Tour de France

Roads to Ride: La Planche des Belle Filles

As part of a series to explore the famous roads of cycling, here is the Planche des Belles Filles in France. The idea with this series is to discover the road and its place in the world, whether in cycling’s folklore or to explore what it is like on a normal day without a race.

The Planche des Belles Filles is a novelty that first appeared in the Tour de France in 2012. According to several sources it will be back in 2014 and it could well reveal the podium contenders once more. But for now it’s an unusually steep road that leads to a small ski station with a controversial past.

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Thursday Shorts

Here’s the new Italian jersey for the worlds by Castelli. The marketing says it’s faster than a standard jersey, a 20W survey at 40km/h. But if the Italian tricolore flag is green, white and red why do the Italians wear blue?

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The Vuelta’s French Connection

It might be the Tour of Spain but there’s a French touch here. The event is owned by the French, a lot of the sponsors are French and this weekend the race crosses the Pyrenees for a French stage finish.

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The Moment The Race Was Won: The Tour de France

Chris Froome Ax 3 Domaines Tour de Frace

Stage 8. The race heads to its first summit finish at the ski station of Ax-3 Domaines. Nairo Quintana lead over the previous climb but with 5km to go the Colombian is caught. Porte gets out of the saddle and accelerates with Chris Froome on his wheel, leaving Alberto Contador, Roman Kreuziger and Alejandro Valverde behind. Froome turns this into an attack and rides solo, as pictured above, to win the stage and take the yellow jersey. This was the moment the race was won.

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Tour de France Stage 22 Preview

The Tour is over and there are 348 days until the next edition with its start in Britain. Of course there’s plenty more to the sport than the Tour but there’s often a touch of the blues when the race ends.

Here’s a look at what’s coming up in the season this year, what to expect for next year’s Tour and more.

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Tour de France Stage 21 Preview

The final stage of the Tour de France is all about celebration and glory. But the centennial Tour will take the spectacle and show to a new level with a start in the Versailles palace and a finish along the Champs Elysées at sunset, a parade beyond that any visiting head of state might receive. And to top it all, the most prestigious sprint win is waiting.

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Tour de France Stage 20 Preview


The final mountain stage of the Tour de France, this is shortest road stage of the race.

If Chris Froome’s lead looks safe, the others in the top-5 are all within a minute on the overall classification and the mountains jersey is still up for grabs too. The suspense could last all the way to the finish line.

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Tour de France Stage 19 Preview

Yesterday’s stage was big but today is bigger. It’s longer, there’s more climbing and there’s very little flat road along the way.

It’s up to the riders but this is the perfect terrain for the contenders and their teams to ambush Chris Froome and Team Sky.

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Tour de France Stage 18 Preview

The first of the trinity of Alpine road stages sees the race climb Alpe d’Huez twice with the feared descent of the Col de Sarenne in between.

Shown live from start to finish this is a crucial day in the race and after weeks of sunshine, storms and fog are forecast for the finish.

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Fear and Safety in the Tour de France

Tomorrow’s stage will climb Alpe d’Huez twice but it’s the lone descent of the Col de Sarenne that’s got many talking. Riders are worried and articles are being written about this new descent. The Tour de France could not hope for anything better.

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