Category: Tour de France
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Marcel Kittel’s back off holiday
Because that’s where he’s been, right? On the eighth of July, he’d won three out of four stages and then, on the 27th of July, he won a fourth. In between those times, he disappeared. I can only conclude that he had a fortnight in the Bahamas. What an oddly protracted sporting event the Tour…
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A French majority on the Tour de France podium
Chances are, if you’re into cycling, you’re not anti-French. I think most of us would consider having French riders finishing second and third in the Tour to be ‘a good thing’. Okay, you’d probably prefer someone from your own country to be standing somewhere on the podium, but failing that, it doesn’t do any harm…
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Ramunas Navardauskas finds his niche
The penultimate sprint stage of the Tour de France was no such thing. Lithuanian rider, Ramunas Navardauskas got away towards the end and held everyone off for the win. If you’re thinking to yourself ‘who is Ramunas Navardauskas?‘ he’s one of those riders who doesn’t particularly have a ‘thing’. He’s quite a big guy, which…
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Alejandro Valverde falls off the podium
He’s been tottering around these last few days, but on stage 18, Alejandro Valverde finally slipped. Now he’s lying in the dirt, clawing at the air and screeching the word ‘podium’ like Gollum. There was an unseemly rush to take his place. The French have been like queuing primary school children, all pressed up against…
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Rafal Majka emerges from the chaos
The chaos of a break and then another break from the break and then a further break from the main bunch. So many groups, all moving at different speeds. So many potential ramifications that it’s all but impossible to to keep up. And then order. Only after the finish line can a bike race truly…
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Michael Rogers and the ferocious French fight for third
You wonder what Michael Rogers could do if he didn’t have to spend the vast majority of his time dicking about towing Alberto Contador around. Free to do as he pleased in the Giro, he won two stages – one after attacking on a descent and then atop the mightily-steep and oddly-named Zoncolan. His first…
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Tour de France cryptic crossword
As compiled by Bert. Here’s a link to an Excel version that you can fill in and here are the answers, also in Excel format. In-depth stage 16 preview Big mountains.
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For once Jack Bauer needed just a few more seconds
Jack Bauer has never been afraid of doing a full day’s work. The Kiwi cyclist got in the break from the very start of stage 15, alongside Swiss rider, Martin Elmiger. No-one joined them and so the two of them were committed to an all-but-impossible day-long attempt to stay away from the peloton over flat…
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Rafal Majka having second thoughts about the Tour de France
Rafal Majka finished sixth in this year’s Giro. The Pole is 24, which is quite young for a Grand Tour contender because it literally takes years to build the endurance needed to properly tolerate three solid weeks of racing. Often, a rider around this sort of age will be put into a Grand Tour team…
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Richie Porte always has at least one bad day
After Chris Froome abandoned, the situation was presented by Sky as being an opportunity for Richie Porte to show what he can do. What Porte can do is have at least one really bad day during every Grand Tour. This seems to be a theme with Porte: un jour sans – a day without. Yesterday’s…