The story of a Tour de France stage winner who forgot to upload the route to his Garmin last year

Opportunities for breakaway riders are rare in this Tour de France, but when one comes along, you obviously have to seize it with both hands. That’s exactly what Mauro Schmid did on Friday by winning the thirteenth stage. The story the Swiss rider then shared at the press conference makes the victory even sweeter.

Schmid was born in Switzerland, so at the press conference, the Jayco rider was asked whether he’s Swiss in personality as well. Punctual, always on time? “Maybe. I’m relatively late, but always on time. I like to sleep in a bit in the morning. Sometimes I do show up a little later at the start,” Schmid said.

He certainly didn't do that on Friday for the thirteenth stage of the Tour. "Today I was actually one of the first, because I wanted to be up front right away, since the first few kilometers were very winding. To be in the breakaway, it was better for me to be there early." So Schmid’s stage victory actually began even before the start.

In fact, it actually started last year. Back then, the Swiss rider was also competing in the Tour de France, but he forgot to load the route into his Garmin before one of the stages. “Last year, I did indeed forget to do that for one stage, and then I ended up in the breakaway. That was one of my biggest mistakes.” I usually try to load the stages into the Garmin on the rest day, but sometimes the route changes at the last minute, so you don’t want to load it too early either.”

"That was pretty tricky back then," the Jayco rider continued. "This year I had it figured out, though, because I double-check it now before the race starts." Incidentally, that wasn’t the only lesson from the previous Tour, as Schmid lost a two-man sprint to Jonas Abrahamsen last year. “I thought about last year several times during the final stretch. I got a cramp 4 kilometers from the finish, and I started my sprint a little too late,” he recalled.

He elaborated on this during the post-race press conference. “I now realize just how similar those two stages are. It was full throttle right from the start again, and another two-man sprint today. In the last five kilometers, I started thinking a bit about last year. Back then, I tried to time it a little better, and it worked.”

It was a welcome victory, of course, for Schmid, who sees few opportunities these days for attackers like him. “It’s not easy. At the end of the day, it’s just racing. When opportunities are scarce, you have to go all out. I think the whole team was on it today. In the first 20 or 30 kilometers, we were right up there with the best. It’s truly a great team effort.”