I don’t know if this community is active enough yet to have a pre, race and result thread per stage, so let’s see how we get on with one thread.
Really looking forward to this stage. I think it will make a great start to the Tour de France. My money is on van Aert for this stage he goes up the mountains a bit better the MvdP and he has the best final sprint of whoever will be left.
Interesting WvA didn’t really sprint for 3rd, just rolled in. Maybe too tired, maybe just not worth it
i think he said in the post-race interview that he gave everything chasing down the yates
With Adam Yates looking this strong and him heaving the yellow jersey now, maybe UAE can try a one, two strategy like jumbo visma last year
It definitely gives credit to their “two leaders” narrative. Hopefully it results in some great racing like last year.
It’s better than JV had last year because this time around the team with a sole leader has a poor stable of mountain domestiques. They don’t even have to work to isolate Jonas. It will just happen at the end of stages and he will have to mark both riders (assuming yates’ form isn’t a mirage and noone on JV surprises by stepping up a level)
What an exciting race. Felt really sorry for Mas!
Definitely one of the better opening stages of a grand tour. I guess Movistar will have to hunt for a stage win with Guerreiro or Jorgenson now.
There are a lot of opportunities for both of them in the upcoming stages. I hope Mas will recover in time for the Vuelta now. Haven’t seen anything yet about the extent of his injuries.
Man, how unfortunate for Carapaz and Mas.
Gutted for them
Btw great opening stage with gc action on day one! Love it!
Yep, great stage! Just watched the rest this morning. Gotta feel for Carapaz and Mas. Hopefully Carapaz starts stage 2, but he wasn’t looking good at all.
I am honestly not to hopeful. The knee will probably swell over night.
Yeah broken kneecap. Season over. What a trooper getting to the finish line, pro cyclists are a different breed.
I haven’t been keeping up on much pre-tour coverage this year, are there any big storylines to pay attention to? Or just kinda expecting Vingegaard and Pogacar to be the favorites for GC again?
Yes, but Pog is a bit of an unknown since he’s coming back from an injury and maybe hasn’t trained enough. UAE brought Yates in as co-captain. So a bit of uncertainty on UAE.
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Ooo interesting! Thanks for the insight, didn’t know Yates was brought in. It’ll be fun to see how that plays out
Played out pretty well so far
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Yates said in the interview after the race that Pogacar was king. I guess that means he’s going to support Pog instead of ride for his own classification from now on.
I think for now the best thing he can do for pog’s race is to be a legit GC threat. That he and the team are contradicting each other is really interesting. They’re either surprisingly strategically naive or playing a canny game. My money’s on the latter.
I think they are all playing a game. Pogi complaining about his hand at the start and then finishing third two days in a row is an example of that too. Or how he sprinted away from Jonas for bonus seconds.
I think they as a team are like cats playing with mice this tour and I love it!
Thanks for reminding me that this starts today!
What is the best way to watch some of the tour in the US?
I watch the highlights on NBC on youtube. They are pretty good, usually showing 20-40min of the race
Best way cost a little $.
$5 for NBC (peacock app) monthly or $10 for ad free. You also get access to world feed so you don’t need to suffer with Bob Roll.
After years of trying other solutions, high seas, etc., I happily pay the $10.
Thank you for the advice. This is the route I took. My ISP has a promotion with Peacock for three free months of premium. I’m loving the world stream.
No hassle cancel too. Just log in (in a browser, not the app) and cancel. No push back. Sort of shocking/refreshing in this day and age, especially for a massive media conglomerate.
You can cancel today and you’ll still have access for all 30 days.
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not sure how good/fast/reliable the site is anymore. have been subscribed to GCN racing for a few years now.
As a Dane, I’m watching for Gregaard in the breakaway and Skjelmose for the stage win.
Not too familiar with Gregaard, but I’m expecting big things from Skjelmose
Yeah, Gregaard is usually not a strong rider. But as he won the polka jersey in Paris Nice, there’s some hype about him being able to wear it in TDF. But I find it unlikely he will win it in the end.
But now he’s in the breakaway, so looking good so far :)
Hearing the INEOS team radio just now was really strange and jarring. This’ll take some getting used to.
Heard the jumbo-visma one there definitely a bit of getting used to and hopefully they will be a bit more insightful then that.
Just tuned in. 5 in the break. Looks like Greggard going for polkadots.
Live tracker here: https://firstcycling.com/m/racecenter.php
A that’s bad. And also pretty incredible that he made it to the finish line!
