Tour de France 2014

Why does Sky seem weaker to you? I want to believe, no doubt, but they are pushing the highest wattages in the peloton, consistently.

Surely not because of the absence of Wiggins? For Froome he was just a burden.

Ps. Nibali's champ jersey wish awesome! Ridic jerseys are part of this whole sport!

They looked weak and disorganised at the dauphine, it wasn't the dominating performance we've come to expect. Porte especially seems a lot weaker than last year? Froome doesn't seem to do as well as say, Contador, without a train. I also think the rest of the peloton is getting better at not giving the sky train full reign. Look at how Talansky won the Dauphine that last stage was orchestrated chaos and both. Froome and Contador were left reeling.

Ps. Nibali's champ jersey wish awesome! Ridic jerseys are part of this whole sport!

^^ Truth. I'm kind of disappointed Lampre have toned it down a bit this year, but am also delighted with the Trek pinstripe.

I'm all for ridic jerseys, but the Italian jersey has pretty much always been a big fucking flag. Marc Madiot at FDJ won't even put the sponsors names on the French one. Heritage matters too.

2014 Italian National Jerseys

Wrong way

http://i59.tinypic.com/2j17us4.jpg

Right Way

http://i57.tinypic.com/9qa4g2.jpg

Also anyone else excited for La Course? Should make for some racing worth watching on the last day.

In the meantime there is 10 days of the Giro Rosa for the women to get through.

The BBC news has just shown a map with a straight dotted line from Leeds to Essex, and another from Essex to London.

They also interviewed people live in Leeds under a caption saying 'Central London'.

excited, as usual. know what lbi means about the sky team, but holding together against the assaults of fate (see this year's weak giro performance - not same team I know) can be tough. I've got a feeling contador will do it this year. the dauphiné was interesting in Froome and sky not being able to defend their lead.

I *do* like Froome too, prefer hím tó Wiggins, think he's a more exciting rider. here's hoping for an attacking race!

unfortunately I've got a friend visiting today who isn't a cycling fan so not sure how much of le depart I'll be able to watch.

Oh jeez, as the reporter tells us the race starts in Leeds and finishes in Paris, we are given a map of all of England and the northern third of France.

millar on itv team is f'ing great.

Yes! He's looking all of his 6'4" next to those two.

can't tell whether he's actually swallowing back disappointment after the sign-in interviews or whether it's just his usual awkward and intense mien.

I have both ITV and SBS on and Phil Liggett is talking about dry stone walls.

JENS IS ATTACKING :):):):)

my brother and I gave a yelp of delight when he jumped off the front.

relying on ilx for updates from about 13:10 on...

JENS <3 <3 <3

Pro-tip: the Cycling News Tour Tracker app is an amazing app to follow the tour live. And it's free!

Just gonna leave this here. Because I want to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=243BJu0zB50

^nostalgia bomb, always loved the way it turns into Frere Jacques right at the end
my friends are at the top of the next climb, exciting!

cheers lbi! dl-ing now.

Incredible crowds today - it looked amazing when they went up Buttertubs

Cavendish you absolute plonker! Headbutts Gerands and falls himself. He head butted Veelers last year. What a tool.

Didn't see the replay yet, but pretty sure he's out of the Tour.

Disgracefully stupid maneuver.

Froome in 6th for a good car position.

Did Cavendish really need the room on his left? Looks like he had more room to his right than Gehrens had on his left.

Gary Fisher ‏@Gary_Fisher 2m
@Cycletart @PunkassCG Cocquard HOOKED Gerro's handlebar! Down goes Gerro, taking out the Aggressor CAV.

Bit depressing from a British perspective that the two biggest names are probably out already: Wiggins not even selected (again) and I'd be amazed if Cavendish hasn't broken his collarbone.

The way I saw it, nobody would have gone down if it wasn't for the guy on Gerrans' left (Europcar?) and if nobody had gone down Cav would have been in trouble for use of head, but nobody was going to catch Kittel anyway.

dislocated shoulder apparently

some suggestion that coquard hooked gerro's bars, otherwise they all might've got through unscathed

daniel friebe hilariously bitchy about cofidis' useless turn at the front during the finale on the cycling podcast: "milram-esque"!

Cavendish:headbutting::Suarez:Biting ?

millar was very good on the itv cycling podcast, have heard the friebe one yet

some suggestion that coquard hooked gerro's bars, otherwise they all might've got through unscathed

That may well be true, but the root cause was that Cav was boxed in and was trying to force his way out with his head

So, another breakaway for Jensie today to defend his polka dots?

oh I agree NBS, just saying. I mean the road was curving to the right, coquard was right to be following that line.

so they planned that route so Cav could win the yellow in Harrogate and then

JENSIE: KING OF THE MOORS

how good is the tinkoff-saxo bottle carrying vest!!

hostilities have OPENED

wow Nibali, didn't think he'd hang on there

that was an astonishing stage. felt like a one-day classic at times, or a world championship. astonishing to see the top gc racers attacking each other.

Yeah, that was ace.

Frickin' amazing finish, the whole stage was a treat.

Happy for Nibali

Think Nibali hated his jersey so much he had to win this so he can swap it for the yellow.

you'd have to say he's picked a good time to break that winless streak!

good to see kwiatkowski there, he looked like the form had deserted him at the dauphine. might get some extra resources at his disposal now cav's gone home.

Aw, Kennaugh won today in the tour of Austria.

Arnoud Démare had diarrhea all day, so when he had to go just went in a spectators caravan.

Man, I was pedalling along with Bauer then.

Damn right, we all were.

really thought they were going to make it :(((

Boy we were all quiet this past week here, weren't we.

enjoyed seeing Vos the Boss racing earlier on
who was the last Frenchman on the podium? a doped-up-to-the-eyeballs Richard Virenque?

Yeah Ned. I've enjoyed myself but it's not been the same without a fight for yellow.

Still, a deserved winner and a great tour.

the race for the podium has actually been really good!

peraud is a great story I think, I read about him when he turned PRO after switching from MTBs and his struggles with getting comfortable riding in a bunch, playing a team role, etc. you'd assume he wouldn't have too many grand tours left, though he's pretty lightly-raced for a 37-y.o. due to the late switch.

good to see nibali win. no great love for Astana or Vino, but European cycling isn't the same without Italian cycling. great to see Peraud & young Pinot up there as well.

reasonable/decent Tour. kinda amusing 'everything' was decided in that Paris-Roubaix stage. (Contador wouldn't have crashed if Nibali hadn't put 2 minutes 'behind him')

it was good to see so many helpers get their chance to shine because their team's top rider was gone/crap.

Yeah, definitely. Interesting to see Richie Porte crash and burn too - I wonder how much use he'd have been to Froome.

I missed nearly all of the final week because I'm on holiday (ironically in France), but I managed to catch Nibali's stage win in the Pyrenees the other day (I started watching maybe two minutes before he caught and zoomed straight past Nieve). I'm pleased for him (assuming he's clean, which I'd say is probably but not definitely the case). Also pleased for the French. And also pleased that Sky managed absolutely fuck all. And relieved that unrepentant cheat Valverde dropped off the podium.

i do hope it's not the red sox winning the world series, but i do enjoy seeing deserved (afaict) french success at tdf.

Kind of bummed about La Course, not the race itself which was everything a women's race can be, attack attack attack right from the gun. Not that we got to see it. Despite it being on at a convenient time for Oz, it started too early and ended up being a minor side show. Not having a combined podium at the end diminished the race. La course should have been scheduled to finish just before the Men hit the champs so we didn't have to watch the parade from Evry.

How the last shot of the coverage should have looked

http://i62.tinypic.com/33zfh3q.jpg

Really thou, Lacourse should have started back in Harrogate or Continued on from the Giro Rosa, see stage 9 here

http://prowomenscycling.com/2014/07/14/video-stage-9-giro-rosa-2014/

All the other highlights are on that blog

As for the tour, great race, Nibali is a well deserved winner. I think he could have taken it over Contador. as for Froome, he may have had it in him to get to the podium but I Sky would have imploded all the same so I'm not sure if he'd have made it beyond third. Anyway, you win the race you get to race. Nibali didn't put a foot wrong all race, he was very canny and took time whenever he could, I'm not sure Contador could have made back enough after the Roubaix stage, it would have been close though.

Super stoked for what Pinot does next, I hope being the great French hope isn't too much for him. Being heated by Peraud was probably a good thing in that regard.

Also, second hand lolworthy moment. Greg Lemond asking Vino is he would ever support a women's team, only thing that would have made it more priceless would have been Astana BePink rolling into shot behind him.

Need to catchup on Greg LeMond's Eurosport work, it has apparently been highly amusing, a bit too ADD for TV. (Probably how I would be)

what i saw of lemondtv was just terrible. i'm actually quite sympathetic to him, but, man.

re nibali- love the way the guy races, great winner. thought any shit he got about last year's vuelta and worlds was bullshit. but then, i totally loved the way vino raced, and now they are linked. *shrug emoticon*

oh man not gonna lie I checked out after early on cuz I thought it was gonna be boring w/o real contention for the yellow

are there good stages to watch in retrospect?

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/jul/27/tour-de-france-2014-cycling-pictures#/?picture=443148015&index=0

i like this gallery

baden cooke rumor-mongering that froome started the race with the busted wrist from the dauphine crash! lordy.

gbx how many stages did u see before checking out - should check:

- s2 (mini northern classic)
- s5 (cobbles)
- s10 (belles filles finish)
- s14 (rafa majka winking @ camera)
- s15 (can the break stay away??)
- s18 (hautacam finish)

Is there a Way TdF 2015 thread? Can't find one...

Haven't seen one

i made one Tour De France 2015

Cool, thanks!