Tour de France on TV

Category: Tour de France

  • Team Sky are not British

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    Alex
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    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.…

  • 2014 Tour de France stage two profile

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    Alex
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    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…

  • Wiggins, Froome and Grand Tour fitness

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    Alex
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    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’…

  • The Schlecks are riding the Tour de France

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    Alex
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    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…

  • Alberto Contador’s team for the Tour de France

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    Alex
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    Yesterday, I wrote that Alberto Contador was devoid of team-mates for most of the final stage of the Dauphiné and so Pierre wrote to ask: “Were they all just knackered from the previous day’s efforts or are they just going to be shit at the Tour de France?” The short answer is that Contador was…

  • The biggest names in the Dolphin

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    Alex
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    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…

  • Some of the key stages of the 2014 Tour de France

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    Alex
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    I’ve tried to work out which stages of this year’s Tour are likely to shape the general classification narrative. I say ‘narrative’ because while a later mountain stage might have a greater impact on the race as a whole, a few seconds snatched early on seem a lot more significant. Maybe it’s just the way…

  • The Yorkshire Tour de France climbs – a stage two preview

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    Alex
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    Stage two: York to Sheffield, 198km – Sunday, July 6 (stage profile) Britain. Proper Britain. This isn’t some half-arsed parade into the centre of London, but proper, harrowing, British cycling. Stage two of the 2014 Tour de France starts in Yorkshire and passes through the Peak District. It’s also long. Don’t be deceived by the…

  • Grand Tour contenders – who’s racing what in 2014

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    Alex
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    It’s a common misconception among casual followers of cycling that all the best riders compete in the Tour de France. This is, patently, bollocks. If the route doesn’t suit them, many riders will instead centre their efforts on the Giro or the Vuelta – often both (albeit with greater emphasis on the Italian race, which…

  • My highlights of the 2013 pro cycling season

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    Alex
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    The 2014 season starts on Sunday with the Tour Down Under, so here’s a somewhat overdue list of my highlights from 2013. It absolutely isn’t that I saved this as a draft months ago and kind of thought that I’d published it, but hadn’t. In no particular order… Adam Hansen’s Giro stage win I’m a…