The first of two days in the Vosges mountain range, today’s course should see a good battle between what’s left of the bunch and a late breakaway.
The Commercial Break
The riders pass the Kilomètre 0 point, Christian Prudhomme waves his flag and the race gets underway. Instantly a handful of riders from the wildcard teams stand on the pedals and go clear. Only this kind of move doesn’t work so why waste the energy? They say it’s to “show the jersey” but is this a good image? Maybe it’s just great fun.
Tour de France Stage 4 Preview
A day for the sprinters but with a climb thrown in the end as a late fitness test. With few opportunities for the sprinters in this year’s race today’s a crunch day.
What Do The Team Sponsors Do?
Jumbo have had a great weekend, winning both stages of the Tour de France and taking the yellow jersey, the first time in 30 years for a Dutch rider. It’s a publicity bonanza and good news story for Jumbo, a chain of Dutch supermarkets expanding into Belgium right now but do you know what Visma does? And do you know your CCC from your Cofidis and what the EF in EF Education First stands for?
Tour de France Stage 3 Preview
The Tour goes to France, swapping beer-producing Binche for Epernay, capital of champagne wines. The finale 50km have plenty of fizz, with steep climbs amid the vineyards and a sharp ramp to the finish line.
Tour de France Stage 2 Preview
A day in and the the team time trial, an important rendez-vous for those with hopes for the win in Paris.
Tour de France Stage 1 Preview
No more waiting, the Tour de France starts today and there’s loop out of Brussels with bergs and cobbles before a high stress finish and a presumed bunch sprint with yellow jersey waiting for the winner.
Tour de France Preview
This is probably the most open Tour de France since 2012 with a long list of contenders and pretenders. This much we know, picking a winner for Paris is at best test of epistemology and more truthfully exercise in story telling. Which rider seems the most convincing?
Tour de France iCal
Here’s a downloadable calendar of the Tour de France for your electronic diary or phone with brief details of each stage. There’s also a look at the TV coverage of the race.
Tour de France Mountains Competition Contenders
Having looked at the points competition and green jersey contenders yesterday, now the mountains competition and polka dot jersey competition. If the green jersey competition has been tweaked, this year’s mountains competition has had some big changes with the hors catégorie climbs becoming all important.