Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) has already had the greatest athletic experience he will ever have on a bike. With the 2022, Tour de France beginning in his home country, Cort put on a dazzling show in front of millions of adoring fans that lined every single road.
Right from the gun on stage 2, he went on the attack for King of the Mountains points. He got them all and slipped on the mountain jersey on the happiest day of his life. That’s a day that defines a career, when you know you’d done it all.
Then things got even better. He put on a repeat performance the very next day, putting on his one-man show once again, at one point breaking the Tour record for most consecutive …
This went on for five or six days, as Cort kept the jersey on his back. I suspect he also broke the record for most smiles in the Tour, the winner of the Denmark popularity contest. Have you ever seen a man so happy for so long?
You might have figured at this point that his legs would have fallen off or at least be heavy on the lactic acid. You might figure he’d rest on his laurels, sit back in the pack, and let everyone else try to win a stage.
But no. Cort is still residing in that magical place called the zone. It’s that transcendent state of athletic grace when everything seems to come easy, then you can do no wrong, when you are at the absolute height of your powers. Golfer Tiger Woods knows the zone, so does The Golden State Warriors Steph Curry and the GOAT QB Tom Brady. The birdies, the three-pointers and the touchdown passes just flow.
When you’re in the zone, you’re just so relaxed and red-hot that anything is possible. So when Alp stage from Morzine to Megève arrived, where else do you expect to find Manus Cort? In the break of 25 riders that went to twenty, then two, three, ten and back to four in one grand game of cat and mouse played out over rolling hills and bright sunshine.
Cort kept his cool, biding his time, knowing he’d already had an amazing Tour, so anything else was just cake icing. Luis Leon Sánchez (Bahrain Victorious) hit out solo with six kilometer to go. Then American rider Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team) went after the Spaniard, only to have Nick Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco) bridge up, then jump ahead to catch Sanchez. Then with less than one kilometer left, Cort and several other riders made the catch.
When the fireworks started, it appeared that Cort was too far back to fight for victory — but he’d timed his effort to the millisecond and millimeter. His bike throw was Hall of Fame flawless, just edging past Schultz, who must be heart-broken, along with Sanchez, who’d worked so hard to get his fifth Tour stage win.
“It is unbelievable. I can’t believe what just happened today,” said Cort. “This is huge. For me, my type of rider, it can’t be any bigger than this. This is what I can do, chasing stages in stage races, and the Tour de France is just the biggest race. In my first Tour I won a stage. I have been here a few times without, but every year really wanting and trying. It is unbelievable to do it again.”
It’s not really that unbelievable. Magnus Cort, King of Denmark, is still in the zone.
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