"I know I have the legs to win, I just have to execute a bit better," is how Mike Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) analysed his opening two-thirds of the 2025 Tour de France, in which he has been in the breaks three times in less than a week, but has yet to hit the jackpot.
Woods certainly has the know-how to get Grand Tour stage wins, with the 38-year-old getting two wins in the Vuelta a España and one in the Tour de France at Puy de Dome in 2023.
However, despite spending 150 kilometres in the break on stage 10, the same distance en route to Hautacam and then 72 en route to Luchon-Superbagnères, so far it hasn't worked out.
"Yesterday [Sunday] was one of the best days in terms of my legs," Woods told Cyclingnews at the start of stage 15, "but not in terms of the result."
"It's been a super challenging Tour, I've been trying to win from the break, I messed up big time on stage 10, in terms of fuelling, and ended up having a bathroom break in an RV that I really didn't want to have!
"I know the legs are there to win, I just have to execute a bit better."
Woods added that the long shadow cast by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) had certainly caused some regular breakaway participants to think twice a little about getting into the action.
While clearly not objecting when his teammates like stage 15 winner Tim Wellens get into the moves, in the middle of last week, the Slovenian star made a point of not conceding too much time to breakaways and has so far claimed no less than four victories himself.
Still, one high mountain move has managed to escape Pogačar's clutches, and while Woods also was in the breakaway through the ultra-hilly Massif Central stage last Monday - until he had to take that untimely toilet break - the biggest climbs have always been the Canadian's favoured hunting ground.
And as he said, seeing what Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) did on Saturday at Superbagneres, despite 'only' having a three-minute advantage at the foot of the last ascent on the yellow jersey group, is a reminder that fortune can still favour the brave, even in the Pogacar era.
"He has definitely taken the wind out of a lot of people's sails," Woods said. "In race meetings, before the stage, now we say you'll need four or five minutes at the base of a climb in order to hold him off.
"But look at what Thymen Arensman did yesterday, it gives you hope. You've just got to keep trying and do what he did, go deep and hope for the best."
Currently running fifth in the mountains ranking and 22 points down on current leader Lenny Martínez (Bahrain Victorious), Woods says he'll go for it if the opportunity arises, with the memory of taking the lead for a day in that ranking back in 2021 in the Pyrenees still not too distant.
But his biggest aim are the emblematic climbs left to tackle in this year's Tour, like the Ventoux on Tuesday and the Col de la Loze two days later.
"I want to succeed, and there are some opportunities left to me; I have x-es on the calendar," he confirmed.
"I was up there with Lenny Martinez on the Ventoux [in the CIC-Ventoux race in 2023], he took me out in the sprint, it was a shortened version of it because of high winds. But I know it well and it'd be an iconic stage to take a win."
The Tour de France is the biggest race in cycling, and a Cyclingnews subscription offers you unlimited access to our unrivalled coverage. Get all the breaking news and analysis from our team on the ground in France, plus the latest pro tech, live race reports, and a daily subscriber-only newsletter with exclusive insight into the action. Find out more.
