No long message after the bronze medal. Mathieu van der Poel posted a photo on Instagram of a turquoise can, showing a red racing bike and the line “A rolling beer gathers no foam!”, a play on the old saying about a rolling stone.
Called “Allez Pou-Pou”, this Canadian session IPA is dedicated to Raymond Poulidor (1936-2019), described on the label as “a legend” of French cycling. According to the text printed on the can, it was fermented “in the final sprint”. We haven’t checked the brewing method, we just read the label.
The grandfather finished second at the 1974 World Championships in Montreal, behind Eddy Merckx. He also won three bronze medals at the road World Championships, in 1961, 1964 and 1966, without ever becoming world champion. His grandson finished third in the same city.
“Of course I’d come here to try to become world champion, but I’m very happy with the race I rode and the bronze is nice,” he said, according to HLN.
Fermented in the final sprint. I’ve got a final sprint too: the Lasne sign, on the way back, a ride that left at twenty past nine. I have the segment. Eleven seconds, with the backpack, and the club mate sprinting at two hundred metres when we’d agreed on three hundred. Take off the backpack, take off the mate, take off the wind we had both ways: then we can talk. I’m not saying I win. I’m saying we can talk about it. Nothing’s ever fermented in my sprint, mind you. What ferments is the argument afterwards. Merckx was already ahead in Montreal in 1974, fine, but he didn’t have the backpack. At the café, we argued till noon, watching everyone else’s bike computer.
It’s true, we checked: HLN.
