Less than a minute after Tadej Pogačar claimed his second consecutive stage win of the 2022 Tour de France, a group of chasers came to the line on the gravel final stretch on La Planche des Belles Filles and among them was Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert). The only thing surprising about his strong showing on stage 7 was that he accomplished it on foot.
The South African was in good humour after coming in 16th on the first major summit stage finish of the Tour de France, 51 seconds behind Pogačar, laughing at the comparison to Chris Froome's run up the Mont Ventoux in the 2016 Tour.
"Yeah, us Africans, we love to run!" Meintjes joked, according to CyclingWeekly. "I ran, in the end, 50 metres, maybe even 60 metres. It was hard as I was almost losing a shoe, too."
Meintjes said his gears jammed the unpaved 500-metre finale.
"I think it must have been just a bit too bouncy, or some gravel got stuck in the rear derailleur and it went into the crash mode setting. Already, at that moment, you needed special gears to go up as it's that steep.
"Once it started shifting, I couldn't do much. I was close enough so either fixing it or running it," he said were his options. "I'm not a mechanic so maybe it was quicker to run."
In the end, the 51 seconds lost didn't make much of a difference to his position in the overall standings. He was already over five minutes down after a dismal day on the pavé on stage 5 and actually gained 12 positions as some of the flatlanders finished in the gruppetto. But he was displeased that the mechanical cost him a chance to make up some time.
"I had super good legs today and it's really disappointing it didn't happen in the final. It's really quite steep and you can't stand up or the tyres start sliding.
"At one stage I was considering trying something because I could see a lot of guys were struggling. Not [Primož] Roglič or the other guys, but the other guys who are real contenders for the top-10. Today could have been a good day to put time into them."
There has been ample debate on whether difficult terrain such as the stage 5 cobbles and stretches of gravel should be included in the Tour de France because of the chaos they create but Meintjes wasn't bothered by the inclusion of unpaved roads.
"There are a lot of unnecessary things in my opinion: flat stages, bunch sprints," Meintjes said. "So I guess this [the gravel] is just part of racing. Today wasn't so bad actually. I mean, it's a bit of gravel at the end of the race and it makes the race a bit more special. If I had to complain it would be more about putting cobbles in the race."
