Tour de France on TV

Author: Alex

  • Greg Van Avermaet’s only the Olympic champion

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    Alex
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    At the start of this year, you’d have had Greg Van Avermaet down as a nailed-on certainty for an Olympic silver medal. Or maybe fourth, actually – that’s the Olympic version of just missing out. But things change. Van Avermaet won the Omloop. He won a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico and then got to play air…

  • Lizzie Armitstead emerges with a nice grey sheen

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    I’ve been covering Lizzie Armitstead’s racing triumphs semi-regularly over the last year, so it only seems fair that I also report on her legal triumphs. If you haven’t seen the news, Armitstead has not been banned. That might not seem like such a triumph, but there was actually a very real threat of it. The…

  • Bauke Mollema gets some sort of consolation at Clasica de San Sebastian

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    That post-Tour de France review of mine never really happened, did it? My week of sloth means I sort of feel obliged to report on the latest WorldTour (no space) race, the Clasica de San Sebastian, which took place yesterday. A race being part of the WorldTour (no space) is not necessarily a guarantee of…

  • Andre Greipel holds his bike in the air in celebration

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    Greipel wins! Take that, pedals! For a Tour de France that has at times felt surprisingly familiar, there was one last thing to tick off. Since 2008, Andre Greipel has won at least one stage in every Grand Tour he’s entered. He left it late this year. Indeed, it wasn’t until the very moment that…

  • 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
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    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…

  • Peter Sagan again after Tony Martin again

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    Alex
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    The peloton sustained an outrageous speed in the opening hours of racing. This was because it was pursuing Tony Martin. Martin does this fairly regularly, usually as a kind of unofficial training ride. The finest example was in the 2013 Vuelta when he rode alone all day and almost won. It seems to be how…

  • Jarlinson Pantano – quite possibly the Tour de France’s greatest-ever Jarlinson

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    Alex
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    If you’re wondering what makes an appropriate day for a breakaway, it’s on stages where drafting is of least benefit. On the flat, air resistance is the main thing slowing you down, whereas on a mountain day, gravity and self-preservation come to the fore. When that’s the case, drafting plays less of a part. On…