Tour de France on TV

Tag: Yellow

  • Stage five: Fabio Aru is no muppet

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    Alex
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    It was a day for the breakaway big hitters. When he’s not at the front of the break, trying to ride everyone off his wheel with a complete absence of subtlety, Thomas de Gendt is at the front of the peloton, chasing it down. Without him, you wonder where the Tour de France would actually…

  • Stage one: Geraint Thomas has the power

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    Alex
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    The Tour de France is underway! Rumour has it they considered starting with a bang but instead decided to go with a time trial in Germany. It sort of makes sense. Frying some onions isn’t particularly exciting in itself, but it’s nevertheless the starting point for any number of delicious dishes. Similarly, a 14km time…

  • Who will win the 2017 Tour de France? Yellow jersey contenders

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    Alex
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    The Tour de France starts on Saturday. Someone’s going to win the overall. Who? Let’s take a look at the runners and riders. Chris Froome – Team Sky The only runner in this list hasn’t been his usual dominant self of late, winning all of no-races-whatsoever so far this season. He’s still the man to…

  • Jarlinson Pantano never knows when he’s beaten

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    Alex
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    Or maybe he does. Maybe he worked it out at the finish when he came second. Jarlinson Pantano was dropped at least three times on the final climb by Julian Alaphilippe. Each time he hauled his way back. Eventually he grew weary of being weary and returned the favour by attacking Alaphilippe. Shortly after, Vincenzo…

  • Romain Bardet stays upright – Chris Froome doesn’t

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    Alex
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    The only thing falling harder than the rain was the riders. Grand Tour cycling is athletically and mentally tough, but the possibility of crashing is an additional brutality that occasionally rises to unwelcome prominence. Chris Froome was one who fell, his front wheel apparently growing weary of traction. It would take too long to list…

  • Chris Froome is slightly further ahead

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    Alex
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    This is, increasingly, what the Tour de France amounts to. You should never, ever discount a twist in the mountains, but if there is a script, the final time trial stuck to it. I’ve not much to report really. Chris Froome won; Tom Dumoulin was a very respectable second; Fabio Aru and Richie Porte were…

  • Everyone goes past Nairo Quintana

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    Alex
    in

    Many have wondered when we might finally get a devastating Nairo Quintana attack in the mountains. The answer, you’d assume on today’s evidence, is never. The not famously selfless Alejandro Valverde will be livid. Just 18 seconds behind his team-mate at the start of the day, he launched a ‘softening up’ attack on the final…

  • Tom Dumoulin wins another thing (a time trial, specifically)

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    Alex
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    Wasn’t even close. Tom Dumoulin finished 1m03s ahead of Chris Froome in second and 1m31s ahead of Nelson Oliveira in third. The gaps stretched out from there. It was Dumoulin’s second stage of the race after that one in Andorra the other day. Adam Yates, Nairo Quintana and Richie Porte were all about three minutes…

  • Chris Froome running towards the finish line halfway up Mont Ventoux

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    Alex
    in

    Crowd knobheads have given us many memorable moments in the Tour de France, but surely few can rival the sight of Chris Froome, in the yellow jersey, running up Mont Ventoux with no bike anywhere in shot. Someone – or more likely a great many people – got in the way of one of the…

  • Sagan! Crosswinds! Echelons! Magic!

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    Alex
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    Echelons! Was ever there a finer spanner flung gleefully into the works of a predictable bike race? Crosswinds are always fun. When a race splits into pieces on flat roads, all bets are off. It happened in 2013 and it was magical. This year, the insanity wasn’t quite so prolonged, but it was every bit…