Tour de France on TV

Author: Alex

  • It’s a good job Vincenzo Nibali has tooth skin

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    Alex
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    Because that’s the amount by which he’s retained the lead in this year’s Vuelta. It’s not looking good for Vince Nibbles. He tried to follow Chris Horner on stage 18’s final climb, the Pena Cabarga, but couldn’t. Nor could any of the other main contenders and the middle-aged American now hovers just three seconds away…

  • Domenico Pozzovivo doesn’t like abanicos – add them to the list

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    You can always count on crosswinds to make a race pleasingly scrappy. While stage 17 with its abanicos wasn’t anywhere near as compelling as the Echelons! stage of this year’s Tour, it still did some damage. Not entirely unsurprisingly, the day’s biggest loser was Domenico Pozzovivo. I mean that he was the biggest loser in…

  • Looking forward to the Tour of Britain?

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    Alex
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    I certainly have been doing. If that sounds like weird grammar, it’s meant to reflect the fact that I’ve spent quite some time producing an unexpectedly comprehensive preview of the Tour of Britain. It kind of got away from me a little bit, so I’ve spread it over several pages. I’ve covered TV coverage, the…

  • Warren Barguil claims a slice of the 2013 Vuelta

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    When he won the other day Warren Barguil was just some rider who I hadn’t really heard of. When he won again today, it seemed more meaningful. Now he was ‘that bloke who won the other day’. It was a cracking win too. The bit that impressed me wasn’t when he opened a lead on…

  • How’s Tom Boonen’s perineum?

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    It’s not great. But at least it’s improving. “It’s going in the right direction. The skin around my perineum has grown back but now I have to let it recuperate. I tried a couple of times to ride for an hour but it’s better that I save myself now and the skin grows strong again.…

  • Nicolas Roche makes a move

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    Alex
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    Mountain stage tactics usually revolve around little beyond being fitter and more spindly than everyone else, but Nicolas Roche and Team Saxo-Tinkoff actually did something slightly more interesting than that on stage 15. It wasn’t a move that was particularly devilish in its complexity, but it worked reasonably well. Basically, they stuck someone in the…

  • Vincenzo Nibali is impervious to bad weather

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    After winning a snow-hit Giro, Vincenzo Nibali was at it again on stage 14 of the Vuelta. And by ‘it’ I mean ‘cycling along not really being too bothered by the weather’. It wasn’t a day of attacks. It was a day of sadly and mournfully ticking off riders as they ebbed off the back…

  • Sprinters at the Vuelta

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    The Vuelta seems to be carving a niche for itself as the Grand Tour that can’t really be bothered with sprinters. Summit finishes are everywhere, but even the flat stages tend to end with an uphill run. If not, they have a near-wall deposited in the middle to weed out anyone who can’t climb. This…

  • Oh look, Philippe Gilbert’s turned up

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    Alex
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    Someone needs to step in and turn the pages of Philippe Gilbert’s calendar for him. He keeps turning up five months late. Phil always aims for April and the hilly spring classics, but this year and last year it hasn’t been until the Vuelta that he’s won a race. Last year, that late season form…

  • Domenico Pozzovivo does an okay time trial

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    Alex
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    Better than okday, actually. This is big news. This is big, big news. Time trialling is most definitely not on the list of things that Domenico Pozzovivo does well. That list again: Climbing Somehow, the man they call Dr Pozzovivo winched his minuscule 53kg frame around the course faster than everyone bar Fabian Cancellara and…