Tour de France on TV

Author: Alex

  • Who won the Dauphiné? Contador or Froome?

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    Er, it was Andrew Talanksy, actually. How the hell did that happen? It was down to an unusually sizeable break. 23 riders got away from the peloton early on, including several riders who were within a minute or so of the race lead. Talansky was among them – which was surprising being as he was…

  • Alberto Contador won’t fade away

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    Meaning two things. One, he’s resurgent this year. Two, if he’s not leading a stage race, he’ll be snapping at whoever is leading until the very last day, like a yappy little dog with a Napoleon complex. Contador finally gained the Dauphiné lead on stage seven. As Sky reached the end of their protracted mountain…

  • Jurgen Van Den Broeck’s back

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    As in ‘returned’. He hasn’t got ankylosing spondylitis or anything. This is by far the most exciting aspect of the Dolphin (Dauphiné) from my perspective. I’ve written about Jurgen Van Den Broeck before, but you’ve probably forgotten, because being forgotten is very much Jurgen Van Den Broeck’s defining characteristic. The Belgian’s twice finished fourth in…

  • The biggest names in the Dolphin

    —

    by

    Alex
    in ,

    With respect to the bairns of this year’s Giro, it wasn’t the most stellar field. Nairo Quintana is a big name, but once Joaquim Rodriguez had pulled out, he was racing against riders we were all fairly certain were inferior. You can quibble with that and point to Rigoberto Uran, but I’d say he merely…

  • Nairo Quintana can cycle up a mountain

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    I suppose we knew that anyway, but the fact has been driven home in the last two days with Quintana proving himself the strongest Grand Tour rider in the race by some margin. Stage 19 There’s something very satisfying about a cronoscalata – an uphill time trial. It’s the bare bones of road cycling laid…

  • The slide of Cadel Evans

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    Sadly, I’m not talking about a cool plastic chute affixed to the side of his houseboat. Cadel’s on the wane. Slowly, but perceptibly, he’s on the way out – in this race and from cycling. But first, stage 17, which I didn’t report on yesterday. King of the nutcases takes a proper win I’ve written…

  • Nairo Quintana definitely did something

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    Prepare yourselves for enthusiastic-yet-vague coverage because I totally missed this stage and YET IT SOUNDS AMAZING. Nairo Quintana has definitely recovered. He appears to have smashed the Giro to smithereens, finishing 4m11s ahead of previous race leader, Rigoberto Uran. That time gap again – 4m11s. It was snowy. It was dangerous. There was a suggestion…

  • Domenico Pozzovivo has a cold

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    The idiot. As if he’s not handicapped enough by his near-endless list of shortcomings, he’s only gone and got himself ill as well. This wasn’t the plan. The plan was to strike out in the mountains as if being chased by ravenous hounds who have a taste for the blood of short-arsed southern Italian economists…

  • Get down off that float Rigoberto

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    Rigoberto Uran can clamber down off his pink float because this Giro ain’t going to be no procession. We got a strong taste of mountains today and some enjoyed that flavour rather more than the race leader. He didn’t exactly make a lemon face and spit, but nor did he look too keen to dive…

  • The day the sprint teams couldn’t really be arsed

    —

    by

    Alex
    in

    I said that stage 13 was likely to be a sprint finish and it should have been. The problem was that the teams with sprinters in them all dicked about. There was a break – there’s always a break – but this time it wasn’t chased down. Each of the sprint teams tried to leave…