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Anyone following it? A couple of big crashes on the first day, including one caused by a fan. Then today a stunning ride and win by Van Der Poel. This is shaping up to be a great race.
I've bought the program for the last 6 years and it's a good way to improve language skills and learn about France's premier Summer event. Unless they win the Euros to add to the 2018 World Cup.
I cant see past Pogacar and Roglic for the maillot jaune. But there's sure to be some fireworks along the way. See MVDP yesterday. Did something his grandfather, the great Raymond Poulidor never did. Wearing the yellow Jersey. If only for the day.
The competition for the green Jersey and the polka dot one should give p.enty to focus on.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky
I love watching Le Tour and have ridden up Mont Ventoux, the climb on which Tommy Simpson tragically died. Professional cyclists are something else, not just from the fitness perspective but also in terms of the risks they have to take to be the best. Descending a pass at 60mph is not my idea of fun.
Here's some footage of one of the most gruelling days of professional cycling ever, the stage of the Giro when it snowed...as the riders were climbing the 2600 metre plus, poorly surfaced Passo Gavia
[Post edited 29 Jun 2021 13:56]
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
I love watching Le Tour and have ridden up Mont Ventoux, the climb on which Tommy Simpson tragically died. Professional cyclists are something else, not just from the fitness perspective but also in terms of the risks they have to take to be the best. Descending a pass at 60mph is not my idea of fun.
Here's some footage of one of the most gruelling days of professional cycling ever, the stage of the Giro when it snowed...as the riders were climbing the 2600 metre plus, poorly surfaced Passo Gavia
[Post edited 29 Jun 2021 13:56]
Ventoux is on my list to do. Descended a handful of categorised climbs and remember being surprised by the concentration needed avoiding stone chippings off wall faces, bits of water and gravel. My disc brakes were a bit snatchy too. But the worst was being caught on a mountain in a storm and flash flood without shelter and having no choice but to continue down - albeit very slowly. The pro's obviously adapt to those conditions, but they take massive risks.
Having ridden L'Etape Du Tour a few times I can testify that these guys are just machines. Definitely the toughest sport there is.
Hate Eurosport coverage - after a few years Carlton gets right on your tits so have switched allegiance to ITV and David Miller's calmer approach.
Anyway - COME ON CAV!!!!
Ditto.
I used to cycle back from Sussex Uni to a part of town called Hanover. The distance not an issue but I had to bike up two-thirds of a hill home. First few days I reasoned the legs we’re getting stronger and that I’d be peddling all the way from lecture theatre to lounge in good time.
Days became weeks, became months and I just couldn’t nail it.
That year the TdF came through Brighton. I predicted these poor buggers after 150kms would struggle up the very same hill that had claimed me on every occasion. Not only did they speed up to the very top, but they peddled down to the front and went up a second time!
Immense on every conceivable level!
'Always In Motion' by John Honney available on amazon.co.uk
Ventoux is on my list to do. Descended a handful of categorised climbs and remember being surprised by the concentration needed avoiding stone chippings off wall faces, bits of water and gravel. My disc brakes were a bit snatchy too. But the worst was being caught on a mountain in a storm and flash flood without shelter and having no choice but to continue down - albeit very slowly. The pro's obviously adapt to those conditions, but they take massive risks.
At L'Etape 2014 we went up the Tourmalet and I honestly thought Noh would be waiting for us when we got to the top - thunder, lightning and a stream going down one side of the road. It was 2 degrees at the summit in July!!!
Started the descent cautiously but it was so cold my whole body was shaking and the bike so had to say sod it and pelt it down. Clocked 50mph in the pouring rain dodging cow sh1t which had washed onto the road - it was that or worry that someone else would happen. got to the feed stop at the bottom and it was littered with skinny bodies wrapped in tin foil suffering from hypothermia including 3 of my mates. For once I was glad to have a bit of weight on me.
That thought soon disappeared up the next mountain to the finish as the sun switched back on and it was in the high 30's! That's how quick the weather can turn in the mountains.
At L'Etape 2014 we went up the Tourmalet and I honestly thought Noh would be waiting for us when we got to the top - thunder, lightning and a stream going down one side of the road. It was 2 degrees at the summit in July!!!
Started the descent cautiously but it was so cold my whole body was shaking and the bike so had to say sod it and pelt it down. Clocked 50mph in the pouring rain dodging cow sh1t which had washed onto the road - it was that or worry that someone else would happen. got to the feed stop at the bottom and it was littered with skinny bodies wrapped in tin foil suffering from hypothermia including 3 of my mates. For once I was glad to have a bit of weight on me.
That thought soon disappeared up the next mountain to the finish as the sun switched back on and it was in the high 30's! That's how quick the weather can turn in the mountains.
Don't envy you that descent. But can relate to wishing for the road to point upwards to generate some body heat.
Don't envy you that descent. But can relate to wishing for the road to point upwards to generate some body heat.
When I went up the Ventoux, it was at a time when I didn't have a car and cycled everywhere. The previous year, four months of which had been spent living at the top of a hill in Austria, I had cycled 3700 miles in 12 months. I was incredibly fit and when we got to the Ventoux, we had already done perhaps five days of cycle camping through the Massif Central en route. We were in peak condition.
We had all the waterproof kit and warm gear as well, good thing too because as has been said, it was cold and windy up there. "Ventoux" actually means windy. The gravel in the bends made the descent a bit hair-raising but we were taking risks anyway as we enjoyed the thrill of it and we managed to outpace a car which had been just behind us for a few miles.
All the effort is well worth it because apart from the huge sense of achievement, there is an incredible, panoramic view from the top, supposedly the best in Europe.
A few years ago, we stayed at a place in Bonnieux, a village which looks out on the Ventoux. The owners of our accommodation told us of two groups of cyclists who had got into trouble on the Ventoux, having underestimated how harsh the weather conditions would be at the top. They had to drive over and "rescue" one couple who were close to the top but struggling with the cold.
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
It's been reported that Geraint Thomas who crashed today dislocated his collar bone, it was put back in place and with the help of his team mates he rode on to the finish. Same man a few years back broke his pelvis on the opening day of the tour and rode 3,000 kilometres to finish in Paris. Puts some of todays footballers to shame with their rolling around antics.
Last year was the first year that I followed all jerseys races, and that makes every day fascinating.
Disappointing from an Irish point of view that Bennett is injured, but there's still so much to look forward to - the racing, the scenery, the history, the sprinters, the punchers, the climbers, the young breakers, Jonathan Harris-Bass's recipes, Sean Kelly's quiet sarcasm, Carlton Kirby's bubbling enthusiasm, Bradley Wiggins calling every race wrong - Eurosport coverage is pure quality.
Eurosport coverage is very good, not only the commentary but Orla, Contador, Fletcher, Philippa York (Robert Millar). I do like Ned and David Millar on ITV though. When watching live I tend to switch between the two to avoid the adverts. Also Ned and Millar do a very good podcast called Never Strays.. It's mainly about the cycling but goes on some entertaining tangents. I think it may be up your street.
Eurosport coverage is very good, not only the commentary but Orla, Contador, Fletcher, Philippa York (Robert Millar). I do like Ned and David Millar on ITV though. When watching live I tend to switch between the two to avoid the adverts. Also Ned and Millar do a very good podcast called Never Strays.. It's mainly about the cycling but goes on some entertaining tangents. I think it may be up your street.
Superb. Appreciate the recc, Ranger_Things.
I can't get ITV but will definitely subscribe to the pod. Thanks.
"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
David Millar's story about life in the pro circuit ( Racing through the Dark) when everybody was drugged up is well wort reading.
Stage 3 was all about the crashes. Thomas dislocated a shoulder, before getting it put back and rejoining the peloton. Jumbo Visma's Gesink out. He was v important to that team. Jack Haig out. Roglic losing time after a mistake 10kms out. Cavendish chances ruined when he got caught in a crash 12 km from finish
Ewan and Sagan in the last 300m.
Pogacar and Carapaz were about the only 2 GC riders coming out unscathed.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky
David Millar's story about life in the pro circuit ( Racing through the Dark) when everybody was drugged up is well wort reading.
Stage 3 was all about the crashes. Thomas dislocated a shoulder, before getting it put back and rejoining the peloton. Jumbo Visma's Gesink out. He was v important to that team. Jack Haig out. Roglic losing time after a mistake 10kms out. Cavendish chances ruined when he got caught in a crash 12 km from finish
Ewan and Sagan in the last 300m.
Pogacar and Carapaz were about the only 2 GC riders coming out unscathed.
I enjoyed that book. Also the documentary Time Trial is worth a watch if you haven’t already.
Not a cycling fan - the old men in lycra, many viewed to be retired civil servants sitting pretty on large, un-self funded pensions, who fill the country roads over here making me late for work ("A fcking peloton at 7.45 in the morning? What sort of cuuuuu.........") are a menace. But, the crash, caused by the idiotic woman with the sign, was hilarious, albeit I do feel for the riders involved. I actually fear for that woman - knowing what the Tour is to the French, how do you come back from that? Hope she doesn't do anything equally stupid.
I enjoyed that book. Also the documentary Time Trial is worth a watch if you haven’t already.
Enjoyed both of Millars books. The other was called The Racer. Was also bought a second edition of Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage, which is well written, but competing on unfair terms at those times seems to have dented his love for the sport. That edition was in 2007 and I thought he would have updated it by now, given the Armstrong scandal and how Kimmage was at times the target of Armstrong's vitriol.
When I went up the Ventoux, it was at a time when I didn't have a car and cycled everywhere. The previous year, four months of which had been spent living at the top of a hill in Austria, I had cycled 3700 miles in 12 months. I was incredibly fit and when we got to the Ventoux, we had already done perhaps five days of cycle camping through the Massif Central en route. We were in peak condition.
We had all the waterproof kit and warm gear as well, good thing too because as has been said, it was cold and windy up there. "Ventoux" actually means windy. The gravel in the bends made the descent a bit hair-raising but we were taking risks anyway as we enjoyed the thrill of it and we managed to outpace a car which had been just behind us for a few miles.
All the effort is well worth it because apart from the huge sense of achievement, there is an incredible, panoramic view from the top, supposedly the best in Europe.
A few years ago, we stayed at a place in Bonnieux, a village which looks out on the Ventoux. The owners of our accommodation told us of two groups of cyclists who had got into trouble on the Ventoux, having underestimated how harsh the weather conditions would be at the top. They had to drive over and "rescue" one couple who were close to the top but struggling with the cold.
Great memories!
There's also a book on Ventoux you might like by Jeremy Whittle.
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
That's a good book too. But some years since I've read it.
Previously read and bought into the Armstrong stuff too, before his house of cards came tumbling down. Also, read The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton, but that didn't leave any lasting impressions. Froome's book The Climb was okish.
But a book I really enjoyed is called It's all about the bike by Robert Penn in which he explains the history of the bike in terms of its design and engineering and the leading manufacturers and then goes off around the world assembling all the parts for his perfect bike build as a gift to himself. He visited manufacturers like Cinelli, Chris King and Brooks amongst others.
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