The Tour De France starts tomorrow, so if it is ok, I am going to hijack this thread with my ramblings about this years race. I have an active dislike for road bikes, people who ride them in daily life and pretty much everything about them, yet the TDF is one of the most amazing sporting events of the year. Tomorrow we get to see the lovely countryside around Nice, and it should all come down to a sprint finish, after a mere 156km of riding. As such we should see a hectic and bunched finish with some relatively unknown names likely to play a hand. It however for me is a stage for Caleb Ewan to lose, and his efforts in sprints this season have suggested that he is more than ready to win the first stage and take the yellow jersey for a day. He managed to beat his main rival Sam Bennett in the last stage race they met in (Wallone), competing for the sprints with Demare (who doesn't ride the TDF). As such I was surprised to see them similar prices in the market. He is 3.6 on the exchange to small amounts and I have had a tenner on. Only other bet so far is - Richard Carapaz to win the TDF @12/1 EW (3 places) - He is a grand tour winner and with doubts about the fitness of Egan Bernal and Primoz Roglic he looked overpriced. Since then he has drifted to 14/1!
Do tell how these road bikers that provide this awesome spectacle do so without riding their bikes on roads .......
The TDF was going well for my bet, until it started raining!! Then all havoc let loose, half the field seemed to have spills and then they neutralised the race. Caleb looked in major trouble after a fall and despite getting back into it, he just didn't have the legs to be involved in the finish. Interestingly both Ineos and Jumbo Visma had fallers and it might be that the race explodes into action as early as stage 2 tomorrow. Tomorrow looks dry, but with two category 1 climbs in the stage we should see a new wearer of the Yellow Jersey and the sprinters finishing some time later than the main pack. If Wout Van Aert can be given a free-ish role and doesn't have to chase down Julian Alaphilippe and others for the team, this finish should be perfect for him. At 8/1 he looks fairly priced.
A lot of riders are going to suffer today. They're strung out like brown's cows and they haven't hit the climb for real yet.
Not sure if Cyc/Oddy can find a video of yesterdays stage finish from the aerial view but it was imperious from Caleb. It was like watching Jamie Spencer at his finest!! The GC race kicks into gear today, with a alpine finish which should suit punchier climbers like Alaphilippe over the pure climbers. I expect he will attack again today, but will he be allowed to get away? I expect Jumbo Visma to try and shut it down and make it a finish for Roglic, but if they do chase Alaphilippe it could open them up for counters from riders such as Adam Yates, Thibaut Pinot and Tadej Pogacar. To me it looks a nice betting day with a bet on Alaphilippe at 8.4 and a saver on Roglic at 7.6. I will be looking to lay off the Alaphilippe bet when he attacks, if he gets up the road he should trade much shorter. Even if he doesn’t he can beat most (maybe all) of this field on the final climb. Expect to see Peter Sagan and Benoit Cosnefroy to try and get into the break today to claim more points for the green and polka dot jerseys respectively, but I expect they will be caught in plenty of time for a battle up Orcieres-Merlette.
It was such a pity that Anthony Parez punctured a tyre then later fell after hitting the Cofidis team car. He fractured a rib and developed a pneumothorax. (An air bleed into the chest cavity.) A nice view at the end Nass.
Thanks Cyc, it was very sad to see that after the polka dot battle. It’s such an attritional race without worrying about crashing into team cars! hopefully a swift and full recovery.
Could be a good Tour this year with the amount of hilly and technical finishes, though listening to the commentators on Eurosport at the weekend they have tried to set the course up to suit the poor time trialists and leant more to the hills for the winner... Don't know who I would plump for at the moment but Alaphilippe would be near the top of my list along with Adam Yates & Pinot... Can't wait for it to get going and look forward to the potential battles in the hills later on...
The stage yesterday was very informative with Jumbo Visma looking absolutely brilliant. The fact they dominated the last climb was possibly to be expected, but it was the way that Wout and Kuss rode that was so eyecatching. Wout is a classics rider, but he took them so far into the climb before Kuss took them right to the finish. That allowed Roglic to sit on the wheel and meant that those attacking from further back would struggle to get to the front. Pure domination. Alaphillipe and team went too hard for too long on the front of the Peloton, the joy of wearing yellow, but he still rode well to retain the jersey. Bernal looked to be in better condition and we saw a good ride by Pogacar to finish 2nd. Today we should see the bunch sprint with Ewan coming to the fore again. The false flat will mean its not the most explosive of sprints, so look for him getting on the wheel of Bennett and coming late and fast.
Can someone put this stage into fast forward? 54km to go and absolutely nothing happened all day. Apart from Sam Bennett taking virtual green and Peter Sagan looking mediocre in the sprint.
