Tour de France 2019 **SPOILERS**

[Crackle]

I'm not sure if any team is strong enough, but they really need to attack JA earlier than the last climb today.
Pinot has Reichenbach and Gaudu.
Kruiswijk (sp)? has George Bennett but he crashed and limped home yesterday.
Ineos have underperformers like Moscon, Kwiat but no Luke Rowe. They could do a counterpunch with either Bernal or G attacking while the other one sits on.
I hope it kicks off earlier, though I guess everone is on the limit by now.
Oh, and there's Buchman loitering with or without intent!

I read somewhere that Kruiswijk and Bennett were tested before the stage start yesterday, which is highly irregular apparently.
Placeholder for wild speculation below...

They were all tested, Deceunik, Jumbo, Ineos.

 

[Adam4868]

I think Thomas has to try a attack a lot further out.If he hasn't the legs he has to be honest.This could come down to a battle between Bernal and Pinot ? If they let Bernal go for it.

 

[woodbutcher]

I know. Despite the fabulous tour Alaphillipe has had, not letting him be beaten would look very, very wrong. Even if there were good reason.

I just love Alaphillipes' nick name , l doubt if there was ever a more fitting one...Loulou

 

[Crackle]

And now a short interlude before the race arrives

 

[roadrash]

@Crackle I was just going to post that after seeing it on tw@tter

 

[GuyBoden]

Looking forward to seeing some attacking today and tomorrow from the GC contenders, it's now or never, or it's Alaphilippe's............

 

[roadrash]

IF they have managed to clear the roads after the storms yesterday, then hoping for some good attacking racing today

 

[Twizit]

And now a short interlude before the race arrives

Brilliant, just made my morning

 

[smutchin]

And now a short interlude before the race arrives

How very wonderful

 

[Adam4868]

Stuck in Pisa airport,Italian strikes ! Highlights for me

 

[roadrash]

wow

..<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New top speed recorded on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TDF2019?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#TDF2019</a>!<a href="https://twitter.com/NilsPolitt?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@NilsPolitt</a> is the first rider to break the 100km/h bar <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TDFdata?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#TDFdata</a> <a href="https://t.co/RTILpii5ag">pic.twitter.com/RTILpii5ag</a></p>&mdash; letourdata (@letourdata) <a href="
View: https://twitter.com/letourdata/status/1154364413731844096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
">July 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MasterDabber]

And now a short interlude before the race arrives

Just brilliant. It restores my faith in the better side of human nature.

 

[hoopdriver]

Well the road-clearing teams will be double-shifting all night to get the roads cleared for tomorrow.

As soon as the stage finished the thunderstorms started. Descending from Valloire via the Col du Telegraphe in torrential rain was fun - I must have worn out at least two pairs of rims and a dozen sets of brake blocks coming down this time.

But that was just the start of it. Driving back from St Michel-de-Maurienne to the Isere valley and Bourg St Maurice, there was the most incredible lightning show - countless forked bolts striking mountain-tops, hill-tops and outcrops in every direction one looked. And that was a mere taster of what was to follow.

Heading up the Isere valley, the most apocalyptic storm I've ever encountered hit - this was the heaviest rain and hail I've ever seen. When I got to the 7-mile climb back up to the ski station apartment near Bourg, by now the torrents had led to multiple rockfalls and mini-landslides, which meant crawling up in second or first gear, lots of stopping and weaving around debris all over the place for miles on end. Eventually made it up, but almost had to abort and just park up and wait when the traffic got stuck at one washout.

These storms have been pretty widespread here, so I reckon ALL the remaining Alpine climbs and descents, and indeed the valley roads, will be having intensive and extensive clearing activities if the Tour is going to make it through on Friday and Saturday.

I think I'll put on my Grand Prix 4Season tyred wheels tomorrow!

Sounds like you’re having one hell of a cool adventure. Serious envy. Oh, and those Grand Prix 4Seasons are just the tyre for those conditions too!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Nul points to Bernal's hairdresser. Badly letting the side down. Pile it up lad, pile it up.

 

[rich p]

Nul points to Bernal's hairdresser. Badly letting the side down. Pile it up lad, pile it up.

View attachment 477118

I bet Bardet doesn't use Alpecin...