Category: Tour de France
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Marcel Kittel wins stage but loses hair gel
Not everything’s going Marcel Kittel’s way. Big disaster at the airport in London: my hair gel did not make it through the security check… 😛 — Marcel Kittel (@marcelkittel) July 7, 2014 But other than that, he’s having a fine old time. Kittel notched his second win out of the three British stages in London,…
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Vincenzo Nibali enjoys the terrain
The various jerseys of the Tour de France serve a valuable and underappreciated purpose. No-one can identify with a genre of cyclists, but give us an individual and we can empathise. Take Marcel Kittel, for example. At the end of stage one, he proved himself to be the fastest cyclist in the biggest bike race…
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Mark Cavendish and his oddly bouncy skeleton
The people of Yorkshire followed the script, lining the route like yellow human fencing. Jens Voight followed the script, getting into the day’s break, despite being 42 and there being little chance of success. He’s not unduly troubled by petty concerns like that. The peloton followed the script, racing into the finish in Harrogate at…
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Harrogate to Leeds – is stage one of the Tour de France really flat?
Stage two is probably the more interesting day in and of itself, but stage one has something going for it other than Le Grand Kerfuffle of the race simply getting underway – it’s quite a decent primer for the points competition. It’s down as being a flat stage, so you expect them all to ride…
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Yellow jersey contenders in 2014
Who’s going to win this year’s Tour de France? Probably one of these guys and most likely one of the first two. But plenty can happen over the course of a Grand Tour. Just think what you were doing three weeks ago. Okay, it was probably much the same, but you almost certainly aren’t operating…
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Green jersey contenders in 2014
Last year, I named just three contenders for the green jersey – awarded to the winner of the points competition. Peter Sagan, Mark Cavendish and André Greipel promptly finished first, second and third respectively. This year there’s a bit more uncertainty and I’m going to give you six names. The first three are out-and-out sprinters.…
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Team Sky are not British
They are in one sense, in that they have their roots in British Cycling and have their main base at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester. But in a more meaningful sense – from my perspective – they’re not, because they have fewer and fewer British cyclists. The Britishness increasingly seems like a branding exercise.…
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2014 Tour de France stage two profile
Just to let you know that my stage two preview now includes links to the profile. I mention this largely because it’s funny to see the Franglais. Highlights include: Cote de Blubberhouses Cote de Holme Moss Cote de Jenkin Road I love a stage profile at the best of times, but this is one of…
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Wiggins, Froome and Grand Tour fitness
You can ride hard one day and then feel good enough to ride hard again the next day or you can ride hard one day and then need to spend the next day on the sofa drinking tea, eating sandwiches and moaning like one of the undead each time you get up. That’s Bradley Wiggins’…
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The Schlecks are riding the Tour de France
The Trek Factory Racing team have announced that both The Schlecks (Frank) and The Schlecks (Andy) will be riding the Tour this year. As far as I can tell, the reasoning seems to be ‘because we haven’t really got anybody else’. Frank’s selection is fair enough. He has shown mediocre form all season long and…