Author: Alex
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Undroppable Geraint Thomas | the 2018 Tour de France final week recap
Yellow jersey contenders Green jersey contenders Week one recap Week two recap Final week recap Geraint Thomas didn’t really concede any time, to anyone, at any point. This is a good and effective way of winning a Tour de France. Julian Alaphilippe stays on the Pyrenean roads Stage 16 saw the race enter the Pyrenees…
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Geraint Thomas wins the Alpine leg | 2018 Tour de France week two recap
Yellow jersey contenders Green jersey contenders Week one recap Week two recap Final week recap If the Alpine leg were a solid object, it would presumably be a bodily appendage made out of cheese. But I don’t mean that. I mean the three key Tour de France stages that took place in the Alps. Into…
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A sprinter’s view of the mountains as Mark Cavendish fails to make the time cut
When Mark Cavendish finished stage 11 of this year’s Tour de France, they were clearing the barriers away. Podium ceremonies had been and gone and the new yellow jersey, Geraint Thomas, was busy doing a press conference. Cavendish was way outside the time cut, he knew he was way outside the time cut, but he…
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Greg Van Avermaet exploits curt climbs, cobbles and crash avoidance | The 2018 Tour de France week one recap
Yellow jersey contenders Green jersey contenders Week one recap Week two recap Final week recap Week one is best divided into the green story and the yellow story. Let’s deal with the green story first (because that’s the order I arbitrarily put them into in that previous sentence). The green story (the points classification) The…
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Dig out your giant inhaler, clamber into your mankini and brace yourself for the first week of the Tour de France
Warm your croissants, break out the cheese, crack open a bottle of Corbieres and ask yourself what the hell kind of meal is this? The answer is: it’s not a meal; it’s the first week of the Tour de France. All that’s happening is that I’m randomly listing stereotypical French things in a forlorn bid…
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Get to know the main contenders for this year’s Tour de France
Yellow jersey contenders Green jersey contenders Week one recap Week two recap Final week recap Who’s going to win this year’s Tour de France? I dunno, but here’s some people who might. I’ve taken the innovative step of categorising the contenders this year. The categories are these: Grand Tour winners Nearly-men Big names with no…
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Who will win the green jersey? A handful of points competition contenders for the 2018 Tour de France
Yellow jersey contenders Green jersey contenders Week one recap Week two recap Final week recap Peter Sagan failed to win the points competition (here’s what that is) at last year’s Tour de France because he got chucked off the race. The five years before that, he won it every time. It’s quite a challenge to…
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How in holy hell did Chris Froome win? | The 2018 Giro d’Italia final week wrap
2018 Giro d’Italia contenders The first rest day wrap The second rest day wrap The third rest day wrap Final week wrap The great thing about doing these Giro updates weekly is that it keeps a great deal of my daily wrongness safely out of sight. The final week brought many surprises, not least of…
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Will Simon Yates ever tire? | The third 2018 Giro d’Italia rest day wrap
2018 Giro d’Italia contenders The first rest day wrap The second rest day wrap The third rest day wrap Final week wrap It was a funny sort of week. The nondescript stages were the big stages, while the big stage was dramatic but ultimately somewhat misleading. An early start The week started in bizarre fashion…
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Let’s rank Simon Yates and the other climbers | The second 2018 Giro d’Italia rest day wrap
2018 Giro d’Italia contenders The first rest day wrap The second rest day wrap The third rest day wrap Final week wrap We’re nearly halfway through this year’s Giro d’Italia, but most of the serious racing is still to come. If we’re trying to pick out a potential winner, we need to find someone who…