted the Tour for a busy day, despite the lack of racing.
The riders usually go for a morning spin to keep the legs moving and lactic acid from building up, and then have a team press conference to attend to. The team staff are busy as well, with the mechanics prepping bikes for the coming stages and the soigneurs giving post-ride massages.
Joaqium Rodriguez (Katusha) also announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the season on Monday at his team’s press conference.
“2016 will be my last season as a professional rider,” Rodriguez said. “I still enjoy this sport so much but I am 37 years old. One day I will have to stop anyway and I prefer to do this when I am still riding at a high level. I spoke about this already last year with my family.
“2016 is a special year with the Tour de France coming to my home in Andorra. There are also the Olympic Games in Rio, on a course that suits me very well. The most important reason to stop however is my family. They deserve to have me more with them. They always supported me. Now it’s my turn to support them.”
-
- Chris Froome (Team Sky) may not have been sporting his maillot jaune, but there was no lack of yellow in his rest day outfit. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- The rest days are a busy day for the team staff. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- An easy rest day ride allowed the riders to take in the beautiful views Andorra has to offer. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- Chris Froome’s yellow tie was absent when he finally clipped in for Team Sky’s rest day ride. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- Stage 9 winner Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) was all smiles at his team’s press conference. Giant-Aplecin announced on Monday that Sunweb would become its title sponsor for next season. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- Alejandro Valverde took the time to greet fans before Movistar’s ride. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- Peter Sagan’s (Tinkoff) quest for a fifth consecutive jersey looks to be going well. The world champion is second in the points classification, seven points behind Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data). Photo: Cor Vos
-
- The Movistar soigneurs were hard at work preparing bottles for the coming stages. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- The low-key atmosphere allows fans to get easy access to the riders. Photo: Cor Vos.
-
- Timo Roosen’s (LottoNL-Jumbo) selfie game is on point. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- Joaquim Rodriquez (Katusha) became emotional when he announced that he would retire at the end of the 2016 season. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) was popular on the rest day with the individual time trial coming up on Friday. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- There was no shortage of media at Team Sky’s rest-day press conference to hear what the current GC leader had to say. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- Nairo Quintana (Movistar) enters the Tour’s first rest day much closer to Froome than last year. The Colombian is currently 23 seconds behind the defending champ. Photo: Cor Vos
-
- The washing of bikes seems to never end for the mechanics. Photo: Cor Vos.
-
- LottoNL-Jumbo announced on Monday that the Dutch Lottery signed a two-year sponsorship extension. The team’s other title sponsor, Jumbo Supermarkets, and main sponsor, BrandLoyalty, had already extended for two more years. Photo: Cor Vos.