IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Mike Teunissen couldn’t sleep on the night of July 6. The adrenaline was still pumping through his body. His mind wouldn’t relax. His phone kept pinging with an endless stream of messages. His team-mate Dylan Groenewegen was also tossing and turning in the bed next to him. The pair were sharing a hotel room in Brussels, though it was the stinging road rash all over Groenewegen’s body, rather than elation at winning stage 1 of the Tour de France, that was keeping him awake instead.

Teunissen was the winner no one was expecting on the opening day of the Tour last year, the young Dutchman claiming the double prize of a maiden Tour stage victory and also the first yellow jersey of the race, under beaming sunshine in the Belgian capital. In the space of 1,500 metres - two minutes of racing - Teunissen’s world changed. He was at the Tour as a domestique; his job was to be the last lead-out rider for star sprinter Groenewegen, who also happened to be the favourite that day. He was just another name among the 176-rider peloton. For months stretching back to the November before, his Jumbo-Visma team had been working towards this goal. Every interval session, every sprint and every race had built up to this day. It had also been 30 years since a Dutch rider last wore the yellow jersey, and Groenewegen, in his 2019 form, was the nation’s best bet in years. Everyone in the team, everyone in the country, including Teunissen himself,