Tour de France 2026 ***Spoilers***

[mididoctors]

They're off

 

[mididoctors]

Active racing but not mad

 

[mididoctors]

Going past my.house

 

[Exlaser2]

If Pog wasn’t in the race we would be moaning about Jonas having a pretty comfortable lead, if not actually calling the race quite over after a measly 6 stages.

The bottom line is that unfortunately, fans can’t script the race. Otherwise, every edition would become 1989 again and boringly predictable.

And this tour isn’t already ?

The Big difference between Jonas and Pog for the last couple of years is how they win .
Pog takes off from a long way out , over any terrain and often holding off groups of riders on flat stages . When was the last time anyone put him under any real pressure. He is riding like an alien and I don’t mean that in a good way.
Jonas wins in a conventional manner. Just look at the last Giro. Was he the strongest yes, did at any time did he look head and shoulders over the other top riders no. He just made smallish gains over a number of stages and never looked totally dominant.

 

[mididoctors]

Asgreen was marked man

 

[mididoctors]

And this tour isn’t already ?

The Big difference between Jonas and Pog for the last couple of years is how they win .
Pog takes off from a long way out , over any terrain and often holding off groups of riders on flat stages . When was the last time anyone put him under any real pressure. He is riding like an alien and I don’t mean that in a good way.
Jonas wins in a conventional manner. Just look at the last Giro. Was he the strongest yes, did at any time did he look head and shoulders over the other top riders no. He just made smallish gains over a number of stages and never looked totally dominant.

Pog hasn't really gone that far out in the tour before ?...his long range attacks are more one dayers .,, did go long in the giro though 🤔

 

[mididoctors]

1: 26 ,... No mercy

 

[Dorset Boy]

And this tour isn’t already ?

The Big difference between Jonas and Pog for the last couple of years is how they win .
Pog takes off from a long way out , over any terrain and often holding off groups of riders on flat stages . When was the last time anyone put him under any real pressure. He is riding like an alien and I don’t mean that in a good way.
Jonas wins in a conventional manner. Just look at the last Giro. Was he the strongest yes, did at any time did he look head and shoulders over the other top riders no. He just made smallish gains over a number of stages and never looked totally dominant.

Jonas did look head and shoulders above all the others at the Giro. However, he also knew he was trying to win this Tour, so wasn't ever going to go too deep to win the Giro. He did more than enough, but barely broke sweat.

We can never be certain any top sportsman is clean but at least we have far more checks in place in cycling than in any other sport.
Do you think football, tennis, rugby etc are clean? They pay lip service to testing, and always have done.
Most of Fuentes's frozen blood bags were footballers and tennis players.

With Armstrong there were loads of rumours by this stage , but there are none surrounding today's top riders.

 

[mididoctors]

 

[No Ta Doctor]

"Hey, Baptiste! My Man! Really, really loving your work! No I mean it, you're an absolute star! Yeah, tough day in the mountains yesterday, I know, don't worry, we didn't expect you to do any more than you did, it's fine. Anyway, today's stage is flat as a pancake - just a single tiny Cat 4 at the end so that should be easier for you! Talking of pancakes it's going to be hot enough to fry one on the tarmac, some people forecasting 38C in Bordeaux today, which is where you're heading. Anyway, another guaranteed sprint - it's Bordeaux, it always is! - but people are getting a bit bored of all the Pogacar mountain business, so how about you tootle along and give them a bit of a show of those lovely Lotto Intermarché colours for a few hours before the proper riders come in for the stage win? Love it, yeah, honestly, you're a star! Yeah, of course we can try and find someone you can talk to, no worries, understand completely....

Hey, Baptise! Got some great news for you - had a chat with the other teams and found out that little Portuguese team that's almost as desperate for a couple of hours on TV as we are, Caja something, you know the one? Yeah, well they've agreed to send a guy, great guy, Jakob something. Check? I did already. Oh, yeah, I get you, yeah, he's Czech. Does he talk French? Man, I dunno, you'll have to ask him. Maybe you can teach him some on the way? Anyway, have a great day out, really appreciate everything you do yeah. Talk later, au revoir!"

"Hey Bapti.."

"NON!"

"But we got that guy from Caja Rural again to keep you company!"

"Jakub? He didn't speak French and spent the whole ride telling me in English how much he wanted a cold Czech Pilsner. I will not ride with him again"

"But we got another guy too! And he speaks French!"

"...who?"

"Thibault Guernalec from TotalEnergies"

"Putain de merde! That useless French bastard"

"...Que? But you are French!"

"So? He's useless. [five minutes of diatribe about every other French rider in the peloton and how they're stealing a living, mainly from him] Get me some Danes and Norwegians or I won't ride"

"Fine. I'll tell Liam it's his turn today

...........................

Hey Liam! Hey, loving your work, great riding! Now listen...."

 

[andyoxon]

Another overly long, breakaway-unfriendly stage? 125km distance may have been better today, to liven things up a bit...

 

[Blazing Saddles]

And this tour isn’t already ?

The Big difference between Jonas and Pog for the last couple of years is how they win .
Pog takes off from a long way out , over any terrain and often holding off groups of riders on flat stages . When was the last time anyone put him under any real pressure. He is riding like an alien and I don’t mean that in a good way.
Jonas wins in a conventional manner. Just look at the last Giro. Was he the strongest yes, did at any time did he look head and shoulders over the other top riders no. He just made smallish gains over a number of stages and never looked totally dominant.

He took off just before La Mongie. That’s pretty much exactly where the studio pundits said was the spot for a rider to attack.
Do you think that were Pog not there, Jonas would not have attacked on the Tourmalet?
If not towards the top of the Tourmalet, then where?

 

[mididoctors]

Palaeolithic cave city

 

[Dogtrousers]

From letour.fr

Guernalec has his day in the sun. Literally

Breakaway rider Thibault Guernalec was one of those affected by the collapse of Arkéa-B&B Hotels last winter; in fact, he had a valid contract with the Breton team for the 2027 season. On Thursday 20 November, with his future still unresolved, he was hit by a car whilst training, suffering a concussion and fracturing a lumbar vertebra. “What scares me most is that I can’t remember anything from the four hours that followed,” he recalled in Le Télégramme.
A few days later, TotalEnergies signed him up for this season despite his ongoing recovery. In April, he returned to competition; and, at the end of June, his team selected him to make his debut in the Tour de France, in his eighth professional season. “This is the year I least expected to ride the Tour,” he explained, visibly moved, in an interview with Ouest-France. “In 20 years’ time, I’ll be able to say I did it.”

 

[rich p]

little further south in Castillones was where I first drank Belgian beer as a teenager.

Yes, I was a late starter too...
Rectified the error with my own son giving him a Belgian kriek on a seriously hot walk when he was 11🫢