I know it's innocent, but Bernal's comment about Froome sounds savage, "In the Vuelta, who knows, maybe I can go there to try and help Froomey."

Looks like its going to be my 1st TDF not supporting Ineos/Sky.

Just the opposite for me. I like Bernal, and I like pulling for the underdog. This is the first time in a while that Ineos as been (just barely) an underdog.

Edit: Well, I don't exactly be supporting them, but at least not actively rooting against them.

I was happy for Wiggins in 2012. But since then, it was like having the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Anyone but them.

Here's hoping everyone is recovered from their recent crashes and sore backs. Should be a good TdF this year.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Stocking but not too surprising. Neither rider was even close to competitive, or even helpful, at the Dauphiné. My guess is it took one glance at the power file, heart rate, and a trip to the bathroom scale to decide that Froome and Thomas wouldn’t be ready for the Tour.

The really interesting thing will be whether Carapaz can be effective at the Tour. He is coming back from a crash and was targeting the Giro until maybe last week. Kuss was a last minute replacement for Jumbo at last year’s Giro and he wasn’t effective at all. No idea what will happen with Carapaz.

The other interesting thing would be to know what ISN are thinking. They have invested bigly in Froome and a supporting cast. Maybe they should have focused on poaching George Bennett.

Here is hoping George gets over his stitches. For years he hasn't been able to express his top end power because of these stitches. Some surgeries were done as well. Hopefully that is gone. Funny arse and good at sport and for sport.

As a kiwi, it's good to see George Bennett back on form. He's had some extremely exciting races this year, start with NZ Elites, when he went on a big breakaway 80 or so kms out, then solo 50kms out, and then was mowed down by Shane Archbold in sight of the finish line.

Steven Kruijswijk posted that he will NOT be recovered/healed from his crash. Hoping to recover enough to focus on Giro--seems to be another theme developing in this 're-start' compressed schedule-out of TDF but hoping to get better for Giro...

Bernal is a cool dude...

Glad to see Froome going to a dif GT... He and G looked really out GT shape during the Dauphin. Now Ineos is taking a young team with some in shape leadership to the tdf, it could be interesting because even that Jumpo has the better team on paper Ineos know how to win... all that experience matters

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Van Aert with the Belgian TT Champs. What a monster. That horsepower will come in handy for JV at le Tour.

word.

Jungle Bob just won his 6th straight Lux TT title. not too shabby.

No idea what they were thinking; probably not much. Since yesterday, it's probably thinking: oh f***, we've turned into cycling's version of Major League Soccer, a retirement destination for washed up have-beens


and rolling breaks at Paris Roubaix

I really hope it'll still go on as planned; doesn't look good right now for France and Italy...

Not only won but beat Campanaerts by :30.

Too bad Remco wasn't there. Would have been cool to see him go head to head with Wout.

With any luck we'll have about 10 years of that coming.

AG2R-Citroen looking good for '21 with the Classics squad they've assembled now!




Last year Campenaerts was way off due to his hour record attempt and trying to win a Giro TT, but Wout beat Remco by over half a minute last year. Too bad Wout can't go to the iTT Worlds, I'd love to see him go head to head with 'The Rohan'.

Edit: Nathan van Hooydonck going to Jumbo-Visma, from CCC. Another workhorse/decent TT'er.

Who knows, that largely depends on when, where and if the worlds are held.

And no Cavendish.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-no-mark-cavendish-as-bahrain-mclaren-go-all-in-for-landa/

He didn't look like having much of a shot at winning any stages, especially given this year's route. But I'll miss the discussions of how and where he finished on the sprint stages and whether or not he was going to make the time cut on the climbing stages.

I figure he'll be retired by the end of this year, if not sooner.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Cavendish dropped on the way to the start line. Again. Think sun has set.

Makes sense, especially with this year's route. But Landa did not really look the part of legit contender last week. Looking at their start list, much more impressive support then I realized. Maybe him vs. Pinot for last step podium?

Ha. We were covering the same story at the same time.

The only counter argument I suppose is with other big names opting out, he may have actually pulled off one more win. I'm sure they could have swapped out Valls for him.

As much as I would like to see Cav at the Tour, you have to admit that at Wallonie last week he looked as slow and fat as I am. With only a one-year contract at Bahrain I am afraid we may have seen the last of Cav at the Tour. Maybe he can put something together at the later races So he isn’t forced to retire. Fingers crossed.

I think it'd be cool for him to go out like he came in - on the track. Do some 6-days. Have some fun.

Greipel is another legend, who, at 38, this might be his last year.

I thought I had seen the Greipel had already signed for next year.

That'd be cool. Greipel seems to have zero trouble converting to a domestique/rouleur. No ego. Unlike I imagine Froome would if Froome can't get back to 100%.