Thursday, March 28, 2024

Le Tour débute demain!

-

HomeRaceRace PreviewsLe Tour débute demain!

Mont-Saint-MichelIt’s that time, we go from being saddos to the ‘go to guys/girls’ for info; the papers even pay attention to cycling for a week or two; Viktor hates it but watches every stage and Dave Brailsford is spending a lot of time in church praying for ‘Froomey’s’ form to come good… yes, it’s Tour time. But before the first low pro rolls off the ramp in Dusseldorf – incidentally, ‘the sixth most “liveable” city in the world,’ strangely we couldn’t find Kirkcaldy on the list.

VeloVeritas will be bringing you a word or two each day about the greatest annual sporting event on earth.

We’ll be going over for the middle week and will try to give you a good flavour of what it’s all about.

Never mind, here’s the ‘who we think will do what’ for the 2017 Tour de France:

Le Tour de France Dusselforf
Fabio is all smiles in his new Italian National Champion’s jersey. Photo©Fabio’s Twitter

ARU, Fabio, Italy and Astana: missed the Giro through injury so he’ll be fresh – he rode a surprisingly good Dauphine and then won the Italian Elite Road Championship.

Whilst winning the Giro or Vuelta by no means you can win le Tour the Sardinian has been second in the first and won the latter.

His head will be good after the Dauphine and with those red, white and green bands around his chest.

Astana are a wily bunch and a podium seems highly possible; especially with Fuglsang’s blooming – they’re in an ideal position to play ‘the old one-two game’ with their rivals.

Le Tour de France Dusselforf
Romain Bardet. Photo©Gautier Demouveaux/ASO

BARDET, Romain, France and AG2R: was second last year, displaying real panache.

He was good but not amazing in the Dauphine but his management and coach will have everything geared to those ’23 Days in July.’

AG2R is a strong squad with good management and Bardet seems to handle the pressure of an expectant French Media well – he could just win it.

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Esteban Chaves. Photo©Gautier Demouveaux/ASO

CHAVES, Esteban, Colombia and Orica-Scott: podiums and stage wins in the Giro and Vuelta remind us of this man’s talent but this year has been compromised by a knee injury.

He rode the Dauphine and ‘got round’ – but being a slightly built rider he won’t need the kind of workload some of his more robustly built rivals need to gain form.

Watch for him in the last week – top 10, maybe?

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Alberto Contador. Photo©Gautier Demouveaux/ASO

CONTADOR, Alberto, Spain and Trek: Viktor reckons he’s ‘milking it’ for the pay cheques but he’d obviously forgotten the last stage of Paris-Nice where ‘Bert’ showed why he’s one of the greats with a show of aggression which just failed to win him the race.

He was second too in the Ruta del Sol, Catalunya and Pais Vasco, so erecting that headstone is perhaps a tad premature.

In the Dauphine it looked like he’d done what he had to do before he sat up to finish 11th overall.

Given the way his opposition have been riding a podium is certainly possible.

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
We expect to see more stony Sky team presser faces over the next three weeks. Photo©Pierre Froger/ASO

FROOME, Christopher, GB and Sky: we’re puzzled, what happened to the Sky mantra that if you’re riding preparation races, you’re as well riding them to win?

Fourth on GC in the Dauphine is as good as it’s been this year – but like Greg Lemond and that dude from Plano would tell you, there’s only three weeks in the whole year which really matter.

We wonder if he’s trying to finish the season with more gas in the tank?

The Vuelta is still a saddle burr for the man.

But this review is about the Tour of France, not Spain and with his experience and team it would be unwise to regard him as anything but the number one favourite for final victory in Paris.

And Dave Brailsford needs him to win, real bad…

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Jacob Fuglsang. Photo©Getty Images

FUGLSANG, Jakob, Denmark and Astana: his Dauphine win was pure class, nothing less.

With Aru he gives the Kazakh squad the ability to play tactical games with their rivals – but can he withstand three weeks of pressure?

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Rafal Majka. Photo©Bora

MAJKA, Rafal, Poland and Bora-Hansgrohe: he’s been on the Vuelta podium, can climb with the very best, won Slovenia and was second in California.

We say top 10 at least.

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Dan Martin. Photo©dh.be

MARTIN, Dan, Ireland (via Birmingham) and QuickStep: he can’t win it but a podium is perhaps possible; he too can climb with the best and whilst his team will be ‘all for Marcel’ on the sprint stages, they’re pure quality and he’ll be as well looked after as all but the very best – except in the big mountains.

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Louise Meintjes. Photo©TDU

MEINTJES, LOUIS, Republic of South Africa and UAE: top 10 in the Dauphine and there when it mattered we just wish we could move him out of our, ‘just difficult to drop’ file…

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Richie Porte. Photo©Gautier Demouveaux/ASO

PORTE, Richie, Australia and BMC: he won the Tour Down Under, Romandie but was then mugged in the Dauphine.

He’s come on well year on year but his Grand Tour podium stats tell a story – nil.

He always contrives to fall off/miss the move/puncture at the wrong time – the podium? maybe; the win? no.

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Nairo Quintana. Photo©Gautier Demouveaux/ASO

QUINTANA Nairo, Movistar and Colombia: despite the Media telling us prior to ever Grand Tour in which they compete together that Valverde will stab him in the back, it’s never happened – and it’s unlikely to happen in this Tour.

But where has the little chap’s ‘sparkle’ gone?

Yes, he’s won the Giro and the Vuelta; and did look like a Tour winner in waiting – but much less so now.

Like Stephen Roche says, maybe he needs to ride a Grand Tour to ‘warm up?’

There’s a Giro in those little legs already this year and lots of terrain to suit; let’s see what he can do.

Le Tour de France Dusseldorf
Alejandro Valverde. Photo©surf.ch

VALVERDE, Alejandro, Movistar and Spain: his form in the spring was stunning; he was hardly beaten with the Fleche/Liege double shining like a beacon.

He took time and came back for the Dauphine where he loosened his legs with ninth overall.

With Quintana, Movistar have tactical options aplenty and it’s not hard to imagine them both back on the podium.

Dusseldorf
Tony Martin. Photo©Gautier Demouveaux/ASO

YATES, Simon, GB and Orica: sixth with a stage win in the Vuelta last year; he was 13th in the Dauphine and second in Romandie – but he’ll have to do Chaves bidding if the little Colombian rides how he’s capable of.

Top 10 surely possible though.

And tomorrow’s winner?

Tony Martin.

Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed's been involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he's been a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He's also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months was often working in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed remains a massive fan of the sport and couples his extensive contacts with an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the minutiae and the history of our sport. In February 2023 however, our dear friend and beloved colleague Ed suffered a devastating stroke and faces an uncertain future; Ed has lost his ability to speak, to read, and has lost movement on the right side of his body. He's working with speech and physical therapists on rehabilitation, but all strokes are different and each patient responds differently, so unfortunately recovery is one day at a time. Ed ran his own business installing windows, and will probably not be able to work again. Please consider joining us to make a contribution to Ed's GoFundMe page to help stabilise and secure his future.

Related Articles

Edinburgh Nocturne Criterium – Preview

A phone call from Craig MacLean the other day; "I'll be up in Edinburgh on Monday morning, to do some promo for the Edinburgh Nocturne races at the end of the month, fancy catching up?" For sure mate. And so I pottered along to the press launch of the Nocturne event today, which centered around an exhibition of roller racing, with the wonderful backdrop of Edinburgh Castle.

Scottish Hill Climb Championships 2010 – Preview

Promoted by Sandy Wallace Cycles, the Scottish Hill Climb Championships 2010 takes place on Sunday on the Purrin Den ascent in Fife, and around 35 hardy souls are preparing to put themselves through the seven minutes (and more) of pain it'll take to see the relay station at the finish...

The 2008 Scottish Cross Country Mountain Bike Series

Rob Wardell emailed to tell us about the first round of the Scottish Cross Country Mountain Bike Series which is due to take place in less than 3 weeks' time, at Laggan Woftrax. Online entries are now being taken at EntryCentral. Riders who enter online at EntryCentral will also receive a :£5.00 discount over postal entries and entries on the day.

The Peebles Criterium 2011 Preview

On Tuesday 14th of June we have a major new event for a summer evening in Peebles, in the Scottish Borders. For the first time, a major new road event will be taking place in the town centre: a Belgian-style kermis event with lots of the community involved and pubs and restaurants along the circuit; The Peebles Criterium 2011.

At Random

Richard Bideau – 30mph for 100 Miles to break the Competition Record!

A 19 minute ‘10’ is pretty rapid by any standard – but how about stringing together 10 of them, back to back? That’s exactly what 44 year-old Richard Bideau (Pendle Forest CC) a self employed potter from Burnley did in his first hundred; recording 3:18:54 in the Stockton Wheeler’s event a week past Sunday to slice a stunning 3:51 from multi-BBAR Kevin Dawson’s 12 year-old competition record.

About Iñigo Cuesta and Gerard

Sunday, I did my hour on the bike this morning; had my shower, washed me vest and hat - time to amble down to the newsagents to pick up The Observer, just to see the prologue result in print; there might even be a paragraph or two, a mention of Iñigo Cuesta...but no - "nada."

Track World Championships 2010 – or Training Session?

The women's 500 metre time trial was the first race I caught sight of on the TV - it's hard to get excited about it. But the Ballerup track was looking great, freshly sanded and with new advertising - what you don't realise until you look at the down tube of a bike that has just finished in a Derny race is the amount of soot and oil that the little motorbikes pump out - the joiners have buffed all that off, though.

14th International Critérium de Levallois 2010

It was a typical cold grey Scottish autumn day for the 14th International Critérium de Levallois - even though we were in Paris.