Tour de France 2026 ***Spoilers***

[No Ta Doctor]

So invisible he doesn't show in the results between the 5th place Austrian and, presumably, 7th place Norwegian who is shown as 6th in the official results.

He's Northern Danish. Some people erroneously refer to this as "Norwegian".

 

[phreak]

So invisible he doesn't show in the results between the 5th place Austrian and, presumably, 7th place Norwegian who is shown as 6th in the official results.

Yeah, that's the fella.

 

[wakemalcolm]

Thor Hushovd had the best climbing legs he ever had in that Tour!

Was that the year Cav sought him out after a mountain breakaway to shake his hand even though they were days from Paris?
Thought that was a very classy moment.

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

Was that the year Cav sought him out after a mountain breakaway to shake his hand even though they were days from Paris?
Thought that was a very classy moment.

I think that was 2009 where he'd gone over a load of mountains to pick up the intermediate points.

This Tour he won a stage that went over the Aubisque, and one into Gap with a 2nd Cat climb with 10k to go

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

Bauke Mollema finished 2nd on one of the stages and Ben Swift rode for Team Sky

 

[Legs]

Same. Campenaerts, Affini, Armirail and Jorgenson is somme pretty serious firepower. It's clear they've also selected with the first week in mind

Hmmm, I pulled Affini out of my Velogames team on learning that he'd taken a big tumble at the Nationals, but now I hear he's back and confirmed in the VLaB line-up... What to do?

 

[Legs]

Warming up for this year's race by watching the 2011 race. Surely a contender for the best race of recent memory? Maybe surpassed by 2003?

I really enjoyed 2008, too.

 

[mididoctors]

Pog getting turned over by roglic and Jonas was a good tour

 

[mididoctors]

And the next year

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Pog getting turned over by roglic and Jonas was a good tour

The Col du Granon stage was absolutely epic, the shear savagery of those repeated attacks. I think it's my favourite GC fight stage ever. The murder on Hautacam was pretty special too, Wout being ridiculously good.

And the next year

All over so early, until it wasn't, then so close for so long, until it wasn't. Proper ding-dong battle. The TT was spectacular. Jonas must have picked the right tyres, because his handling on the corners used every millimetre of the road. It was over before Pog broke the day after, I think his head had gone as much as his legs

 

[Dorset Boy]

Watched the Alpecin pre-race film last night - 48 minutes of BTS stuff about their prep for today.
Can be found on youtube - Expect the unexpected

 

[Shadow]

Hmmm, I pulled Affini out of my Velogames team on learning that he'd taken a big tumble at the Nationals, but now I hear he's back and confirmed in the VLaB line-up... What to do?

I wonder if they tightly wrapped him in duct tape over a layer of cotton wool and told him to go full gas in week 1 and then pull out gracefully while the rest of the team look after JV for the next 2weeks...?

 

[Dogtrousers]

I wonder if they tightly wrapped him in duct tape over a layer of cotton wool

Precisely the same question occurred to me.

 

[TakeTheHighRoad]

Looks like there'll be no Arnaud de Lie in the Tour. Suffering a stomach upset and gave up half way through the recon

 

[wakemalcolm]

Looks like there'll be no Arnaud de Lie in the Tour. Suffering a stomach upset and gave up half way through the recon

Is that early enough to call in a sub?