Paris Roubaix '26: Closer and Closer

After his trials in the Forest of Arenberg, Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) was forced to chase hard and mainly on his own in hopes of regaining the front of the race.  Forty kilometers after the forest he had seventy-seven seconds helped occasionally by Flippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers).  They were followed by the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates, Gianni Vermeersch and Tim Van Dijke along with someone from TotalEnergies.  The others seemed either unable or unwilling to help in the effort of recatching those up the road.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at greigleach.com or you can simply follow the direct link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above. Since it is an original work of art, it is a first come first served reality. The work sells for $99 USD including shipping, but, yes, international shipping is both available and extra. 

"Closer and Closer PR26-5" (Original art by Greig Leach)

Tour '25, Stage 3: Heartbreak Is the End of His Tour

Under normal circumstances, I never paint the crashes the plaque the Tour de France (and bike racing in general).  But this one will affect the rest of this race.  As the peloton ramped up to sprint of sprint points at the intermediate sprint in Isbergues, another sprinter bounced off of a lead out main on a third team.  His loss of control took out the front wheel of Jasper Philipsen (Alepcin-Deceuninck) has he prepared to add to his lead in the race for the Maillot Vert while wearing the green skin suit.  He went down hard onto his back.  Since it was at high speed, he scraped off not only his kit but quite a bit of skin too.  His teammate Gianni Veermeersch held his bike as he tried to help his sprinter.  Another of his teammates, Silvan Dillier came back to be ready to help pace Philipsen back into the peloton.  Alas, there was no remounting for the Belgium sprinter.  It was clear that he had broken or dislocated his shoulder.  I learned later that he also broke two ribs as well.  So, in just the blink of an eye, his Tour was over.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at greigleach.com or you can simply follow the direct link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above. Since it is an original work of art, it is a first come first served reality. The work sells for $99 USD including shipping, but, yes, international shipping is both available and extra.

"Heartbreak Is the End of His Tour TdF25-15" (Original art by Greig Leach)

Criterium du Dauphine '25, Stage 5: What Are They Up To?

At the base of the Cote des Quartre Vents, the trio of Gianni Vermmeesch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and his teammates Mathieu Van Der Poel and Michael Gogl hit the front of the peloton.  They raised the pace making the other GC contenders move to the front in anticipation of an attack.  Despite wearing the Maillot Vert, or the sprinters' jersey, Van Der Poel sits in fourth place overall.  It seemed that he might launch an attack to see if he could take the stage and thus the Maillot Jaune.  With the ten second time bonus, he would only need to get another four seconds on the current holder of the race lead, Remco Evenpoel.  OR, it could be that he was trying to drop the other sprinters in hopes of, again, winning the stage (with or without taking the yellow jersey, too).  We all watched waiting for the move.  It never came.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at greigleach.com or you can simply follow the direct link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above. Since it is an original work of art, it is a first come first served reality. The work sells for $95 USD including shipping, but, yes, international shipping is both available and extra.

"What Are They Up To? CdD25-26" (Original art by Greig Leach)

Tour '24, Stage 16: Time for a Chat

With the pace off in what was sure to be a sprint finish, many riders had time to chat.  Most were taking the chance to visit with each other, but I suspect that Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and his teammate Gianni Vermeersch were going over sprint finale plans.  There was an intermediate sprint in another 56 kilometers, so the World Champion in his Rainbow Jersey could have been letting his fellow lead-out man the plan for getting maximum points towards the Maillot Vert when they get to Les Matellettes.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at greigleach.com or you can simply follow the direct link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above. Since it is an original work of art, it is a first come first served reality. The work sells for $95 USD including shipping, but, yes, international shipping is both available and extra.

"Time for a Chat TdF24-94" (Original art by Greig Leach)

Paris Roubaix ‘24: Chasing the Chasers

Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) had crashed out of the chasing group up ahead and was making little progress towards rejoining his teammate ahead.  That was until Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) came up from the next group back on the road.  It may not have been wise for Vermeersch to tow Pithie up to the chasing group since that would bring another Groupama-FDJ rider to help the chase of his own team leader.  However, by now, Mathieu Van Der Poel was three minutes up the road with little chance of anyone seeing am until the fable showers under the Roubaix Velodrome.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at greigleach.com or you can simply follow the direct link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above. Since it is an original work of art, it is a first come first served reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $95 USD including shipping, but yes international shipping is both available and extra. 

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-/4008495-573-195767/Painting/chasing-the-chasers.-pr24-14.html

Paris Roubaix ‘24: Leading for Now

After a flurry of attacks on the previous pave sectors, this threesome got away.  It was started by Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who was quickly joined by Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) and Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ).  Politt had been having a tough go, but once he had the near miss (see my early post) he was on fire.  With 73 kilometers to go, the trio has built up a twenty two second lead on the group of favorites behind.  All three have at least one teammate in the group behind, so it will be left to others to chase them down.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at greigleach.com or you can simply follow the direct link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above. Since it is an original work of art, it is a first come first served reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $95 USD including shipping, but yes international shipping is both available and extra.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-/4008483-570-195767/Painting/leading-for-now.-pr24-11.html

Paris Roubaix 23: More Bad Luck

Coming out of the Forest of Arenberg Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) had a flat tire which dropped him out of the front group.  And then again, while coming out to another section of pave he had another flat.  At least this time he was able to catch back up to this chase group containing his teammate, Nathan Van Hooydonck along with Sjoerd Bax (UAE Team Emirates), Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Dstny), and Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Both of the Jumbo-Visma guys were desperate to catch back up to the front group to help out their guy Wout Van Aert.  They had the problem of towing Gianni back up to his two teammates without doing any of the work to get there.  Spoiler, they never got there.  Jumbo-Visma was using an automatic inflation system in their tires, but it didn’t seem to be helping at all.  In fact, Van Aert suffered a flat near the finale which cost him the chance to vie for the win.

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at greigleach.com or you can simply follow the direct link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above. Since it is an original work of art, it is a first come first served reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $90 USD including shipping, but yes international shipping is both available and extra.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-/3945313-534-195767/Painting/more-bad-luck-pr23-14.html