Three weeks later, OK, maybe the race for yellow was done at 14K in Dusseldorf, but we had some great entertainment. This is where Cav, Sagan, Kittell were all gunning for glory:
8 laps of the Champs Elyeeses and Place de LaConcorde:
It is 30 years since Jeff Pierce took the first American win on the Champs:
Then I THINK this was the only ITT to finish there when Lemond beat Fignon by 8 seconds overall:
And then you have Abdou trying to ride through a giant coke can in the sprint finish:
Nothing like a win from the bunch sprint.
…Greipel, Mathews, Degenkolb, Bossen Haagen, Bouhanni all chomping for this win
Any chance for a breakaway? Does Landa try to get his 1 second on Bardet for the podium? It has been an awesome 3 weeks. Thanks for playing along all over France to Paris. Its the closest thing to actually being in France for the race! Maybe next year I can be there and do these threads from France…that would be more fun!
chapeau, Paul, thank you for all of your threads, reports and commentary. I too want to be ‘over there’ riding and spectating. Maybe there is a ST Rendevous in the future.
hard to not pick Matthews for the sprint - and it will come down to a sprint!
I was just listening to the Stages podcast and George Hincapie cautioning that with the hard U turn the Champs guys can be riding the brakes into the U turn, while the riders heading out are cranked up to full speed (like 70 kph) and small gaps can easily open up. Bardet just has to make sure he he is in whatever group Landa is in!
I was actually planning to be in France this week riding at Jimmy Riccitello’s camp based near Alpe d’Huez, but I have had some complications with a disc/nerve injury that causes spasms in my left leg, so no proper riding, so not worth going over…hopefully by next year!
I’ve enjoyed all 21 of these posts. Thank you for spending the time doing them. Your write ups are better than the the stuff on the official le tour site!
I think Edvald is currently the fastest guy, but I don’t think he does enough field sprint/lead out train work with him as the designated sprinter. As such his positioning isn’t very good at the start of the sprint, though he may have the fastest Strava segment for the final 500m.
I am going to guess that more than any other stage, this sprint on the wide flat road will favor a strong, traditional, lead out train.
Griepel hasn’t shown anything that looks remotely close to winning form, but I am going to go out on a limb and predict that the Lotto train will deliver him to victory. Confidis/Bouhanni are my super outsider pick.
If you ever get a chance to watch this stage in person it is astonishing. The Cobbles on the Champs are rough & the speeds this guys ride it at after 3 weeks is pretty crazy. Highly recommend it!
I was just listening to the Stages podcast and George Hincapie cautioning that with the hard U turn the Champs guys can be riding the brakes into the U turn, while the riders heading out are cranked up to full speed (like 70 kph) and small gaps can easily open up. Bardet just has to make sure he he is in whatever group Landa is in!
I was actually planning to be in France this week riding at Jimmy Riccitello’s camp based near Alpe d’Huez, but I have had some complications with a disc/nerve injury that causes spasms in my left leg, so no proper riding, so not worth going over…hopefully by next year!
Doesnt the clock for GC stop when they enhet champs? Or is that only when it Rains?
According to the hourly weather forecast, it is supposed to start raining as they pull into Paris, but the rain is supposed to stop before the finish. Does this change anyone’s predictions that a breakaway could stick against the sprinters?
I am sure that the riders would prefer if the time clock for gc neutralizes when they hit the cobbles on the Champs due to rain. As a fan, I don’t want the time clock neutralized, but on the flip side with the time neutralized and the GC teams having no need to keep the gap tight (especially AG2R) and stay glued to the sprinter to get “same time”, I think it opens up a chance for a longer range breakaway of 4-6 riders.
I posted this video of Jeff Pierce’s win from 30 years ago from a 9 man breakaway:
…which includes another one of Steve Bauer’s many second place finishes…it’s almost like Steve either had the Canadian attitude that 2nd is good enough or he was cursed by it…Americans and Chinese at least in business, it’s first or go home and don’t even play…cue to Taylor Phinney for a long range attack, building on his mom’s attack from LA84…fast forward to 1:08…Carpenter, Twigg, Canins, Longo :
"Can someone mail this video to Vaughters and get Taylor to watch it over and over and over "
Will do.
Taylor is currently planning his return to Boulder, where he will put on his sarong, tie up the man bun, eat gummy bears and listen to the new Radiohead album.
All of which is okay because he is a beast.
World Tour seems like a healthier place right now. Sure, there are cheaters and always will be. But overall, you’ve got the big money winning the tour the was it was supposed to, and Landa may move on and sign a big stinkin’ contract to take his shot elsewhere.
I would have loved to see Porte go. He looked to be ready to win it.
Cannondale already has the new sponsor name on the chamois (Oath) and a podium and a stage win. Not bad for the second tier guys. Sunweb has a great group, Bora too, but got hosed. Bo Hag got one, as did some other new guys. The French are coming on, the cheating Italian ethic of Diluca, et al has faded as has their pro racing. Katusha behaved themselves as did Astana. Aside from Sky controlling because they’re loaded, seems like all the teams had a decent shot somewhere along the line. the “boring” racing looked like clean racing. That’s GT racing.
You didn’t see the guys like Contador and Voeckler all of a sudden find the fountain of youth and go all ValVerde and what not. They did what they could do.
I give the French a a lot of credit for first, being clean relative to the pelotons of yesteryear and for running a really tight ship in the TdF, but Sagan was a huge mistake. No question. Nice to see their riders come up in the game.
Chris Froome is not fun to watch but he’s as tough as they come.
Agree, I enjoy watching it more these days when the riders seem human and can’t just lay down attack after attack every day. You can see they’re having to be much smarter about when they burn their matches.
Froome has been much more entertaining in previous years - putting in massive attacks on mountain finishes, attacking on descents, attacking with sprint groups in crosswinds, etc. He was pretty dull this year but that’s partly down to a route which gave him very little opportunity to gain time, and partly down to him being less dominant or at least holding back because he’s got the Vuelta at the back of his mind.
World Tour seems like a healthier place right now. Sure, there are cheaters and always will be. But overall, you’ve got the big money winning the tour the was it was supposed to, and Landa may move on and sign a big stinkin’ contract to take his shot elsewhere.
I would have loved to see Porte go. He looked to be ready to win it.
Cannondale already has the new sponsor name on the chamois (Oath) and a podium and a stage win. Not bad for the second tier guys. Sunweb has a great group, Bora too, but got hosed. Bo Hag got one, as did some other new guys. The French are coming on, the cheating Italian ethic of Diluca, et al has faded as has their pro racing. Katusha behaved themselves as did Astana. Aside from Sky controlling because they’re loaded, seems like all the teams had a decent shot somewhere along the line. the “boring” racing looked like clean racing. That’s GT racing.
You didn’t see the guys like Contador and Voeckler all of a sudden find the fountain of youth and go all ValVerde and what not. They did what they could do.
I give the French a a lot of credit for first, being clean relative to the pelotons of yesteryear and for running a really tight ship in the TdF, but Sagan was a huge mistake. No question. Nice to see their riders come up in the game.
Chris Froome is not fun to watch but he’s as tough as they come.
Thanks for all the threads Dev!
See you in 3 weeks for the Vuelta thread, my favorite Grand Tour, but I am not sure it will beat the Giro this year.
I give the TDF a 6 out of 10. Everyone gave us shit for saying it boring, etc…
In the end it kind of was. Very predictable. Lame they kicked out Sagan. Too many GC favorites out in the first stage/week.
If you watch a highlight video of Cavendish, he crashes a lot in the final sprints, and since he is so popular, he makes other riders look like the bad ones. Too much politics/Sky being too dominant/changes need to be made.
I think Froome can go on & win possible 2-3 more TDF’s.
I am going to enjoy watching Froome try & win the Vuelta. In recent years the classics have become my ultimate favorite, I am looking forward to San Sebastian this Saturday. This is all in my opinion. I love watching cycling, and will continue watching the TDF every year and pretty much every race in the year.
