A fast sweep across Belgium. In recent years the near-certainty of victory by Mark Cavendish would make this kind of stage almost dull to watch, even if this is testimony to Cavendish’s peerless sprinting. This year however it’s different, a sprint is still likely, “Cav” could win but there are many more sprinters who can challenge.
Today’s stage is a big loop to the south of Liège before it returns to Seraing, a suburb of Liège. It avoids some of the infamous climbs in the area but the race doesn’t need them to make the race come alive.
This is the opening stage of the Tour de France and there are several races on at once, from survival to the chance to take one of the leader’s jerseys.
That’s the youtube version of the advert showing on French TV for Accor Hotels, the French hotel operator. The company is a co-sponsor of the Europcar team and they’ve linked the team with their ad campaign. Hopefully the production didn’t cost much.
Liège should make you think of hills given it is host to the oldest classic on the calendar, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and its monts. But today’s prologue course is flat and for the time trial specialists.
Every day at 9.00am you will find a preview of the day’s stage with up-to-date information on the route, riders and more. In the first of a daily preview of each stage, let’s take a look at the route, the riders and plenty more.
With the official start list available, the 22 teams of the the Tour de France are now confirmed. Here’s the list of each squad with info on the sponsors, bikes and some thoughts on what they might do in the race.
For one of the biggest sporting events in the world the prize list is surprisingly modest. A total of €2,022,900 in prizes will be paid out and teams also share a pot of over one million Euros in expenses.
The amount is unchanged from last year. So thanks to inflation it is worth less and for non-European riders the Euro has fallen 20% against the US dollar since last summer. Not that anyone is counting, the ultimate prize is standing on the podium in Paris. Here is a breakdown of the Tour de France prize list.
Luxembourg’s Le Quotidien has a good piece on how to beat Wiggins, asking several team managers for their suggestions
Whilst Wiggins is the great favourite for the race I think the next three weeks can bring plenty of surprises. But let’s run with the idea that Wiggins is the rider to beat, here are the suggestions from the team managers plus some extra ideas.
You can now download summary details of the Tour de France for your electronic diary on a phone or computer: inrngTourDeFranceCalendar.ics.
It looks like the perfect picture for a cycling team. A smiling rider stands tall on the podium, dressed in yellow with the team logos in evidence as the girls hold their pose for the cameras. Even his sunglasses are perched just right on the team-issue baseball cap. But there’s something wrong with the picture.
I’m not talking about the composition of the image. You might notice the podium girls haven’t zipped up their jerseys fully but it’s not that. No, the problem here is that Radioshack-Nissan’s Jakob Fuglsang has won a race and bizarrely this could prove damaging for the interests of his team.
The odds on Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France are now so short that the some bookmakers price him as a safer pick than Lance Armstrong in 2003. Cadel Evans is a close second but as the table above from oddschecker.com shows, everyone else is far out. Madness?
Possibly and we should note that the odds are a price and not a probability, it is likely that a lot of people have been putting a lot of money on Evans and Wiggins and this has shortened the odds. But precision apart, Wiggins and Evans are the two prime contenders. Who are the others capable of finishing on the podium?