Tour de France 2026 ***Spoilers***

[No Ta Doctor]

Aside from the obvious Mads p, Trek looking for numbers, UAE looking to win the team comp, MvdP looking to thwart Mads P, Philipsen wanting to try and get over the lumps as well, Campenaerts & others trying to strike a blow for Visma there is Magnus Cort. He's racing his last Tour, in the Dannebrog jersey for the first time ever, and very, very much has this stage marked in his diary. He'd love to go out with a stage win, and when he's motivated he's almost as tenacious as Mads is (if you remember his stage win in '22 he was like Terminator the way he kept coming back). I think Valgren might fancy this one as well (l know, everyone does), given he prepared for it by riding the TT on a road bike to chill out.

 

[Pross]

It’s a weird stage. The profile looks medium mountain but the climbs are 4th cats with one 3rd cat. In week 1 you’d be expecting a bunch sprint without maybe some of the out and out sprinters. Week 3 it could be anyone, could have possibly been a Pidcock stage if he hadn’t burned so many matches in the last few days. Possibly the last chance for many teams like Netcompany, FDJ, Movistar or Astana who have got absolutely nothing from the race.

 

[albion]

From AI "The reason EPO micro-dosing remains such a significant challenge in sports revolves around several key factors:
Short Detection Windows: A standard dose of Erythropoietin (EPO) is relatively easy to track, but taking tiny, frequent "microdoses" causes the hormone to rapidly clear from the bloodstream. This reduces the window of detection to just 12-18 hours, making typical daytime testing ineffective."

I guess it is to become the norm.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

From AI "The reason EPO micro-dosing remains such a significant challenge in sports revolves around several key factors:
Short Detection Windows: A standard dose of Erythropoietin (EPO) is relatively easy to track, but taking tiny, frequent "microdoses" causes the hormone to rapidly clear from the bloodstream. This reduces the window of detection to just 12-18 hours, making typical daytime testing ineffective."

I guess it is to become the norm.

I wouldn't trust AI there (or anywhere). The window is probably well below 12-18 hours - or they wouldn't need night-time testing

I doubt it's the norm either. If you have to be continually topping up then your risk of discovery is far higher, because you have to source, transport and use continually as well.

 

[mididoctors]

I wouldn't trust AI there (or anywhere). The window is probably well below 12-18 hours - or they wouldn't need night-time testing

I doubt it's the norm either. If you have to be continually topping up then your risk of discovery is far higher, because you have to source, transport and use continually as well.

If you didn't keep.doping your passport would give you away . It's not epo

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

It’s a weird stage. The profile looks medium mountain but the climbs are 4th cats with one 3rd cat. In week 1 you’d be expecting a bunch sprint without maybe some of the out and out sprinters. Week 3 it could be anyone, could have possibly been a Pidcock stage if he hadn’t burned so many matches in the last few days. Possibly the last chance for many teams like Netcompany, FDJ, Movistar or Astana who have got absolutely nothing from the race.

The gradient is 2.2% over the 40 km from 8k in. It looks like a big mountain topping out at over 1000m but it's a steady climb to get there

 

[mididoctors]

The gradient is 2.2% over the 40 km from 8k in. It looks like a big mountain topping out at over 1000m but it's a steady climb to get there

It's very in balance who can make it and who can't ...

 

[mididoctors]

Rolling out

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Just to note - Lidl-Trek still lead the team comp, but now by only 23" from UAE
According to Trek's team manager UAE are after the comp as well. So UAE won't let Trek pack the break unless they get riders in as well

 

[mididoctors]

They're off

 

[No Ta Doctor]

"Hey, Baptise! Long time no chat! Good to see you again. Anyway, can you kick things off today? We'll give you a viking this time, promise. We don't expect it to go straight away, so you'll basically just bust a gut so that someone else get's a chance at glory, but that's cycling, eh?"

 

[mididoctors]

Cagey but active

 

[mididoctors]

MvdP on. The background coming up

 

[mididoctors]

Trek everywhere

 

[No Ta Doctor]

"Hey, Baptise! Long time no chat! Good to see you again. Anyway, can you kick things off today? We'll give you a viking this time, promise. We don't expect it to go straight away, so you'll basically just bust a gut so that someone else get's a chance at glory, but that's cycling, eh?"

"Baptiste, my man! Great work there right at the start. No seriously. And hey, if you're gonna ride 150km solo does it really make all that difference if it's in front or behind the peloton? So you at the finish guy, don't be late! Au revoir!"