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

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