The Official 104th Tour de France thread

[Stat Brother]

They just showed Boo-Hoo-Hanni doing a 50p turn round a corner on Eurosport .

I hope the camera was still on him when he rolled over the line 8th, slapping his 'bars in frustration.

Guess who rolled home in his usual place today?

Mystic Stat strikes again.

 

[Driver8]

That'll be fine as the Tour finishes in Troyes on Thursday, there might be local diversions for 'events', but not wholesale closures.

http://letouratroyes.fr/gb/ - should help you out.

Thanks. I'd got my days muddled up. We are staying just east of Troyes Wednesday night so an early dart should avoid any issues!

 

[Stat Brother]

We ought to have a sister thread, with the title 'Double Hard B******s - Tour Cyclists'

[tweet]881247743720796160[/tweet]

[tweet]881417940553404416[/tweet]

 

[Motogull]

Knee first into the kerb ain't funny.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

We ought to have a sister thread, with the title 'Double Hard B******s - Tour Cyclists'




[tweet]881417940553404416[/tweet]

View attachment 86796

Idiots riding that fast in the rain on such thin tyres, I have no sympathy, they should be allowed to ride on tricycles if the weather is poor.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Idiots riding that fast in the rain on such thin tyres, I have no sympathy, they should be allowed to ride on tricycles if the weather is poor.

Yeah, this.

A stage on tricycles would be superb.

 

[Pantani]

Stage 2 Review

Result:

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 4:37:06
2 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ
3 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
4 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
5 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
6 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
7 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
8 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
9 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
10 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe


General Classification:

1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 4:53:10
2 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:05
3 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:06
4 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:00:07
5 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:10
6 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:12
7 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:15
8 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:15
9 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data 0:00:16
10 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:16


Pantani's GC contenders classification (I am being extremely generous with the definition of general classification contender for this to begin with)

1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:16:04
2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:12
3 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:25
4 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:00:37
5 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:47
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:48
7 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:49
8 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:49
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:49
10 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:50
11 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:51
12 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:52
13 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:54
14 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:54
15 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb 0:00:59
16 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:03
17 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:12
18 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-Scott 0:01:13

Thought for a minute there in the last 10km that the sprinter's teams might **** it up. In the end it was as we were all expecting. Pleased for Phinney winning the Polka Dots, shame he will lose the jersey tomorrow barring a miracle. Kittel won pretty easily in the end I thought, Cav tried to come round him and couldn't, Demare got close but never really looked like getting there. Think we could see a bit of a procession in the sprints for Kittel.

Good Day:
Taylor Phinney, first TdF and in a jersey if even just for a day is a fantastic achievement. After the injury he has had, even more impressive.
Sprinters Teams, none of them did any work, really. Yet still got their sprint finish.

Bad Day:
Team Sky, Katusha and AG2R, virtually the whole of all three teams on the deck. Froome, Thomas, Bardet and Porte of the main contenders. No serious injuries reported but tomorrow could be a tough day for the battered and bruised.
Peter Sagan, just 10th on the stage. With loads of this type of sprint stage, maybe his quest for the Green Jersey will be tougher than we first thought.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Yeah, this.

A stage on tricycles would be superb.

Or a mountain stage on Penny Farthings.

 

[Stat Brother]

Thought for a minute there in the last 10km that the sprinter's teams might **** it up. In the end it was as we were all expecting. Pleased for Phinney winning the Polka Dots, shame he will lose the jersey tomorrow barring a miracle. Kittel won pretty easily in the end I thought, Cav tried to come round him and couldn't, Demare got close but never really looked like getting there. Think we could see a bit of a procession in the sprints for Kittel.

I hope not, I've gambled on all the main sprinters sharing the spoils.
Although this graphic would suggest otherwise:-



I've not really looked at the overheads, but watching live I thought Sagan had his nose in front far too early.
He's deffo trained on his sprinting this year, although he has to be perfect while 4 others riders make a small mistake for him to win on a flat straight finish.

 

[BNthree]

Great win by Kittel, though really hoping Cav gets a couple of stages so he can make it 50 grand tour stage wins.

 

[Motogull]

Sagan faffed about looking round too much then got boxed in. Take nothing away from Kittel though.

 

[Pantani]

Yeah Sagan positioned himself really poorly. He was second wheel with 600m to go. And seemed to get dropped off in to the wind way too early. Then did not launch his sprint immediately, hoping someone would come past and he could get out of the wind then launch his sprint later. With hindsight he would have been better off hitting out the moment he was at the front, yes it was too early to win, but he would have finished higher than 10th if he had done that, and the ultimate goal is the Green Jersey.

 

[Stat Brother]

The Cycling Podcast, on soundcloud.com, do a great daily summary of the days stage as do ITV sport.

Monday to Friday The Cycling Podcast also release 'Kilometre 0' a sideways looking Tour vignette.

Today's episode is based on a massive hole in my cycling palmarès, the reading of one of the very best cycling books written:-




If you like the episode, which I'm currently listening to, the chaps recently did an excellent interview with Paul Watson (not our one) https://thecyclingpodcast.com/podcast/lunch-with-paul-watson-episode-17 which I strongly recommend.
(Sorry [MENTION=10856]1066familyman[/MENTION] t'is Lionel's project)

 

[Pantani]

Stage 3 Preview

Verviers to Longwy 212.5km

Route


Profile


Final 5km


Lumpy and bumpy today. I have seen this one described as a mini classic. I'm not quite sure about that, if they ride it hard it will be a tough stage, if they soft pedal all day there is nothing particularly difficult about this one. The finish is a cat 4 really, 1.6km at 5.8% is not too difficult, though there is a short section at 11%. The other Cat 3 does look like a proper effort though 2.3km at 9.3% but so far from the finish it will only serve as a battleground for the Polka Dots. I am hoping that Bora and Sunweb decide to make this one really hard, then it could get interesting.

Expect:
Actually a proper fight to get in the break today, though I said that yesterday . There are enough mountain points available to hold that jersey for two days so that is a decent carrot. Looks like a strong man's stage today Sagan, Matthews, GvA etc will all be after the win. The break won't stay clear as enough teams will think they have the rider to win this.

Bets:
I have gone for Colbrelli at 14-1.
Sagan 3-2; Matthews 10-2 and GvA 7-1 are all too short imo.
Maybe worth a punt Ulissi 25-1; Kwitkowski 33-1; Dan Martin 33-1 and Felline 50-1

 

[Stat Brother]

Bets:
I have gone for Colbrelli at 14-1.
Sagan 3-2; Matthews 10-2 and GvA 7-1 are all too short imo.
Maybe worth a punt Ulissi 25-1; Kwitkowski 33-1; Dan Martin 33-1 and Felline 50-1

Liking Ulissi but I think Kwia and Martin's jobs lay elsewhere.
Although if QuickStep decide to take the stage to Sagan/Matthews, Stybar around 50/1 and Brambilla 3-digit/1 (severely handicapped by being in my Fantasy team) look like good outsiders.

Edit - I forgot Trentin might even be able to take Yellow with a win today.

 

[RandyWanger]

What a finish to today's race

 

[Stat Brother]

Oh **** off!

 

[JoePrecious]

Oh **** off!

Some people are just too ridiculously talented...

Also caught the Paul Watson interview. Stuck it on as I has nothing else to listen to expecting to turn it off after 5 minutes (having never heard of the guy) but it was a fascinating listen.

 

[Stat Brother]

Some people are just too ridiculously talented...

Also caught the Paul Watson interview. Stuck it on as I has nothing else to listen to expecting to turn it off after 5 minutes (having never heard of the guy) but it was a fascinating listen.

Took the words right out of my keyboard!!
I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

[BNthree]

Watching the ITV highlights and greatly amused to see at 47km to go someone stood by the road in rural France holding a homemade "Wenger Out" sign,