Tour De France 2019: That’s My Jaune

A Froomless Tour, Sans Sherwen (RIP), with Babby Aussie goer Caleb Ewan (potentially) in the mix... let’s GOOO

Stage 1 Brussels proved pretty exciting!

Who else ITT is watching?

Crazy finish!
Rotten luck for Groenewegen, looked a nasty crash

bikecam footage

Also featuring Geraint Thomas, if you squint. https://t.co/BOPXaoQr2z

— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) July 6, 2019

:(

I'm watching, thx for starting the thread. Surprising TT but Jumbo are flying atm.

I’m a bit behind the action but lol @ Movistar

holy Jumbo! They smoked everyone O_O

be interesting to see how tomorrow shakes out now!

Haven’t managed to catch this yet but Bradley Wiggins is doing Moto punditry

https://keyassets-timeincuk-net.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/07/Screen-Shot-2019-07-06-at-15.12.39-1220x813.png

I saw a tiny clip on Twitter & it looked v amusing

Stage 3 was quite enjoyable, esp once it was clear that Alaphilippe had it in the bag. What a great win for him!

Some nasty crashes on that stage though.

"groenewegen's nickname is 'the atomic tadpole.' that's tour news for today. i'm bradley wiggins, back to you." *smokes cig*

STAGE 5 INCOMING

rigo is my outside bet here - yes, he has big nearly man energy but a lot of the others have equal doubts over their viability. bernal (untested defending the jersey over 3 weeks), thomas (too crashy), pinot (can’t go down hills, doesn’t do pressure), nairo (by all rights he should win this but lol)

unconvinced by fuglsang over 3

Tbfttl Fuglsang crashed pretty hard on day one. You (intentionally?) left out Nibali and Valverde. I'd put a fiver on the the old shark, even though I expect Bernal to win it? That is, if Iseos is strong enough. Not convinced yet but early days obv.

I'm wondering how long Alaphilippe can attain yellow. If he survives La Planche de Belle Filles, he could take it into the second week for sure.

valverde is a big [controversial moderator edit] so I refuse to countenance him winning. I'd love the shark to win it but he must be pretty goosed from his second at the giro

plus movistar have too many cooks and valverde's only GT GC win came over ten years ago

True, though having too many cooks is kind of Movistar's modus operandi. It helps to know Quintana isn't going to win it, him being Quintana and all. So he and Landa could help out the shark.

Also: It got me thinking, since Dumoulin is heavily linked to Jumbo atm and he wants out at Sunweb: You'll have Roglic, Kruiswijk and Dumoulin. That's veering into Movistar territory, and doesn't seem wise...)

Also also: Viviani's days were numbered (and it's not hard to see why) but I'm wondering how QS think of him after today.

i scanned that as "too many crooks," and was all "forget it jacques, it's PRO," but then re-read it.

1. yay today! watching the last 2km i could not imagine sagan NOT winning it the way he was stalking, but i was still v gratified.
2. since shit gets real tomorrow, bets are due, i guess. on gc i root for rigo for his seeming longplay legit-ness. but it's cool that balaverde has gone full-martian-- the last time i saw a non-sky rider go full-martian was chris horner at the vuelta way backinaday, and ay, results. so i think martian valverde is pretty interesting. (it cannot be him though, can it?)

for dough tho, i'm taking the odds and staying with bernal.

any given strong field and I admit uran doesn’t quite got it. this mob of nearly men, young dudes and crashers? vai rigo*

*ineos will no doubt soon instigate project imperial march and bernal will win

Can someone explain the ski goggles thing? I know the US football team did this and now Sagan on the podium, but somewhere along the line I missed the memo.

Finally some time to post here (been seeing it all but crazy few days). Honestly I'm just all about Sagan's proper reign of terror in the best way. But stage 3 was amazing/crazy for sure.

tomorrow should be good :)

i’ve loved everything so far but guys i’m already jonesing for the Pyrenees bcz i’m greedy

Loved the Alsace scenery today (and umbrella hijinx lol) - really felt for the peloton having to go flat stack the whole way, breakaway put them through their paces for sure

oh and gbx otm - tomorrow looks like a corker

Staying up tonight, Cold and all, because this is a pretty brutal stage to have on the first Thursday of the tour.

thomas eh.....? who knew

My cold caught up with me so now I am catching up with the stage. I’m watching through France TV for the first time this tour and, shock horror, they have managed to find a woman to sit next to JaJa and do some punditry. Former French national road race champion, Marion Rousse. She’s also married to Tony Gallopin.

Other broadcasters should take note. (Also to broadcast the Giro Rosa)

It’s been interesting watching Pete Kennaugh, though; seeing the race a a spectator for the first time.

Still haven’t managed to catch Wiggo and contador on the backs of their respective motorbikes.

Thibau Pinot is looking good. Super relaxed before the TTT as well.

pinot looking good. hincapie tipping alaphilippe for podium (don’t see it)

bardet and nibbles dans la queue

BIG statement of intent from thomas

Bardet had a crappy day he was swapping bikes and wheels at every opportunity. Definitely the sign of a rider who’s not comfortable.

classic thomas.

go de gendt! nibali! alaphilippe! great stage.

nibbles looks like he has turned to stone on this climb.

what. a. fucking. stage.

yeah that had everything. bit sad that the ciccone youth had so little support, but what a finish

love de gendt, love JA, great frikkin race

Just watched the highlights, want to see the whole thing now! This year feels very different and I’m really enjoying it so far.

If you are in France or can VPN there. France TV has whole stage replays.

cyclingtorrents

Goddamn. De Gendt! Fucking hero for that.

Alaphilippe keeping it close, amazing work.

bike racing!!!

Also Sagan just doing the business again, sorry Matthews.

That last climb! Deceptively hard, Nibali was absolute cooked and then Pinot move to jump onto the wheels of Alaphilippe! Thanks some good racing. Some significant confusion from the peloton, it seemed like they were halfway down before they’d sorted out who was going to ride to pull them back. Too much looking around for Ineos to do the work?

I’m all in for a Thibaut Pinot. That descent with Alaphilippe was some amazing stuff. Not hugely technical, but wasn’t he known as a nervous descender a few years back.

de gendt is a fucking legend, what a motor he has to pull that off today. magical stuff.

and pinot hanging with alaphillippe the whole way for those last few kms was awesome! good on him. way to show up for bastille day, good job to both frogs

Offredo’s stage 8 experience was completely O_o

"I had to shit all day," Offredo said frankly to France TV. "I was sick all night, like a few members of my staff. I was suffering even in the neutral start, I found myself with Christophe Laporte, I tried to motivate him but he too was empty. Like me, he had nothing left in his legs, he was sick two days ago."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/offredo-perseveres-through-nightmarish-tour-de-france-stage/

That is awesome, not the sickness but the endurance, especially having been at both ends of the race.

Today looks supper fun. This is the France of my childhood holidays and it looks like there’s another’s cat three with a potential little wall in the middle of it right before the finish. Alaphilippe to win in yellow on Bastille day, I wouldn’t bet against it.

Mike Woods stars in the second episode of #EFGoneRacing out of the Tour de France. @rusty_woods, 32, is the oldest @LeTour debutant in the 106th edition of the race and likely the only rider in the bunch to break a four-minute mile.#EFGoneRacing #exploretheworld

📹: @Rapha pic.twitter.com/4QaxrwkWuj

— EF Education First Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) July 14, 2019

ep 2 is nice as a sorta narrativeless slice of stuff

Interesting insight on today’s Costa breakaway attempt

Flecha saying the break didn't want Costa to catch the break because he's not a nice guy to have in the breakaway, he'll sit on wheels, do nothing and then attack you..

— Ian (@cyclingbetting) July 14, 2019

Thomas De Gendt said that of Costa in @petercossins Full Gas book. Said he's not a great guy to have in the break because he never fully commits

— Iain Sisson (@i_am_iain) July 14, 2019

a pox on Fugelsang for ever mentioning the motorcycle drafting issue bc Phil Liggett & the NBC commentary wont stfu about it now *shoots self*

DAZZLER!!!

Impey is a class act, so happy that he won the stage. Been a fan of the Michelton Scott team since i started watching the Tour a few years back, he works his ass off for the team & seems like a legit good dude

Yeah, been a good solid weekend. Looking forward to a sprint tomorrow and then the well-deserved break.

Every time i see him or hear his name i think of him getting flung to the barriers by bos in the traffic, it’s insane.

https://youtu.be/i8K_7bJQaaI

At the start of his career he had so many small scale gc victories that he could scale up into gt successes but nope. Very good rider.

holy shit

What's English for 'waaiers' or 'op de kant'? ;)

Nothing like the madness when the wind rips up the peloton, and when you least expect it. Thanks Quick Step! RIP Porte, Pinot, Bennett, Fuglsang, Uran.. Whoa.

Also rip Nibali, rip Landa.... Bloodbath.

another great stage for sure

And this winner to top it off. Amazing.

Lol i thot today was the off day, fer real.

Ive just been doing chores, serving actual catnip, listening to ed ball rekids (and thinking “how odd!”) and...whuh?

I am shocked to see posts to this thread.

I need to go learn all the stuff now.

yeah what happened

yikes wha’happened

Lol Hunter :)

It was the expected snoozefest until abt am hour before the finish. Ineos, EF and Jumbo, w/ the hard wind, put the peloton on the side, and broke things in half. Or in quarters, actually. Alaphilippe's Quick Step dealt the final blow, because why not. Lots of GC faves caught by surprise and seconds, minutes+ behind.

And then in the sprint lead by poor Sunweb bcz Matthews, Van Aert - knowing Kruiswijk was safe in the first peloton, while Groenewegen was behind and Matthews and Sagan already counting on a win - beat all the sprinting giants... Marvelous. Why I love this sport so much.

split peloton resulted in a big gc shake up, lots of wouldbe contenders missed out and lost over a minute and a half. most of the sprinters made the cut though, finish was tight as hell

xp wot lbi said

I love it when a Scenery Stage turns out exciting for cycling reasons. The Aveyron is blooming lovely though.

alaphilippe........ I want to believe

feel for pinot

LBI, what we call "waaiers" is apparently called "bordures" in English.

https://inrng.com/2011/03/lexicon-of-cycling-terms/

CSI TDF

Je suis en train de revoir les 50 derniers kilomètres et je peux dire que ce n'est pas le rond-point invoqué par Marc Madiot (via @leparisien) qui a causé la perte de Pinot mais un autre, situé 6,5 km plus loin. #TDF2019

— Yassine BEN RAJEB (@ybenrajeb) July 15, 2019

LBI, what we call "waaiers" is apparently called "bordures" in English.

https://inrng.com/2011/03/lexicon-of-cycling-terms/

― StanM, Monday, July 15, 2019 9:06 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

It kind of makes sense! But wow. #borduresflaglink

Just finished watching the stage (at a low volume) so I didn't fully appreciate quite how crazy it was until I read all this!

that shit was B A N A N A S

pinot from third to tenth! fuck dude.

wout crushing the sprint tho, what a little genius. loving jumbo using their excellent riders in such impromptu ways

feel bad for matthews: he seems to be stuck in a real mental rut, he’s got such potential but the bunch sprints really seem to be doing him in all of a sudden.

you could just seee the “o fuuuuuuuu” energy of the second peloton; pulling that hard that far out must have sucked balls

o fuck pinot 11th not 10th

fugelsang *sad trombone*

jumbo tour bus watching wout win is p classic

🇫🇷 #TDF2019

Explosion of emotions🤯😁 pic.twitter.com/9B821aapND

— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) July 15, 2019

and a good lol from rohan dennis

.@petosagan was saying if he had my weight and his power he would win everything...kind of already wins whatever he wants https://t.co/2IIgviQgVp

— Rohan Dennis (@RohanDennis) July 15, 2019

sorry last one

this is from yesterday
sonny colbrelli delivers a spanking to...a spectator? 😂

Certainement LA vidéo de cette année #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/n91Ye1Pis0

— Tricotte (@Tricotte69) July 14, 2019

Given I don’t do twitter any more least of all cycling Twitter, I’m happy for the edit so keep ‘em coming.

I’ve been watching the stage on and off through the day and I thing I’m just about to get to the split.

Tourist information on the french courage is much better on the french feed.

Today’s arguments amongst the french presenters have been about he pronunciation of Rodez and Laguiole.

How could a french speaker mispronounce those?

Oh, were they on locals basically saying ‘layole’?

The argument was between

RodeZZ and RodeSS
Laguiole almost sounded like lah-ghoul

also an idiot like me (not a french speaker) might expect rodez to be pronounced like saint-tropez

Just realised it’s Rodés in Occitan so that would make sense. I honestly can’t remember how the elderly neighbours pronounce it - will have to listen out when I’m back in August.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Fz8RxWsB3J5hA2Btz6wn2?si=-lqfPw0FTkWYdWSsRmVf6g

Guinness at 11min is about my formulaic read, too. My mindset is all “who’s gonna solve this imperial march routine? Alaphillipe, that’s who.” Narrator: alaphillipe could not even nearly solve the imperial march.”

now that ive been immersed in mcewan, that other aussie guy, and guinness, aussie tdf stylations are the only ones i rly want tbh. guinness just mentioned nibbles’s “poll-mayr-rees” and i think the french need to adjust how they say it. because— that’s proper french now imo.

he's won on mt baldy, won a summit finish at l'avenir, won a summit finish at the dauphiné, won the polka dot jersey... I want to believe

Alright, Ewan gets a win! Been a great tour for these first time stage wins.

https://www.wielerflits.be/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CORVOS_00031272-087-e1563378537297.jpg

Love this photo so much. Two completely different sprinters, with such different styles, different bodies, different approaches and teams. Stuck in time, mano a mano. Loved Groenewegen's grumpiness after the race (he fucking hates losing, as he should!) but his respect for Ewan shone through regardless. He couldn't help it. I think nearly the whole peloton was ok with Ewan winning, he seems like a very likeable guy, Caleb and Dylan both are. While "likeable guy" isn't a given for sprinters!

when i saw how long groenewegen was in the wind and saw the quite small frontal area of ewan finally popping out, i was expecting him to accelerate faster and come through more clearly in front, but groenewegen is such a wattmonster. nicely done.

dude they were swapping paint at the end too, it was dope

curious to know how many watts ewan saves, relatively, just by being such a lil guy

like if he's ducking behind some big unit's wheel he's gotta have so much more dry powder

*still catching up on today’s action*

interrupting w photo of baby Wout Van Aert

A couple of years ago! A young @WoutvanAert and @mathieuvdpoel👦🏻👦🏼 How things turned out... pic.twitter.com/Bl1rDmI0af

— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) July 15, 2019

CALEB! what a win!!!

Thrilled for the little fella, he’s been crushing it for years since he was a teenager, so awesome for him to win like that in his first TDF & show what he’s made of.

Exciting stuff

loved this tweet from Dowsett of Team Katusha

<50k tension
40-20k be there with team, but not ‘there’ yet
20-10k fight, but save something, somehow
10-5k fight harder, don’t die
5-2k be in front, preferably with teammate, drop all the watts
2-1.5k go back thru peloton, hope you don’t die
1.5k to finish; question life choices

— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) July 17, 2019

he's an interesting combo of traits- great extended power and watts/frontal area-- that's usually how BIG dudes dominate, and they sorta need a big train to get there.

but i've never seen noticed or heard that ewan has a massive acceleration, or is a magician at moving through the pack (though he seems fine), which are pocketrocket traits. though tiny, ewan's not similar to robbie mcewan, who was like a fucking 5'6" witch, he could do impossible moves.

as perfect bike handlers go sagan is like watching a gymnast rip a pommel horse impossibly perfectly. but mcewen was like nightcrawler from xmen. /badanalogycyclingpod

Ha! Love that Dowsett tweet.

An angry-looking looking Rohan Dennis leaves the @Bahrain_Merida bus without saying a word, marching towards the finish line with his manager Andrew McQuaid. #TDF2019 #tdf pic.twitter.com/cN2HBRaeUq

— Sam Edmund (@SammyHeraldSun) July 18, 2019

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/rohan-dennis-abandons-tour-de-france-no-one-sure-431717

This is very odd, a day before the TT.

weirdest thing to happen in the Tour so far. He needs to refund my Tour bet money :P

Nice mental game ending to the stage there. Almost thought they were pushing it too close before Yates went for it.

That cagey finish was awesome, great final sprint by Yatesy - chuffed that Mitchelton Scott has two stage wins now :D

Aerial coverage of today’s #TourdeFrance stage. https://t.co/oTSfcrZpKo pic.twitter.com/MScyQeJvOr

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 18, 2019

Any good theories on Dennis?

All I can really glean so far is that he just cracked the shits & left but who tf knows what caused it.

toys out the pram imo

There was something in the way they pointedly said “it is nothing physical” which made me wonder if it’s a MH issue.

Sam Edmund says it was probably about equipment (TT bike?) in the thread replies to his pic

"but I don't like the pink one!" etc

I've heard he can be quite the pain in the ass, and indeed kicked up a stir because of equipment or something. But to then just quit the day before the TT that you are supposed to win is some next level hijacking and saying 'fuck my team'.

i missed wout's crash - what happened?

sounded nasty

Terrible crash for Wout Van Aert who hooks his bike into the railing at full speed. Ambulance has been called to the site. pic.twitter.com/4LgFnajpSi

— Patrik Bexell (@Zeb_Habs) July 19, 2019

some more perspective on Rohan Dennis
https://www.velonews.com/2019/07/tour-de-france/commentary-denniss-departure-leaves-more-questions-than-answers_497636

Cycling Podcast’s Francois Thomazeau heard from Seb Picquet that Dennis had told Picquet before the race to “count him out” which seems to indicate it wasn’t totally spur of the moment

very weird

hot damn julian

he can’t can he

we’ll know better tomorrow I guess

man he just fukkin owns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsPlwbPigOY

crushed for sweet baby Wout ;_;
what a horror crash that was

Terrible.

BTW there is no way I see King Julian holding the jersey after stage 15. The Peguere is not too hard sounding at 9.3km and 7.9%, but the final 3km of that is 16-18%.

I was impressed by uran today, bur he’s STILL almost 4 min back. ☹️

holyyyyyyy shit that was some finish. King Julian!! That was a goosebumps performance, cannot wait for these mountains now

Get yr popcorns

And yeah, Rigo putting himself back up in the standings was an impressive effort, though being that far back still is gonna suck. Nairo & Yates kinda sucking wind atm now too.

rest in power sweet baby wout

Hincapie (shhhhh) thinks our dude JuliA could take it all if the also ran French teams started doing the work that QS didn't come prepared for

He might be right

imagine that

:D

guys lets quit our jobs and watch prof cycling races forever

A fine idea

cool cool cool

I’ll buy us a camping car with cassoulet trailer.

now we’re talking

Caught up with the TT and what a ride from Alaphilippe and de Gendt. Definitely one for the puncheurs as Vos demonstrated in the morning. Maybe that went in Alaphilippe’s favour a little but there was plenty of regular time trial as well.

Lala up the final steep section was some jordanesque shit, someone superperforming in your FACE.

Half of Directe Energie in the break today. Rocket in the team bus this morning.

Half of Directe Energie in the break today. Rocket in the team bus this morning.

Where is Alaphilippe hiding? I haven’t seen him since switching on.

what the - and I cannot emphasise this enough - FUCK is wiggo wearing

union jack hoodie... christ

For posterity

It’s showtime people ✌️🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/xbfK4v82G8

— Brad Wiggins (@SirWiggo) July 20, 2019

ala already a little isolated, though looks comfortable. lots of ineos up front

bardet est lâché

juju quite far back in the group here...

Alaphilippe bunnyhopping the traffic island early in this stage was McEwanesque

amador putting a shift in here... w/nairo near the back

nairo distanced

And Nairo is out the back.

sight of valverde in the stripes still sickening

Well Movistar seem to have knackered themselves.

Well Movistar seem to have knackered themselves.

ineos death march incoming

don’t like juju’s position here. vulnerable to the inevitable accelerations

hwfg

seriously impressive ride from alaphilippe this

French 1-2

fucking hell

that was great

alaphilippe wearing a casquette on the podium too - none of this baseball cap nonsense

great stage!

very strange tactics from Movistar.

good to see Ineos not-dominating a grand tour for once.

movistar imploding was amazing. tactics just completely fell apart because they couldn’t respond to quintana dying.

that finale satisfied on so many levels, even the heli shots were rad.

Fkn Quintana, his team should just kick him off the side of the mountain - they busted their ass for him for nothing!

"Nairo was not going well, but he didn’t tell us a thing. We didn’t know he was going like that.” Movistar's hard pace on the Tourmalet shed its own leader, Nairo Quintana, from the bunch: https://t.co/kSCcGT1ne3

— VeloNews (@velonews) July 20, 2019

King Julian still reigns, Pinot gets a stage win, and G cracked like an egg on the final climb! man I am loving this tour

irl lol

Big shout out to Movistar today. Set up a great race for everyone............ else.

— Rob Hayles (@robhayles1) July 20, 2019

and this made me teary, baby Wout is the best even when he’s out of the race

When you have no tv coverage in the teamcar and instead get updates from the hospital bed, then you know you have a real teamplayer in the house.
Thanks @WoutvanAert pic.twitter.com/hmef6IAE4X

— grischa niermann (@grischaniermann) July 20, 2019

That was fantastic. What a race it would have been if Pinot hadn’t lost the time in the cross winds. As it stands i could see him getting back on the podium at this rate.

I wouldn’t write Thomas of yet. He limited his losses on an off day although he now needs to be on the attack every day and for Alaphilippe to have an off day. Ineos aren’t good at winning from this position.

Today will be interesting, this would normally be a good day for Alaphilippe to win from the breakaway. It could easily be a breakaway day so it will be up to Ineos and whoever fails to get in the breakaway to ride it down.

All in for Alaphilippe to get all the way to Paris in Yellow.

yeah obv G’s still in the race for sure but I was surprised that he lost so much time

Whew. Finally caught up on this, I honestly could barely watch the final kilometers, that was crazy fucking tense. Think I’ll rewatch it properly on Monday!

Maybe getting ahead of myself here, but as far as I can see the last rider to win a monument and the tour in the same year was Hinault in 1981 (Paris Roubaix) and the last person to win Milan San Remo and the the tour in the same year was Merckx in 1972.

as far as super aggressive puncheur types winning gts, the only guess i could make was like, vino. so when i got back to my computer i had to go look to see if he ever won a gt and...he won Vuelta 2006, which i don't remember offhand. he had a few one-week tours like suisse and paris nice and dauphine tho.

i had no idea he was 1.77m- i thought he was sorta bigger than that somehow. on second thought that make sense, because as relatively standard/solid as he was, if he was tall he'd have too much mass. (alaphillipe is listed at 1.73m 62kg. hfs that's 5'8" 136lbs. hfs. at that size i guess he can make it all the way to paris in yellow.

vino is _more_ than problematic, but he was a pretty merciless asskicker.

This is brilliant

Dutch TV have made a short film about the TDF crew whose job it is to spot painted genitalia on the road and adapt it beyond recognition. This is a high art form.

👏 https://t.co/YZZ7D0f0Dk

— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) July 21, 2019

That was great.

As was yesterday, w/ Ineos imploding and Movistar's suicidal tendencies and Julian bringing it and Thomas breaking.

I really think Alaphilippe let Pinot have the stage yesterday. It was said later on the telly but I saw it during the finish, too. He could've 'easily' won the stage, he was holding back in plain sight. Pinot's help will come in handy next week. Obv Alaphilippe is a beast.

A lot of the polemica seems to be that Alaphilippe is another Voeckler and can only hold this for the middle of the race but I don’t want to believe that. It may be luck or lack of on form opposition but he’s building a good gap to take into the alps. I want to believe.

enric mas on a real jour sans. viviani out-climbing him

this climb (mur de peguere) is brutal

lmao look at all the shoulders rocking as it sits at 16%+

landa is class

Gaudu is definitely one to watch.

yup - he is class too. though we said that about vuillermoz

juju o_0

he needs to get to 3k and he should be OK /inrng

DS needs to get on the radio here and tell JA to keep calm

also thomas needs to ride here

JA must be touching red here

not convinced by juju following TP there - he should have rode smarter, marking GT and SK. can’t go that deep over three weeks

pinot’s tour imo

... which is incredible in itself

Yep, it's Pinot's to win it now.

Pinot deserves it.

Still think the INEOS power team will only need one good day from either GT or Bernal to kill 'em all.

Jumbo copying Movistar's disastrous tactics today.

Name one thing he can't do on a bike....

🇫🇷#TDF2019 #MaillotVert #PeterSagan #WhySoSerious #LiveYourDream #PedalForGreen #The_Hulk_is_Back #ColduTourmalet #Tourmaletpic.twitter.com/9LuXXS0Ykc

— Peter SagFan (@Peter_SagFan) July 21, 2019

Sidebar: Geraint Thomas & Luke Rowe have a podcast - fan-named “Watts Occurring” - just them chatting on rest days about the race & other things, short & sweet 15 min episodes - quite enjoyable tbh

fuuuuuuck that was a stressful crazy exciting stage!

scared king julian was going to push himself into collapse towards the end there. zero teammates for him for such a long way wasn’t a great look.

landa is amazing, dude deserves a better team than the movistar nonsense. but pinot my god, he had gears upon gears, seemed to increase power with every grimace.

glad there were no serious crashes with all the rain & narrow roads. well deserved rest for everyone now

oh and Yatesy #2 with #2 win! great effort.

I want to killfile Quintana from my tv

Bardet yelling at Quintana to "do something" is all of us for the last three years.

— Dan Cavallari (@BrownTieDan) July 21, 2019

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0J1BS9lDgY/?igshid=1gzhmvoqr3oja

lol

Chris Horner joined the commentary team on NBC Sports this year. So far for me he’s come off like the terry bradshaw of cycling commentary - just continually finding loud & annoying ways to be wrong

There's a reason I stick to the Matthew Keenan/Robbie McEwen commentary.

Isn't Horner like universally disliked?

NBC are so in reconstructed. Liggett especially lives in a world where the lance tours weren’t vacated.

I should really try Keenan and McEwan. I’ve been watching ITV out of habit and France TV because it’s the best. The ITV livestream is better over VPN and France TV is better on playback.

debating whether to pay $10 for this final week

i dont know if i can take another week of horner. plus
phil drives me round the bend, every time someone slows down he invents some fanciful fairytale for whats happening

I like horner ok, but not on commentary all the time. i have not seen him here do...maybe i should check. but—phil? nope. correction: HELLNOPE. i try tell you go to aussies they are ok.

stage developed v slightly later than i figured it might, but at least he has the jersey a lil longer. that tweet loooool never change dude.

If you are going to spend $10, spend it on a vpn then you can choose between Australia, France, UK or any of the others.

No idea if this link get u there but 👀
https://cyclingtips.com/2019/07/a-glimpse-into-the-tour-de-france-2070-grand-masters-edition/?fbclid=IwAR3XraV37g_YZWhIgD_pU5DS_-KreWBAKcmUME-21fij-sGsQYuC3Z7GfE0

old age Sagan looks eerily like my Dad 😕

Isn't Horner like universally disliked?

i have never heard him doing commentary, but his Vuelta win was one of my favorite GC wins ever.

The ITV commentary (Ned Boulting/David Millar) has been entertaining for the daily gradual realisation that their pal Geraint isn’t going to take the yellow jersey today. The time trial live was hilarious - they didn’t quite say “there must be something wrong with the clocks” but the disbelief was coming through strong. But anyway, I enjoy listening to them.

rest day stuff

https://cdn-cyclingtips.pressidium.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_6399.jpg

https://cyclingtips.com/2019/07/a-glimpse-into-the-tour-de-france-2070-grand-masters-edition/

cosmo's back

https://cyclocosm.com/2019/07/how-the-race-was-won-tour-de-france-2019-stages-12-15/

xp Jesus Ludo, that's the stuff of nightmares. Though it did explain one thing:

https://cdn-cyclingtips.pressidium.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_6416.jpg

Alaphilippe is Pantani in disguise!

:D

<3 cosmo

lmao at rowe talking about G’s sausage on watts occurring

so good

Lol Valverde

pinot to have a jour sans, juju will ship time in the alps... and G defends the jersey, with a france two-three

G moderated his effort so well when he became dislocated and said himself he could have gone after pinot on the prat (but didn’t want to wheel juju up to bernal). he’s riding himself into this thing. back end of this week is to be hot hot hot (which pinot hates) AND there have been quite a lot of instances of riders with (as wiggins puts it) the two bob bits this year too...

Heat is defiant going to be a big factor. I think your are probably right in your analysis but this tour has thrown up a fair few surprises and I hope it throws up a few more.

Not impressed by Thomas at all and Ineos as a team seems considerably weaker than previous efforts. The Alps are to his advantage though, just like they are for Kruiswijk. Still think Pinot will nick it.

I've no idea what Buchmann can do this tour but he seems to be in the form of his life.

it would be so awesome if Buchmann would win, a guy I wouldn't recognize passing in the street (would anyone) Everyman Emanuel winning the Tour this year, like a dutch commentator put it after the first week, a guy so anonymous even his mom has yet to spot him on tv. (She would have now, obv.)

as said, my bet goes to either one of the Ineos rider. Team hasn't been imprevisse, otoh, will probably be able to step up a notch if their GC guys are improving too.

I don't even know who Buchmann is. Would be happy for any of top five to win it, for different reasons.

Luke Rowe et Wout Poels 😂😂 #TourdeFrance #tourdefrance2019 pic.twitter.com/lkMBNGhvpX

— paul 🇫🇷⭐⭐ (@mrpaul33240) July 23, 2019

The aerial footage of the last 2km being shown after the race is one of my favourite things, especially when it's a sprint. Good one by Ewan, Groenewegen's was a comedy of errors. RIP Fuglsang.

Awesome finish by Ewan, short burst sprint finish def his bread & butter. Smart AND fast - love it. Bummed for Fugelsang :(

LOL @ luke rowe & wout

and yeah LBi otm, aerial coverage of sprint finishes is my fave thing, this one was great. i curse treelined streets

Peloton, “nice easy, problem free flat, short sprint stage to ease us into the final week of the tdf”

Tdf, “hold my beer” pic.twitter.com/fSfgyO6KoQ

— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) July 23, 2019

advanced cooling techniques

💦 Pushing cooling techniques to the next level. 😅

💦 Monter le curseur du refroidissement au niveau supérieur. 😅#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/YyJ2TQQnOa

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 23, 2019

yall, bike racing? It's good baby

nothing finer

i am going to be legit bereft after Paris

August 3rd is the Clasica San Sebastian! Three weeks later the Vuelta starts! Never have to go long without it.

Perfidious french plot to weaken team ineos!

August 3rd is the Clasica San Sebastian! Three weeks later the Vuelta starts! Never have to go long without it.

And I'm already geared up for the Vuelta, bring it.

Perfidious french plot to weaken team ineos!

Just saw what happened in watching the coverage. Whoops! (But LOL Ineos -- I shouldn't be so petty but after years of those grim faced bastards just grinding up the road in the TdF watching the screws come loose has been amusing.)

Anyway, Mitchelton-Scott's been loving life lately here.

Not quite as much as when they were winning stages and making Carly Rae Jepsen Lip-sync videos

They've been altogether too serious since they became a GC team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEvX_vKDYEw

Too much time time at training camps training, not enough making social content IME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQuQVeMZic

Astounding.

LOL at Pinot trolling in the wake of today:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pinot-its-up-to-thomas-and-bernal-to-attack-in-final-tour-de-france-stages

Awesome finish by Trentin, Mitchelton just crushing stages left & right. Glad to see it!!

Bananas that Rowe & Martin got DQ’d! What’s Occurring indeed :(

Nerd insight: Video changes in Mitchelton coinciding w GC is coincidence - their guy Dan Jones (brains behind the Carly video) had been running the channel & backstage pass series up til 2018, but he left the team to become a new dad among other things. New person is decent but i def miss Dan’s sense of humor & light touch. :(

Team is full of characters & have a good sense of fun still.

The banter around kicking Rowe and Martin out has been interesting. Think it's a tad harsh (just fine them both), but it's convenient mostly for Pinot, to see TJV and Ineos weakened. (also illuminati etc). Moscon was sent out last year for something similar, but he's one of the most hated cyclists in the peloton so no-one batted an eye.

I'm not a fan, but I'm happy for Quintana all the same. Bernal was good as well, Bardet and Lutsenko (!) very impressive.

Expected a lot from today but perhaps it was too long a stage. No attacks from Kruiswijk or Pinot, they simply couldn't.

With Ineos at #2 and #3 they'll sure make sure to try and break Flip. But I'm not sure if he will.

big fan of Quintana, so glad he found his legs again, just in time to win... the Vuelta :P

:D

Haven’t seen the stage yet but I want to believe in a world where Alaphilippe only looses 30 seconds on each of the next two stages. Only lost 20 on the Galibier.

xxpost -- yeah, pretty much.

Going to be an interesting couple of days here!

I know he's Bad and Hated but Bruyneels analysis of how Movistar and Ineos mucked up their strategy was interesting

Like, if they hadn't tried, and failed, to launch Landa they could've sat back and let Quintana ride into yellow

If JA isn't dropped heavily on the first climb he'll be able to make it up on the descent like today and could be assured the win if he doesn't lose all his time on the uphill finish

Today was a reminder of why I love Nairo so much.

Super-shame that his own team chased.

Otm. But he's become a persona non grata in the team if stories are to be believed. Still, very stupid. Thomas going after Bernal and thus pulling all the GC riders closer to Bernal wasn't too clever either.

Still don’t understand why he is going to Arkea Samsic. It’s not like he is that old and surely they can’t afford that much.

another amazing stage - juju looking increasingly vulnerable and his blushes were spared here by the descent (what a descent!)

expect the next two days to be brutal racing

Arkea Samsic has some heavy financial backers. (Quintana will take his bro and Winner Ancona with him to the team, so he will have some trusted helpers, unlike what's the case at Movistar)

Are they going to be world tour? They naught have the points.

not sure if Quintana would be bothered. Apparently he'll get 2 million a year, and he will ride the Tour.

With their French crew of riders they'll pick up enough wild cards for French tours and classics (TdF, Dauphine, Paris-Nice etc). And with Quintana on board they'll probably get even more chances to pick up more points.

Quoi qu'il arrive, ça restera ma plus belle collection. Bon week-end à tous !@LeTour
📷@Sigfrid Eggers pic.twitter.com/O33Hxsy6QK

— Julian Alaphilippe Officiel (@alafpolak1) July 26, 2019

HE'S READY

How did Nairo get strawberry jam down his jersey yesterday?

He spilled some from a gel sachet (looked like blood but wasn't).

nose bleed from being at the front of the race?

This is mental.

Yes!

Pinot stung by something?

Pinot :(

Knee injury two days ago which got worse last night, apparently.

When you see the press bikes circling like that....

Oh really? So sad. xp

Close-up shots of his emotional face. Poor guy.

Commentary said he banged his knee two days ago and was suffering with it yesterday.

This is brutal to watch ;_;

He's crying on his bike... :(

Gah </3

jesus

so sad

when he put his arm round his teammate.... caught in my throat

Heartbreaking

Pete Kennaugh is not taking this very well.

😢 It’s over for Thibaut Pinot who suffers too much. Extremely sad.

😢 C’est fini pour @ThibautPinot qui souffre trop pour continuer. Un moment très difficile pour lui et son équipe.#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/qr7Bab0iPk

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 26, 2019

Heart breaking :'(

pinot out alaphilippe gonna lose the maillot jaune it looks like, shit day for the french

oof pinot :(

boring old Ineos win after all.

poor Pinot, it seemed more likely he'd win than Ala.

Fantastic stage so far. Flip cracked but isn't rip.

If Kruiswijk misses out on the podium by 2 secs it's because he forgot to cross the line as second on the L'Iseran ;_;

Hail and rain ahead!

holy shit there's hail

Flip is going to catch up w/ Thomas and Kruiswijk isn't he o_O

They're plowing snow 😅

* stage neutralized *

Race neutralised with the gaps at the top of the iseran!

they're canceling the stage!!!!

Well.

so flip loses the tour just like that

RIP Tour

would never have happened in 1920

!!!!!!!

xp or in the Giro where Kruiswijk crashed into s wall of snow...

WTH

should have taken times at bottom of tigne- gone for full french conspiracy narrative

if the road is unridable, one can walk through the snow, I'd say :P

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_960w/2010-2019/Wires/Images/2016-07-14/Reuters/2016-07-14T151914Z_01_JPP05_RTRIDSP_3_CYCLING-TOUR.jpg&w=1484

this will most definetely save Ala's podium (and thus Kruiswijk and Buchmann were robbed)

this feels very 2019.

daaamn that rainbow jacket for piti, it is proper.

You can’t have a bike race if everyon isn’t clear on where the bike race ends.

— Cyclocosm.com (@Cyclocosm) July 26, 2019

global warming kills bike event.

Havoc at @LeTour. Landslide on the course is causing traffic to turn around. #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/nKeoXxHIPt

— The Cycling Podcast (@cycling_podcast) July 26, 2019

why not just annul the entire stage

^this

Shots with the bulldozer !

i'm furious

Why?

Calling it off was the right thing to do, no? Shortening a stage/ending early isn't exactly a novelty in cycling iirc.

def call it off, but as cosmo noted above, a race with a secret finish line isn't much of a race. neutralize the whole stage imo

yes - juju could have gone further into red on iseran eg

but could also have won back time in the descent..

make finish line bottom of tigne potentially a compromise

Bike racing absolutely *requires* a fixed end point that everyone agrees upon before the start, and knows about ahead of time. It does not work otherwise.

— Cyclocosm.com (@Cyclocosm) July 26, 2019

anyway cosmo otm

eh, i disagree. the circumstances dictated an intervention, and i think that's a fair method to account for an act of god for participants relative to each other. i wouldn't care if they annulled it either, but cutting at the penultimate climb is not meaningfully worse to me. cthulhu wanted it this way.

usually stages get shortened beforehand, when conditions are expected to be bad. One thing they might have done better in this particularly - quite unique case - is announce DURING the stage, that the finish was at the top of the HC climb. I mean bad weather was on the way, commentators were talking about it, even before it really got muddy and messy.

and by during i meant of course before the summit was reached. Maybe Alaphilippe was saving energy for the descent, maybe Kruiswijk was saving energy for the last climb etc.

a) remove entire stage that favors certain rider groups in favor of current mj, and not to be replaced with an equivalent additional opportunity
b) truncate stage at point in which participants may be said to have maximally placed themselves in advantageous positions, visavis remaining parcours

relative to the ultimate outcome of the tdf, i think b) actually is favorable. it does not prove who would have had what times had the stage run fully to its conclusion. iow cosmo is correct as to his point, incorrect as to whether his preferred course of action best or even most fairly simulates an uninterrupted stage or tdf.

annul thread

More drama.. reporter is Dag Otto Lauritzen pic.twitter.com/IoOC4rpwIL

— Trond Iversen (@trondiversen) July 26, 2019

annul thread

― im led by donky (||||||||), Friday, July 26, 2019 9:48 AM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

mr stark i don't feel so goo.....

i remember dag otto was just a dude on 7 eleven

winning the most maga bike race evurrrr
https://images.app.goo.gl/BGBVpuMVdrqwXqvD7

"There are no winners."

Tour jury today composed of Martin Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietsche.

Official communique titled "Being and Time" and simply reads: "Temporality temporalizes as a future which makes present in the process of having been." https://t.co/Ue1c05Vvtg

— joelindsey (@joelindsey) July 26, 2019

you thought lindsey went to boulder for cycling but NOPE, he's just another leftover naropa washout

Stage 20 route change, landslide blocks the Cormet de Roselend. Route could still start in Albertville but take main valley road to Moûtiers, skipping Cormet and the Col du Tra https://t.co/qv72ccFKJ0

— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 26, 2019

so *just* vals thorens, then? this finish could be bonkers

After taking off from Albertville, the stage will go on the N90 road to head directly to Moutiers and then go on the initial end of stage at the N90 – D915 roundabout, 36kms from the finish.
The start will be given in Albertville at 14:30 for a total distance of 59kms.

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 26, 2019

59km!!!! everyone is just gonna go full gas the whole time

also absolutely no way the GC changes imo

Well this is nuts. (Still if it has to be Ineos I'm all about Bernal, who is far more interesting to me than Thomas.)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EAbM_IYXoAEXqjy?format=jpg&name=medium

what a disastrous ending of a great Tour.

i know i'm ignorant about what is actually possible, but i'm disappointed that this is the best they can do to test the attributes the course was hoping to test. To the extent that greater flexibility and time seems possible with a day of warning, i'd hope for more. but at least the racers "know the start and finish," and the hot-takers can chill out on that.

After some reflection, I think ASO made the right decision

It’s definitely vexing to have lost so much of the parcours but I don’t think there is anything else that could be done. The tour is just too big a ship to turn on a dime.

holy fuck u guys

💥Tour💥de💥France💥

i thought Pinot was the height of drama but shit is topsy turvy af now

no new posts says it all. Disappoint stage and tour end. Both Ala and Pinot deserved to win it, but didn't. Ineos had an unimpressive Tour, yet they can finish 1 & 2. The gap is widening, especially since Egan Bernal might be the new Top Guy for yeaaaars to come.

the top 4 GC has not won a stage. o_O

no post from me meant = i love the tour but i love sleep more and am ok not watching it live lol

it was a weird stage but despite that i wasnt bored or disappointed really. didnt end quite as excitingly but still enjoyable

liked seeing Nibali get a win though it looks like it took his entire being to do it, and Bernal is so throughly delighted by the outcome i like seeing him in yellow.

poor ala tho - a stage of only climbing was just too much to bear. but: it puts double gas in his tank for next year to come back and try to smoke everyone again

I watched a replay with a sense of obligation and it. Seemed. To. Take. For. Ever. Good for nibali, and bernal, but the jackhammer enforcement of the current order yup it sucked. he good tho. panache aint makin it.

No stage wins in top 4 is bad for stage racing imo.

That was a disappointing end to a great tour, but I felt last weekends always are a let down. The loss of Pinot as the last person with possibly everything to gain and the loss of the parcours just made it doubly so. Jumbo did what they had to do to get Kruiswijk non the podium. I wish Ineos had gone for the win but they weren't going to risk it. Great ride from Nibali although it seem like no-one was interested in chasing him down apart from Yates.

There's talk off Dumolin going to Jumbo, Ineos seem weaker and FDJ seem like strong outfit. At least we might see duelling mountain trains next year.

To make things more interesting we could have a sweepstake on which Dane is going to lamp Brad Wiggins on the Champs Elysée.

Yeah, disappointing end to a fun tour. Bernal will be eligible for the white jersey for three more years lol

Hope Pinot can get a better team for next year. With Dumoulin off to Jumbo and Ineos no doubt strengthening themselves that will be interesting. Also what will lol Movistar do?

My money is on Kristoff today.

Ineos no doubt strengthening themselves

Assuming Froome returns and wants that fifth, then having three people on the team with overall GC wins under their belts actively going for it...doesn't strike me as the healthiest dynamic.

was a bit down on it after this weekend’s shenanigans but on reflection it has been some tour. it’s often been overshadowed by the giro in recent years - nice to get a reversal of that dynamic this year

chapeau bernal

he’s already on his second glass of champagne - might not want to count those chickens just yet

lmao at sagan

http://www.leparisien.fr/resizer/SO9v5YyY8KfCWc0hKk8EcSaAZGw=/932x582/arc-anglerfish-eu-central-1-prod-leparisien.s3.amazonaws.com/public/6YA33QOMCK5MZCHN6A775DCBOM.jpg

nice photo - bardet watching virenque in 1996

think wiggo is pished - he's just said "wegelius had a massive cigar like hannibal lecter from the A team" and team ineos are "handing out the shit lidl champagne"

lmao at sagan

The real winner.

https://video.eurosport.com/cycling/tour-de-france/2019/tour-de-france-2019-video-we-need-to-hydrate-before-paris-peter-sagan-gets-the-beers-in_vid1225354/video.shtml

Ewan ftw!! Killer finish. Also lol @ Groenewegen’s death stare seconds later

And this pic is everything <3

Colombia mijitos 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/OPVkClPJRV

— Rigoberto Urán ЯU (@UranRigoberto) July 28, 2019

😂

Celebrating @CalebEwan victory with chips. pic.twitter.com/VlSKYKKhBv

— Thomas De Gendt (@DeGendtThomas) July 28, 2019

last one

King Julian throwing deep shade in Kruijswijk’s direction

*typo in the tweet: that = than

Alaphilippe: "Honestly I prefer to win 2 stages, dress yellow on 14/7 and win the super-combatif prize that end 3rd doing nothing all the Tour" #TDF2019

— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) July 28, 2019

genuinely couldn’t pick steven “no palmares” kruisjwijk put from a crowd :/

out*

uran flew bernal's little brother over to join his parents, w/out bernal knowing ? class

omg

❤️rigo❤️

you guys, this is the cutest - sweet little Thibaut Pinot in 1997

Thank you to the brilliant @GDiGrazia for sharing this with me: at 44 seconds you’ll find a little boy, his name is @ThibautPinot - 🥰💔 https://t.co/8V6l2jkO3c

— David Millar (@millarmind) July 27, 2019