Le Tour 2019

[Jon Crofts]

And they’re off.

Thomas might struggle without Froome this time around, would love him to win it again.
Yates and Bardet can’t be ruled out, hopefully that wheel sucker Quintana is nowhere.

Ineos settting the pace at the TTT today as expected.

[SteveN]

Off to a lively start yesterday, would love Thomas to win, think his biggest threat comes from his own team, again, Bernal.  Outside of Ineos think Pinot might do well.

[UK Redsox]

I’d not paid any attention to the build up and only found out today that Cav has been left out by his team.

[SteveN]

I’d not paid any attention to the build up and only found out today that Cav has been left out by his team.

Left out by the Team Manager when the Performance Manager wanted him in the team.  Dimension Data are a bit of a shambles leaving him out was a big decision and probably the wrong one. 

[UK Redsox]

I thought maybe that the mountains came early this year and that might be a reason for dropping Cav. However, with only one mountain and a couple of hilly stages in the first ten days, it does seem a strange move

https://www.letour.fr/en/overall-route

[Jon Crofts]

I've enjoyed Sir Jolly Naughty Wiggins commentary so far, he's very entertaining and very knowledgable.

[SteveN]

Mr Thomas was very strong yesterday, early days but looking good.

[SteveN]

Tremendous ride by De Gendt today.  Thomas unlucky, he did well to get back in with fellow GC contenders other than Pinot.

[Jon Crofts]

The way that £12,000 bike frame snapped in a fairly innocuous collision would have me very worried.

[Somniloquism]

The way that £12,000 bike frame snapped in a fairly innocuous collision would have me very worried.

Might have been one of the superlights that they have produced specifically for the tour. Not commercially available but probably has less layups in some areas which decreases impact strength.

[Jon Crofts]

Not Le Tour but Froome has just been awarded 2011 Vuelta win overall as Cobo stripped of the win for doping.

[UK Redsox]

The way that £12,000 bike frame snapped in a fairly innocuous collision would have me very worried.

Might have been one of the superlights that they have produced specifically for the tour. Not commercially available but probably has less layups in some areas which decreases impact strength.

The first full size bicycle I ever rode was a 1940s Met Police bike that my uncle left with my mother when he emigrated to Aus in 1950.

No way was the frame ever snapping on that thing. It weighed a fecking ton. It was later used as makeshift rebar in the concrete base for our shed.

[Jon Crofts]

The way that £12,000 bike frame snapped in a fairly innocuous collision would have me very worried.

Might have been one of the superlights that they have produced specifically for the tour. Not commercially available but probably has less layups in some areas which decreases impact strength.

When I worked for Sky we used to get offered the team bikes at the end of the season to buy, they were all just regular bikes with a weird mix of components, you'd get a Dogma frame set with Duraace cranks, Q Rings, Quark power meter, Shimano wheel set, Ultegra shifters & quite often a riders personal saddle that was rebadged and made to look like a Fizik saddle when clearly it was a Selle or a 3T stem and bars with sticky labels stuck on them to make them look like Pro, the team supplier. I bought Ian Stannard's old Dogma, rode it about twice before realising it was too small and traded it in for a Watt Bike Pro from the team.
If I remember rightly Froome rides a 54cm sometimes a 56, he's my height & build and I ride a 61, I rode Cavs Dimension Data Cervelo round a car park a few years ago, it was like a childs bike.

[simon ward 50]

I see Vos smashed the women's race!

[Jon Crofts]

ITT favourite Van Aert abandons after a nasty crash in the ITT, conscious and talking in ambulance apparently.