Tour de France 2025 (CONTAINS SPOILERS!)

[Evil_Breakfast]

That choked me up as well. I've always had a soft spot for Gary - a proper journalist with soul.

Another aspect to this sad state of affairs is that @imlachhair (Gary Imlach's Peloton of Joy) could be relied upon for daily (satirical) polo-shirt updates. This year, whoever runs the account, has decided -apparently- not to bother.
😢

 

[mididoctors]

Another aspect to this sad state of affairs is that @imlachhair (Gary Imlach's Peloton of Joy) could be relied upon for daily (satirical) polo-shirt updates. This year, whoever runs the account, has decided -apparently- not to bother.
😢

It was surprising to see Gary choke up . It's not right what D+ are doing

 

[Evil_Breakfast]

It was surprising to see Gary choke up . It's not right what D+ are doing

Surprising; yet valedictory and affirming at the same time.
The amount of goodwill that they've built upon, over the last 25 years, is testament to Imlach's, Boardman's and Boulting's (and latterly Friebos's/Rendell's) commitment.
Building on the foundations that Liggett & Sherwin started.
They are only too aware of their achievement.
This is why there is a bitter taste in the mouths of a lot of people today.
The Monday after is, always, a melancholy affair.
But this?
Something new.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

It was surprising to see Gary choke up . It's not right what D+ are doing

Unfortunately it’s what ITV are doing by not making any bid.
Now if it were some 3rd rate football competition….

 

[mididoctors]

Unfortunately it’s what ITV are doing by not making any bid.
Now if it were some 3rd rate football competition….

Anybody got an idea how much the rights are and the itv production cost is ? Total ?

 

[misforturob]

Unfortunately it’s what ITV are doing by not making any bid.
Now if it were some 3rd rate football competition….

If it were making them a profit, or at least covering costs, I'm sure they would continue.

Everyone moans about the types of ads they show during the coverage - maybe this should tell us all something about the state of ad funded TV

 

[mididoctors]

If it were making them a profit, or at least covering costs, I'm sure they would continue.

Everyone moans about the types of ads they show during the coverage - maybe this should tell us all something about the state of ad funded TV

Charity ads are no substitute for social justice

 

[MadMalx]

Unfortunately it’s what ITV are doing by not making any bid.
Now if it were some 3rd rate football competition….

The bbc news bulletin i saw was understandably dominated by Euros, other sport stories were cricket (fair enough) and some furriner winning one leg of a car race in Belgium, with plucky brit coming in 2nd. Meanwhile the culmination of an event with half a million spectators on the roadside in Paris alone didn’t get a mention.
Mainstream media won’t be interested unless we get another Sky-like team with a publicity machine and cav/wiggins characters to capture the imagination. Nice lads from Bury or the Borders riding for overseas teams won’t do it.

 

[Evil_Breakfast]

The bbc news bulletin i saw was understandably dominated by Euros, other sport stories were cricket (fair enough) and some furriner winning one leg of a car race in Belgium, with plucky brit coming in 2nd. Meanwhile the culmination of an event with half a million spectators on the roadside in Paris alone didn’t get a mention.
Mainstream media won’t be interested unless we get another Sky-like team with a publicity machine and cav/wiggins characters to capture the imagination. Nice lads from Bury or the Borders riding for overseas teams won’t do it.

With hindsight; the Sky/marginal gains era, that the public cottoned onto, now seems -or feels- a bit.....I dunno....Redundant? Quaint? Antiquated? Superseded? Lightning-in-a-bottle?

Even Wiggo, back in 2017, opined that :

Sir Bradley Wiggins has called marginal gains “a load of rubbish” and described his former Team GB track colleague Victoria Pendleton as “a bit of a milkshake”.
Speaking at a corporate event in the City of London – his first public appearance since breaking a leg on The Jump – the five-time Olympic champion said he felt the marginal gains mantra had been over-egged.
“A lot of people made a lot of money out of it and [Team Sky principal] David Brailsford used it constantly as his calling card,” Wiggins said, according to Eurosport who had a reporter at the event. “But I always thought it was a load of rubbish."
“It’s a bit like the whole chimp thing,” Wiggins added, referring to Dr Steve Peters, Team Sky’s former head of medicine and author of The Chimp Paradox.
“At the end of the day, chimp theories and marginal gains and all these buzzwords – a lot of the time, I just think you have got to get the fundamentals right: go ride your bike, put the work in, and you’re either good or you’re not good. Sometimes in life or in sport, whatever, you’re either good at something or you’re not."

Mind you, Brad could have been coked-up at the time. #Disclaimer

 

[Gweeds]

Tour-adjacent news, Jonas is riding the Vuelta. Pog ain't.

 

[Pross]

Tour-adjacent news, Jonas is riding the Vuelta. Pog ain't.

The GC equivalent of Greipel and his shoot small races.

 

[T4tomo]

Tour-adjacent news, Jonas is riding the Vuelta. Pog ain't.

that makes sense, World champs and Lombardia Pog priorities. Vin hasnt done as much intense racing as Pog as he doesnt / didnt do any of the classics / one day races.

 

[KingstonGraham]

Watching pog yesterday, there was no way he should be doing the vuelta.

Should have done it last year, though.

 

[Mike_P]

It was surprising to see Gary choke up . It's not right what D+ are doing

He is 65 so maybe retirement now. Maybe when one door shuts another will open for Ned, and shut for Carlton with any luck.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Watching pog yesterday, there was no way he should be doing the vuelta.

Should have done it last year, though.

But he wanted (and got) the Giro+Tour+Worlds.