“What will I wear today?” You might ask yourself this every morning but 198 riders wake up today knowing there’s a chance of wearing something yellow, green, polka-dot or white later on.
Everything is up for grabs in the opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France. A sprint finish is likely but there’s plenty to come before including a landscape that’s been decorated yellow. The whole stage is live on TV from start to finish.
Having looked the other jerseys, finally the climbers’ competition. It’s a very visible jersey but the competition itself seems to be struggling, it’s either something decided by luck and speciality or an accidental win collected by someone high on the GC.
Here’s a look at the competition and a few contenders and pretenders for the polka dotted prize.
The closer the race gets the more uncertain the outcome. The year began with Chris Froome as the nailed on certainty but gradually Alberto Contador’s results made people take notice and his ride in the Dauphiné means we could have a three week duel. But now Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde are on the up too and the more names we throw into the mix, the closer the contest.
One year ago Daryl Impey was basking in the yellow jersey, now he’s announced a positive A and B test for banned substance probenicid. It’s normally a treatment for gout because, to keep it simple, it slows the kidneys from filtering stuff from your blood out to the urine. So it’s handy as a “masking agent”, a rider abusing steroids might use it to retain the anabolic substance in their body for longer and stop it getting into a urine sample. However the mask is obviously very detectable that either Impey’s prodigiously stupid or there’s a genuine explanation somewhere.
Having assessed the green and white jersey contenders, later this week they’ll be a look who can win the race. But even if all three pieces list plenty of protagonists there’s a much wider cast of characters. So here’s a look at the 22 teams and some of their riders who might shine in breakaways.
It’s said the mark of a champion is to win the Tour de France at your first go. Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault are amongst those who came, saw and conquered from the start. But that’s the exception and the majority of Tour winners are like fine wines that take time to age and mature. You can be born with talent but it has to be worked on, weaknesses addressed and tactics learned.
While a future champion serves their apprenticeship the best young rider competition is a useful staging post and prestigious line for the CV. However a look at the past winners suggests the white flower of youth rarely blooms into a Tour de France winner. Here’s a brief analysis of the contenders, the rules and the history of this jersey.
Several riders had passport problems before the Giro but of the travel kind and could not get a visa for the start in Belfast. Now Roman Kreuziger has passport problems of the other kind with the UCI questioning his blood values and he’s now been suspended by his Tinkoff-Saxo team and won’t ride the Tour de France.
This post isn’t about doping. Instead it’s about procedures and probabilities so apologies if you wanted something scandalous and bloody. What’s happened and what’s coming next?
After a busy weekend of racing here is the table of the men’s and women’s national road race champions for 2014.
The UCI is set to bring in new rules restricting the size of a team in a race to eight riders. Grand Tours could keep an exemption for nine riders but it means teams of no more than nine in a race. Everything is different this weekend with the strangest races on the pro calendar, the national championships and in France FDJ will field a team of 26 riders.
Froome and Contador might be this summer’s duel but hopefully their rivalry is a slow story that develops over three weeks. The more immediate clash will see the sprinters in action from Stage 1 onwards. Here’s a look at the sprinters, the points competition and the likely green jersey wearers.