From the roadside: Iffy on the heat, Pog’s statement, and a fighter’s farewell
- John Trevorrow
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
The Detour’s John “Iffy” Trevorrow is embedded with Team Jayco AlUla at the 2026 Tour de France. On the morning of stage 5, before the sprinters get their first real look-in at Pau, he pulled up stumps for a few minutes to recap an opening week that’s already delivered more than most.
Five days in, and the first thing Iffy wants to talk about isn’t a rider at all. It’s the weather.
The general story of the Tour so far has been the heat — it’s been affecting a lot of the riders.
He’s not exaggerating. The opening road stages through Catalonia and into the Pyrenees have been raced in temperatures pushing 40 degrees, with the organisers issuing heat warnings and, on stage 4, even relaxing the feed-zone rules to help riders cope. It’s the backdrop to everything that’s happened so far — and, as Iffy explains later, it’s shaped the racing as much as any climb has.
Pogačar makes his statement
At the front of the race, the story is a familiar one. Tadej Pogačar came into this Tour as the man to beat, and across the first three days he’s done nothing to loosen that grip.
Pogačar has really solidified his favouritism, because he just looks so much stronger.
What’s caught Iffy’s eye, though, is how he’s doing it — and who he’s doing it with. On the hilly stage 2 finish in Barcelona, it was young Mexican Isaac del Toro who took the win, with Pogačar right there alongside him for a UAE one-two.
Pretty impressive, the day he let his teammate Isaac win. The way he did that — you could tell — he just jumped away and gained 20 or 30 seconds in that last bit. It was quite staggering.
Then came the repayment. On stage 3 at Les Angles, Pogačar delivered the first proper GC blow of the race to take the win and the yellow jersey — with del Toro putting in a huge shift to set it up.
And the fact that Isaac was able to reverse it the next day and work for him…
For Iffy, that give-and-take between the pair is the real tell. UAE aren’t just strong; they’ve got two riders capable of winning stages and the depth to trade favours between them. It’s a luxury no other team at this race can claim right now.
Why UAE let stage 4 go
Stage 4 into Foix flipped the script. On a brutally hot day, the peloton waved a big breakaway up the road, Mads Pedersen took the win for Lidl-Trek, and Norway’s Torstein Træen rode into the yellow jersey. UAE, having won two of the first three days, simply let it happen.
Iffy saw the logic — and there was an Australian angle in the move for him to enjoy.
They let the break go, which was good. The break was very strong… Fantastic for Michael. But I’m sure that he just couldn’t hold on to the finish. It was a great opportunity for him.
The “Michael” is, of course, Michael Matthews — the only Jayco AlUla rider to make the front group, coming home 11th on the stage as the best-placed of the Australian squad. Not the result Bling would’ve wanted, but a sign the legs are there as the race opens up.
A fighter’s farewell: Kel O’Brien
The hardest story of the week, though, belongs to another Aussie — and this is where being embedded with the team really counts. Debutant Kelland O’Brien’s Tour ended at Foix, outside the stage 4 time cut, and Iffy had the inside line on just how much the 28-year-old had been through to even make it that far.
Real shame for Kel O’Brien. A crash on stage 2 really knocked him around, and he couldn’t sleep well… He just couldn’t make the time cut. It was a shame — because when he got dropped, he was on his own, and he still nearly made it.
Lost a couple of kilos overnight. Just a shame.
The bare facts back up every word of it. O’Brien went down in an eight-rider pile-up just 6km into stage 2, remounted with a bandaged arm, and finished more than 17 minutes down. Stage 3 saw him come home next-to-last, 38 minutes back. On stage 4 he crossed the line in Foix 46 minutes behind Pedersen — 8:25 outside the limit — riding almost the entire day alone, refusing to climb off. Tour cameras caught the moment and the race’s own social channels called him exactly what he is: “a real fighter.”
It’s the kind of ride that doesn’t show up in a results sheet but tells you everything about a bike rider.
Iffy caught up with Kel as his Tour came to a close — the full chat is up now on the Detour’s Instagram
The show behind the show
For all the racing, the part of the Tour that clearly lights Iffy up most is the bit the TV cameras never show — the machine that keeps a Grand Tour team upright for three weeks.
To me, one of the really interesting parts of the whole race is the family — which is the team support. How well they work to keep the show on the road.
He rattles off the cast: the mechanics, the soigneurs, the staff who sort the rooms, the chef travelling with the team to feed the riders. It’s a world he and Vaz have been living in from the inside — and if you want proof, this week’s clip of the pair handing up bottles “at the 99km mark” is exactly the sort of access you don’t get anywhere else.
We’ll do a special on that.
Consider that a promise. If you want the version of this Tour you won’t get anywhere else — the roadside chats, the trackside calls as they happen, the stuff filmed from inside the bubble — Iffy’s putting it up daily.
Follow the whole thing on Instagram: @detourpoddy
What’s been landing this week
A quick lap of the clips worth catching up on from the opening days:
Iffy & Vaz feeding riders at the 99km mark — the feed run, filmed from inside the operation. The “show behind the show,” exactly as Iffy describes it above.
“Unfortunately Kell O’Brien is heading home…” — Kel as his debut Tour comes to an end. The human side of a brutal week.
Iffy bumps into an old mate — Gilberto — a catch-up with the a fellow Munich Olympian and Columbian legend.
Jens Voigt, roadside — hugs and a few minutes with one of the most-loved voices in the sport .
Sebastian Berwick’s first Tour de France — following the debutant through his opening days at the biggest race on earth.
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