Cycling's Tour de France has become so hard that only "global superstars" are able to win even a single stage, French champion Romain Gregoire moaned on Monday's first rest day.
Gregoire, who is a punchy racer but not a pure climber, won the French title a week before the Tour began in what had been the 23-year-old's best season to date, including top four finishes in major one-day classics such as Strade Bianche and the Amstel Gold race.
But he wilted under the intense heat and breakneck pace of the Tour's opening week and already finds himself an hour and a quarter down on race leader Tadej Pogacar in 60th place.
He finished Thursday's Pyrenean mountain stage in tears, more than 40 minutes after Pogacar having struggled just to keep up with the peloton's burly sprinters.
"I think I can recover a pretty reasonable physical condition which should allow me to be competitive in certain stages," said Gregoire.
"But when you look at what happened in the first week, you realise that every year in the Tour de France, it's only the global superstars who are able to impose themselves.
"There's no place for other riders. It's really difficult, but we're not going to lose hope. If you lose hope, you might as well stay at home."
Four-time champion Pogacar won two of the opening nine stages, as did Belgian Tim Merlier, the world's best sprinter.
Former world champions Mathieu van der Poel and Mads Pedersen won one stage each, while two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard gave his Visma-Lease a Bike squad victory in the team time-trial.
The other two stages were won by young riders who seem destined to be major stars in the near future, Isaac Del Toro and Olav Kooij.
"It feels like it has been like this for the last two or three years," added Gregoire.
"Since my first Tour in 2024, these are the only type of riders able to win."
Although, Gregoire admitted that that is the way it should be.
"It's the biggest race in the world, it's the race everyone dreams of," he said.
"It's normal that it's only the very best who are able to win."
Gregoire heads into Tuesday's Bastille Day stage in the French champion's jersey.
The last Frenchman to win the July 14 stage was Warren Barguil in 2017, and the only one to do so while wearing the national champion's jersey was Raymond Delisle in 1969.
"July 14 is a special day when you're wearing the French champion's jersey," added the Groupama-FDJ United rider.
"Certainly I'll be trying to perform well, even though, if truth be told, tomorrow's stage will be incredibly difficult and one for the pure climbers."
Even so, he said: "We'll fight hard to keep pace and hope to pull off something special."
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