Tag: Green
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André Greipel finds a way to beat Marcel Kittel
Greipel wins! Take that, pedals! Cycling’s beefiest, stompiest sprinter finally got a result on stage six. Usually one of the fastest finishers, Greipel had been oddly anonymous up until now and I’ve heard it said that he might have lost his nerve a bit. There was no sign of that today though. How did he…
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Tommy Voeckler was in the break so the Tour’s started now
Okay, the Tour is officially underway. I know we’ve already had the Grand Départ and millions of people watching, but two crucial things happened on stage four. One, we got to France. Two, Tommy Voeckler got in the break. It isn’t the Tour until we’ve had Tommy’s TV time. Tommy Voeckler’s faces are quite simply…
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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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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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Marcel Kittel proves himself the best sprinter at the 2013 Tour de France
The points competition is geared towards the sprinters, but it isn’t the sprint competition. If it were, Marcel Kittel would have been the one with the green beard, not Peter Sagan. Kittel won four stages in all, including the biggest sprint of all on the Champs Élysées, breaking Mark Cavendish’s winning run there. I’m a…
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Taking advantage of echelons
There was plenty going on in stage 13 and I’m going to struggle to get it all down without boring people, so bear with me if I omit details or include too many or waffle on in the opening sentence making excuses for myself in advance. Fighting back This was the theme of the stage.…
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Is Marcel Kittel faster than Mark Cavendish?
When it comes to bunch sprints in the Tour de France, the default result is a Mark Cavendish win. Sometimes he can be outmanoeuvred, sometimes his lead-out train goes awry, but if things go smoothly, it’s generally accepted that there’s little anyone can do. On stage 12, Marcel Kittel overtook him. That’s weird It is…