The Pyrenees Over the course of the next three days we will have a clear picture of what is required from each rider come the time-trial on Saturday. Personally I love the Pyrenean stages, the Basque supporters are incredible, the road surface is generally poor and the climbs have very nasty kicks to them, often leading to gaps in the GC battle.Today is a 178km stage and is the only one of the three Pyrenean…
Will we finally see a proper sprint stage today ? The parcour is classed as flat but it is certainly more lumpy than pancake-flat. The majority of the sprinters are at the limit already having tried to survive the last 10 days but with the promise of a rest day tomorrow they will summon the troops and haul their tired bodies out of the trenches for battle. If the chase is left to Jumbo we…
Today is one of those stages that on paper shouldn’t have too big an effect on the General Classification – but could be a potential banana peel for Jonas Vingegaard. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’tX-M2HbuRGFxI9Hk1utyCw’,sig:’aVIjfiwJZobv3ccWZDkvn64k2qQsxm5maEhM9Tozj4o=’,w:’594px’,h:’396px’,items:’1408907852′,caption: true ,tld:’com’,is360: false })}); The Stage is 192km long but there’s almost not a flat kilometre from start to finish. It has the feel of a Belgian Classic and as such should draw out the Classics riders. Luckily for Jonas Vingegaard…
It’s time to catch our breath after the action from the last two days in the Alps. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’Qde7NE5qR35Z9d9-HXSsxA’,sig:’4I2Qsr784ToV6QmJD8TuSMOkUYTOeEpiP5McsIjQQZs=’,w:’594px’,h:’396px’,items:’1408655231′,caption: true ,tld:’com’,is360: false })}); Today will be a “flat” stage covering 192km and traversing two Cat 3 and one Cat 2 climb. The intermediate sprint point is almost exactly halfway at 101km however it seems that most teams other than Jumbo have given up on pursuing these as Wout Van Aert has a stranglehold…
The real mountains have finally arrived. It is time for the general classification battle to really kick off and what a battle it is going to be over the next two days. Tadej has lost one of his leading generals in the mountains, George Bennett who tested positive for Covid during the rest day, Rafael Majka isn’t 100% and the rest of his entourage isn’t that well equipped to protect him on the two merciless…
It is almost inconceivable that we still have two weeks of racing left after such an epic first week in this year’s tour. Traditionally it is the third week of the tour where we see massive time losses occur, however with the nasty second week the organisers have on the menu I think we will definitely have some clear winners and losers by this time next week.Today is the appetiser to the week ahead, a…
How does one top yesterday’s stage? I don’t think you can. Today we expect a GC truce after the immense battle we saw play out on La Super Planche Des Belles Filles yesterday. If this is the case we will see another frenetic start to the race with all teams hoping for that elusive stage win pushing hard to snap the elastic back to the peloton. The stage is classified as hilly with two Cat…
La Super Planche Des Belles Filles Words that most likely trigger severe PTSD for Primoz Roglic and the rest of the Jumbo Visma team as they saw their tour hopes unexpectedly shattered by the current Yellow Jersey, Tadej Pogacar in the 2020 tour’s final time trial. Today however it comes at the end of a the stage and is preceded by two Cat 3 climbs and it’s not the standard Planche Des Belle Filles, it’s…
After the massacre on the cobbles yesterday today may be one for the break. The parcour is “hilly” with our first Cat 3 climbs of the race, the last of which is an eye-watering 800m@12% only a few kilometres from a punchy finish. Today is the longest stage of the tour at 220km, just what the riders needed after yesterday. The stage suits your Classics Riders and many of yesterday’s protagonists may once again be at…
COBBLES! The last time the tour properly traversed the cobbles in 2014 it was a rainy day that turned the race on its head. Nibali used his Astana team to animate the race and put the other GC riders under pressure. The day was won by the Cyclocross legend, Lars Boom. Nibali went on to win that edition of the Tour after gaining time on the cobbles. This year the weather seems far kinder however…
