Tour De France - 2016

Oh ye of little faith!

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Originally posted by @Rallyboy

Oh ye of little faith!

So happy for him, he is so happy to have the yellow jersey. Did not see any of yesterday as it was my wedding anniversary. Busy preparing and cooking a 3 course meal. Today a well earned sit in front of the tv with a few chilled ones!

Stage 2 - Sunday July 3rd - 182km - Tour rating ***

so today is Saint-Lo > Cherbourg-en-Cotentin.

**Tatics for the day. **

Mass attack - the finish today is brutal, and there’s not enough terrain for a breakaway move to succeed before the final three kilometre climb. We should see the whole peloton sweeping down into Cherbourg, with all the teams trying to keep their top man at the front.

Long lead outs - in order to get their best men to the front for the climb, the teams will start their lead outs much earlier today.

Every man for himself - the leadouts will extend to the base of the climb, not to in sight of the line as they normally do on sprint stages. Then it will be every man for himself. The final kilometre will be exciting. The winner will be a strong rider who times his move perfectly.

Tour Fact - BMC’s Amael Moinard is from Cherbourg. In the first year with the team he rode for Cadel Evans, who won the tour.

Really happy for Sagan. World champion and now yellow jersey holder! Good man. :cool:

Not sure about his Travolta impression - he looks cooler on a bike.

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Stage 3 - Monday July 4th - 222km - Tour rating *** Flat.

Granville > Angers

**Tatics for the day. **

An attaching start - Lots of riders want to get in a breakaway on a stage like this, so expect an aggressive opening with riders going on off up the road and being brought back until a group with the right combination forms.

Peloton in control - Things will settle down into the classic breakaway chased by the peloton sprint-stage scenario. The wind direction will decide how difficult the chase is, but the peloton will most likely prevail, setting up round two in the battle for the top sprinter of the 2016 Tour.

Lead-out trains - The idea of team leading out its sprinter to control the speed of the peloton, and the sprinter’s place in it, began in 1960’s with Rik Van Looy’s team, which earned the nickname ‘the red guard’. Not all teams copied it, but the effectiveness of lead-outs wasn’t fully realised for another 20 years. Today, though, lead outs are a science with research and testing going into the choice of riders involved, and the position of each one in the lead-out train.

Tour Fact - When the triple Tour de Fance winner Greg LeMond first moved to Europe in 1981, he lived in Angers.

Spoiler alert if you are waiting for the highlights…

Get in there! :smile:

Man that was close.

BBC spoilt it for my highlights at 7! I will still watch though! Cav man!

Great positioning by Cav’s team, he was in such a great place just behind the front (5th wheel) until the sprint. Great lead out!

I love it when Cav wins as he is always so happy!

Perfect he was wearing green…you could easily pick him out of the pack. If he’s in yellow tomorrow we’re fucked. Why are so many teams allowed to wear yellow jerseys?

He will be back in green again tomorrow, as he holds the green jersey outright, rather than keeping it warm for Sagan, with Sagan in yellow as he is the tour leader.

Tinkoff and cannondale get away with their lime green and Lotto NL Jumbo get away with yellow as they have a larger white panel on their jerseys, or a ‘brighter’ yellow.

Well before the highlights I knew that Cav did not win, as this thread was so far down, so rallyboy had not posted. Good race and an even closer photo finish.

into the mountains tomorrow and the fun begins!

Great win for the pretty boy Marcel - not sure it gets much closer

really looking forward to tomorrow’s stage as climbed those cols back in May - not in the same league as the big climbs but were tough enough for me!

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I didn’t like to do a spoiler as it’s one of those sports where most people catch up with the highlights - so I might post tomorrow whatever happens, just to confuse matters…

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Today’s stage is proper! The sort of terrain I love.

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We enter the moutains… woohoo!

Stage 5 - Wednesday July 6th - 216km - Tour rating **** Mountain

Limoges > Le Lioran

**Tatics for the day. **

Multiple attacks - Climbers specialise in this kind of torture; attack, get caught; attack again, get caught again; go for a third time, and they’re away. Here’s a little game; during the Tour count how often it’s the third attack that succeeds, it doesn’t have to be by the same rider, just three attacks. It’s not an immutable law of cycling, but it is the general rule.

Demon descending - There’s a lot of downhill today, and the roads of the Auvergne are not as well engineered as the Alps. They can be sketchy, and downhill skill could be rewarded today.

Tour Fact - Le Lioran is on the side of the second highest mountain in the Auvergne, the Plomb du Cantal (1,885 metres).

It looks really tough!

Nibali already blown up with 24km left - a decent attack could gain a significant advantage today…it’s going to be a big stage for the yellow jersey contenders.

I won’t spoil it for you but Cav didn’t win.

In fact I think he’s still out there somewhere…

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That last downhill section looked scary as fuck just on your own, God knows what it’d be like if you were in the peloton.

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Fucking hell, you’ve clearly never descended in The Peak District. That was standard fare. :cool:

Was always going to be a day for the puncheurs, as I’d said over on the TdF thread in the other place, but had expected Martin or Valverde to be right up there. A good win for a Flahute though.

Sky looked mighty, mighty strong.

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