Category: Tour de France
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Stage 16: Michael Matthews welcomes hills and crosswinds
Proof that the best way to beat Marcel Kittel in a sprint is to bin him long before the finishing straight. As I said before the race, the German tends to fade a bit as the days go by and he struggled on the first climb of the day. Seeing this, Michael Matthews’ Sunweb team…
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Froome and Aru play pass the yellow jersey | Second Rest Day Wrap
The Rest Day Wrap is an attempt to give an overview of where things stand in the Tour de France. It focuses on the general classification – which is the overall race – rather than stage wins. Preview First Week Wrap Second Week Wrap Final Week Wrap As the first week of the Tour de…
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Stage 14: Fabio Aru learns that the peloton is long
As cocky finishes go, Michael Matthews’ 50m long no-handed roll to the line was up there. Greg Van Avermaet couldn’t catch him even when he stopped pedalling – although the ghost of Peter Sagan had surely long since finished. The finish It’s worth watching the final kilometre, because bigger time gaps opened than on the…
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Stage 11: Marcel Kittel superior to the point of it becoming a bit boring
There are various levels of dominance. When results seem so predictable that no-one’s really interested any more, you really are on top. Marcel Kittel has now won five of the 11 stages at this year’s Tour de France. Speaking after the stage, he said: “Sometimes when you’re on your top level in the sprints, it’s…
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Stage 10: Marcel Kittel sticks with the obvious road to the green jersey
First up, a bit of green jersey housekeeping because I omitted a couple of pertinent developments from stage nine, what with focusing on the general classification and all. Most strikingly, Arnaud Demare, who was doing well in the points competition, is out of the race. He gave it everything to successfully make the time cut…
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Chris Froome still intact | First Rest Day Wrap
The Rest Day Wrap is my attempt to give an overview of where things stand in the Tour de France. It’s less about stage wins and focuses instead on the general classification, which is the overall race. Preview First Week Wrap Second Week Wrap Final Week Wrap The first week of this year’s Tour de…
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Stage eight: Lilian Calmejane is last man pedalling with purpose
A day of chaos – and chaos always demands that the peloton pays tribute. Stage-winner and former green jersey-wearer, Arnaud Démare, was the first to suffer. The hellish early pace meant he soon found himself 10 minutes behind the peloton – which is not a position in which any rider wants to find themselves when…
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Stage seven: Photography is Marcel Kittel’s friend
Another win for Marcel Kittel, this time by somewhere around half a millimetre, but they all count. I presume the race judges ruled that Kittel had a crucial bit of grit affixed to his tyre or something. Pisser for Edvald Boasson Hagen though. “I tried to make myself three metres longer,” said Kittel afterwards. He…