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Stage 17: Saint-Gaudens to Peyragudes (mountains)
jolly green giant Just a few km into the 17th Stage and Wout van Aert has secured the green jumper for the Points competition, before the parcours headed uphill for the first of four mountains. Wout had popped into a very contested break group to hoover up enough points to have twice as many as…
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Stage 14: Saint-Étienne to Mende (medium mountains)
No easy days on the tour Medium mountains for moderate mountaineers? For some reason I misread the route summary: stage 14 is definitely not flat with KOMs going 3-3-3-3-2 with the finish on top of another airfield on a plateau. It’s flat again tomorrow and then they reach the Pyrenees. So would Stage 14 be…
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Stage 13: Le Bourg-d’Oisans to Saint-Étienne (flat)
Sprints and Cakes Flat transition stage. Not exactly a la crepe, but everyone though it would be a sprint into Saint-Étienne. Breakaway … sit up … trundle trundle trundle … chase … catch … sprint. In the words of Villanelle, “BOOOOORING!” Well that was on my mind this morning when suddenly … [see Postcard of…
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Stage 12: Briançon to Alpe d’Huez (OMG more mountains!)
It’s Bastille Day, la fête nationale française, and everyone expects the French riders to try that much harder. They were prominent yesterday with Warren Barguil, Romain Bardet and David Gaudu, while today it looked like French hopes were carried by Anthony Perez who led over the Galibier. But on the slopes of the final climb…
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Stage 4: Dunkirk to Calais (hilly)
Wow!t van Aert (new spelling) was catapulted up the last climb by his Jumbo-Visma teammates and then time-trialled the entire peloton into the background. Wasn’t that one of the most thrilling sporting achievements of the year? (Along with Johnny Bairstow’s four test centuries, perhaps or Rafa Nadal’s 22nd Grand Slam win?). So his current run…
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Stage 1: Grand Départ – Copenhagen (ITT)
Can I admit that I’m not usually excited about a Time Trial? Yes, I know that marks me out as not a cycling purist, for whom the Race of Truth would be the ultimate test, but man vs. clock doesn’t really cut it for me. Of course there’s the razzmatazz of the Grand Départ, but…
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Countdown to Copenhagen
Sign on to the Velogames Tour de France GreenWightRed minileague You are cordially invited to take part in the premier Grand Tour fantasy cycling game. Play for the immortal kudos of winning the 2022 Tour de France in the GreenWightRed minileague. The race starts this FRIDAY 1st July with a deadline around 15:45 CEST (= 14:45 BST) for…
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Stage 3: Kaposvár to Balatonfüred
One of the advantages of a pan-flat sprint stage is that the commentators have a lot of time to fill. Just like the rain-affected sessions on Test Match Special, this is a recipe for the subject to wander. On GCN, Adam Blythe was waxing lyrical about the view over the sea, when shortly afterwards his…
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Stage 2: Budapest (ITT)
Yes I know it’s the “Race of Truth” where the individual rider cannot fall back on his super domestiques to keep him out of the wind and fetch the snacks and cocktails from the bar, but it’s not the most exciting racing to watch IMHO. Someone fell off, but I can’t even remember who it…
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Stage 1: Budapest to Visegrád
The Easternmost stage of any grand tour, the Giro got underway in Budapest, a couple of years after it was intended. Green, White and Red were the colours of the day – horizontal for Hungary and vertical for Italy. This was echoed by the profile which was 190 km of flattish boring followed by 5…