Froome climbs like mountain goat, Sky will keep riding super hard tempo like always, G might have harder time to stick with Froome. Nairo should feel at home, his Columian lungs are only breathing properly above 2500m ;). If French would have a stub at win, 2019 will favor their climbers, but they will not win anyway. I think this will be another boring Tour with Sky at the front.

If they want to mix it up, they should throw in marathon in stage 12th and 5k swim in stage 16 :) I would love to see them fighting for life:)

Or allow women to race with\in front\behind\ men for full 3 weeks, it would be way more entertaining.

I think the TDF stages look meh compared to last year. I don't see the Sky strangle being broken anytime soon. In fact, I think you might see Froom & Bernal on the podium. Dumolin should try and win the Giro.

It's one of the most climbing heavy races in recent history with three short climbing stages, one of which comes after ITT (looking at you, Yates). First week is lumpy and punchy with real GC days mixed in. So I don't know about "meh" compared to '18, which was on the boring side.

I'll agree TD should aim for Giro though.

I'd rather see them limit all 21 stages to <110km with at least 5 stages, flat ones included that are <65km. That would be explosive. But also impossible with marketing demands...

---

808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Initial reactions to the TDF route:


Only Stage 19 looks interesting out of the 3 "short" mountain stages. 14 and 20 look to be a procession to the final climb.
Obviously the route is designed to favor the Frenchmen, but since they can't outclimb Froomedog (yet), it doesn't really matter.
ASO are shooting themselves in the foot (IMO) by not giving us a route that provides a duel between Froomey and Tom D.
More mountain-top finishes is an improvement over previous years.
Nairo will once again be over-hyped coming in and will fail to reach the podium.
Yellow jersey after stage 6 will be Froome, Alaphillipe, or Yates.

I really wish they would have a proper length (at least one hour) time trial in the race. I am in favor of keeping the TTT as I think it's fun to watch. Maybe they could make it shorter in exchange for a longer ITT. Woudl like to see a true uphill ITT return soon - maybe up Ventoux, though that might be too hard logistically.

Rumours here suggest Thomas will target the Giro GC and a Tour double, with the focus being Giro. We had been hearing that Bernal would ride GC for the Giro, but with the release of the parcours for both races, he is now being favored for the Tour with Froome. The Tour certainly favours he and Froomey over Thomas.

I'd like to see Kona changed to Olympic distance to make it more explosive, with the swim shortened to sprint distance.

I hope I am wrong and it's a great tour. I thought the cobbles were a great addition last year (from a viewers perspective). I don't see any of the French riders making the podium, but I agree if it's going to happen, this is the best chance for a french rider to finish top 5.

I agree that the Sky train will not be broken up any time soon...but I don't think Dumoulin should be scared of Sky. He actually benefits from their style of hard tempo, leaving only the final few kms of a climb and the TTs to create overall GC time gaps. The question is simply when the last domestique pulls off for Sky, is Dumoulin better than Froome (or whoever their GC rider is)...and if he's not, can he at least stay close enough to make that time back up in the ITT(s)? I believe the Dumoulin is just entering his prime as a GC rider. Baring setback, injury or illness, I think 2019-20 is his time to shine, and I do believe that Sky will end up helping him do so inadvertently.

I’m just sad about the 2 opening stages of the tour since I love the classics. Could’ve been awesome, but it’s just meh.

No. Are you one of those who cheer when swims are cancelled? That would be like having only one ITT stage in the tour that is 5km long. it removes a vital piece of 'overall' testing of the winner.

---

808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Stage 1 starts in Brussells and covers some of the terrain featured in the Ronde.

Pretty sure his post was complete sarcasm...