Who's Gonna Win 2019 Tour de France?

Who's Gonna Win 2019 Tour de France?

Fuglsang

Nibali

Thomas

Bernal

Bardet

Quintana

Pinot

Uran

Porte

Kelderman

 

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Tyler Hamilton - The Secret Race

I know it's late but I've just read this book and I think it deserves a review.
I read this book ages after Armstrong's confession and everything that followed.
It may sound weird but this book is about truth and guts, that's why I loved it so much.
The book follows with incredible precision the career of Hamilton, a talented American rider.
The beginning is very interesting, pointing out the difference between the European and the American way of conceiving cycling.
Once Hamilton is hired by US Postal the book become a fantastic roller coaster between the feelings
of a human being, the passion of a young talented rider and, in the end, the wisdom of man.
The book could be classified in two different ways: as a scientific treatises, describing meticulously the doping practices, or as a coming-of-age story.
I prefer the second one. I think the meticulous description of the doping practices is an important part of the path of formation described in the book.
The book contains also a very interesting part about the preparation of Armstrong trial and the political decision to dismiss it.
Nevertheless, I think that what makes this book a Great book is the story of the man, of the rider, of a passionate kid that we could have been if we would have been more talented.

Le Tour de Merde

"Ce ci n'est pas une pipe", said Magritte.
I say: "This is not a cycling race".
I don't think this grotesque parade with such a shitty organization deserves any further comment.

The Worst Race in the World

It is hard to understand the decision of the organizers to exclude Froom from le Tour de France.
I know that Froome was born in Africa and French people don't want immigrants but this it too much.
I don't even want to believe that this is due to his Salbutamol case.
It is important to clarify that Froome did not use doping, He was just found an excess of a permitted medicine in his blood and everything has still to be proved.
Froome made history at the Giro d'Italia and he was never found doped during the race, what are we talking about?
Loads of French riders have taken part to the Tour the France with worse doping cases pending on them.
The truth is that French organizers are scared of Froome. Nevertheless, for the love of cycling I've found a solution that will satisfy everybody!
The Tour de France should become the new French National Championship.
In this way, there will be just French riders with 21 French stage winners and the final classification will be won by a French too. The end of the Tour de France will be the new French national day and everybody will be happy.
Who cares about the rest of the world? We are French after all!

Rider of the Tour de France 2017

Congratulations Froome, you made it!
The Impressionists have elected you as rider of the Tour de France 2017.
You can say what you want but how you can say he is not a champion? In the end he always win and this is what matters.
Poker of Tours and rider of the Tour 2017, what else do you need?

Tour de France 2017 Finale

One of the most boring Tour de France I can remember, due also to the tracery of the organizers, finally came to an end.
The jurors tried to do everything to provide as much French victories as possible, disqualifying and penalizing foreign riders, but, in the end, as always, Froome won.
There is not a big winner of this Tour, Froome appeared to be more vulnerable than the previous editions but none of his opponents has been able to beat him, due also to his incredible team that controlled every single stage.
From this Tour de France comes out a big martyr, the strongest rider on the road, a man that could have easily won this edition of the Tour de France but he was in the wrong team. All our thoughts are for you Mikel Landa.
Here you can find my grades to the teams,  from 1 (very bad) to 10 (very good), you, dear Impressionists, will choose the rider of the Tour de France in the upcoming survey.
Team Sky - 9
They have won their 5th Tour in the last six years this says all. Nevertheless they are a dictatorial regime, there is no space left for unplanned exploits by other members of the team.

AG2R La Mondiale - 8
They tried in any way to win this Tour de France but, unfortunately, for Bardet, even a single kilometer against the clock is too much.

Movistar Team - 5
They lost Valverde during the first stage, the alternative to a Quintana still recovering from a really hard Giro.

Trek-Segafredo - 6
Contador has the heart of a lion but not the legs. They go home with a stage win, at the beginning of the Tour de France they had bigger plans.

BMC Racing Team - 5
They lost their best rider, they didn't have a second plan, they failed.

Astana Pro Team - 1
Is this a team? The strategy was to leave Aru alone as soon as possible? Still wondering...

UAE Team Emirates - 5
A top ten could not be enough for the team.

FDJ - 5.5
They sacrified half of the team with a rider. They won a stage.

Orica-Scott - 7
The white jersey was the main goal, they did it. They could have won a stage.

Dimension Data - 6.5
They lost their main sprinter, they had a second plan, they won a stage.

Quick-Step Floors - 8
They dominated every single sprint they took part. They were helped by a Tour de France with tons of flat stages.

Bora-Hansgrohe - 7.5
They lost their most representative rider after a questionable decision by the jurors. They won another stage.

Team Katusha-Alpecin - 5
They failed all their objectives.

Lotto Soudal - 5
They failed all their objectives.

Team Sunweb - 10
They won, they amused the crowd, they deserved two fantastic jerseys. Team of the year.

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits - 3.5
I discover they were at the Tour when Bouhanni punched another rider.  They disappeared again after that episode.

Team LottoNL-Jumbo - 8
Two great stage win, one of them on le Champs Elysdées, what else do you need?

Direct Energie - 7.5
A memorable stage win.

Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team - 9
Stage win and an unexpected second place in the general classification! What a Tour de France!!

Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team - 4
They failed all their mysterious objectives.

Wanty-Groupe Gobert - 5
Big breakaways but that's all.

Fortuneo - Oscaro - 5
Breakaways, that's all. I expected more.

How Many Riders Will Arrive In Paris?

This is the question murmured on the roads of le Tour de France.
One of the most boring Tour de France I can remember is being sadly animated just by bad crashes.
Nevertheless, they are part of cycling, as mechanical problems.
That's why I think that the weeping Froome should not have complained with Aru about his attack.
Following the policy of Froome I don't understand why the Tour is continuing on Tuesday with another stage. We should suspend the Tour and wait 30 days 'til Porte is fully recovered and ready to battle again. Ridiculous.
I don't even understand why the other contenders did not help Aru in the only true attack of the day at the yellow jersey. They preferred to wait for Froome and to be humiliated by him.
Condator is a former champion that is facing his natural decline and Quintana is still recovering from one of the hardest Giro of all time.
They had a chance, they missed it.

Tour de France 2017 Pt. 1

The same old Tour is on and nothing seems to have changed.
Froome is again the big favourite and the other teams are already complaining about Team Sky's tactics and materials.
This time under investigation are the skinsuits used by the team during the opening Time Trial that, with their "vortex generator", seem to have provided the riders a notable time gain.
The saddest event is the crash of Valverde in the first stage, the Tour looses one of the most spectacular riders of the peloton. I really hope this won't be the end of the career of one of the last legend of this sport.
One of the most interesting riders to watch out during the first part of this Tour is Phinney, the American seems finally healed and in a good shape. No doubt about his talent, now I'm curious to see what he can do.
Until the stage arrival at la Planche des Belles Filles we can just enjoy watching Sagan that tries to win every stage.
Welcome back to the same old Tour de France.

Pre - Tour De France Races

 

What a nice final for the Route du Sud 2017! Scully won the last stage after a thrilling sprint on the racetrack of Novaro.
The Route du Sud gave us great signals about the team Cannondale-Drapac, can we finally expect to see something good at le Tour de France from this World Tour team? I really hope so.
Tour of Slovenia and Tour de Suisse proved that the Team Bora-Hansgrohe is ready to lead their first Tour de France.
Nevertheless, I'am worried because I see so many pretenders for a stage to win in good shape, but I don't see a proper parterre of contenders for the victory of the Tour de France general classification.
I really hope it was all tactics so far but with such a great Giro d'Italia, this year, many Grand Tours riders choose the Giro instead of the Tour.
It is going to be a strange Tour de France this year, but we'll be ready to comment everything is going to happen.

Critérium du Dauphiné

One of the most famous pre-Tour races is over, but I don't think we could collect real info about the riders that will battle for the yellow jersey.
Porte fought hard during the last stage to win the race but he did it just due to his position in the General Classification and because a champion in such a position can't do in a different way.
Nevertheless I don't think this is enough to make statements and predictions about the upcoming Tour de France.
In my opinion, at the end of this Critérium du Dauphiné there are three notable events:

1) The great victory of Fuglsang and Team Astana that after really hard days are trying to rebuilt a dramatic (not in terms of results) season. The team fought harder than ever and, in the end, won.
It is really hard to comment a victory like this, so we can just enjoy it and think about it.

2) The birth of two young talent: a sprinter and a climber. Bauhaus and Bouwman took both their first World Tour win and seems to have promised us great shows in the future.
The victory of Bauhaus is the top of a maturation process that passed through a great Giro d'Italia. Will Bauhaus be the next German great sprinter?

3) Valverde is immortal and is one of the best riders of all times. He is one of the few rider (Sagan is another for example) than when takes part to a race you can be sure it will be an exciting one and you won't forget he is in the race. He is 37 and he is never complaining, this is a great example for so many riders that claim to be the best. and pretend so much.

See you soon to see what happened in the Swiss corner of the pre-Tour preparation.

The Year of Sagan

Sagan is a champion, this is a fact.
This is the best podium you can dream of if you are the winner of the World Championships. You won the gold medal and you have beaten two legends of the 21st century cycling era.
The question is: how long Sagan supremacy will last?
I've never seen a rider like him so far, I love Tom Boonen, I've loved Cipollini (Pantani is something different, he was not a rider he was a mythological hero) but Sagan is incredible.
In theory he can win on any terrain, he can win in a peloton sprint, he can win with a solo attack, he is unpredictable and unbeatable,
I've waited 3 yeras but I've to say that Sagan could become the best rider of all times and a true immortal icon of this sport.
2017 will be a crucial year for Sagan's saga but so far I can just say: Thank you Peter!

Rider of the Month: July

Congratulations to Sagan who has decided to dominate this special classification too after his 5th green jersey and 3 stage win in the Tourd de France 2016.
He is literally demolishing every competition he is taking part in 2016, what will happen in Rio?
I don't know what will happen but I am sure that the Olympics Cross Country race will be a memorable one.

Answer The Survey And Find Out Who Will Be The Rider Of The Month

Who is the Rider of the Month?

Cavendish

Sagan

Froome

Dumoulin

Wellens

Bardet

Yates

Majka

Boonen

Mollema

 

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Tour de France Ratings

I'm using the rating scale from 0 (very bad) to 10 (excellent).

Froome, Sagan: 10

Cavendish: 9,5

Dumoulin, Bardet, Yates: 8

Van Avermaet, Pantano: 7,5

Zakarin, Valverde, Majka: 7

Matthews, De Gendt, Izagirre, Rodriguez: 6,5

Kittel, Greipel, Porte, Cummings: 6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quintana, Barguil, Kristoff, Alaphilippe: 5

Aru, Nibali, Rolland, Cancellara: 4,5

Coquard, Voeckler: 4

Prudhomme, Security, Motorbikes: 0

Considerations After a Week of Tour de France

- Sagan is proving he is the best rider at the moment and one of the best riders of all times.
- Froome's attack on descent proved all his class and gave a great lesson of heart and tactics to his opponents.
- Team Dimension Data is absolutely bossing the Tour with an incredible Mark Cavendish and a great strategy.
- The organizers haven't learnt how to draw the stages of  a Grand Tour yet.
- Nibali, what are you doing? Astana, what is your strategy?
- Quintana, do you remember that last year when you attacked during the last week it was too late?
- The battle seems more close this year but I'am not so sure it will be the same in a week.

Le Grand Départ

Finally the Tour de France Grand Départ has been truly grand.
Cavendish's first stage win has been fantastic. He used all his track skills and his experience and was able to set himself back on the throne of the sprinters.
For most of the people he was presented as an ex sprinter, overcome by the new generation of sprinters,  young and powerful.
During the last two years he kept on working without saying a single word of envy or hate and came back today with this incredible result!
The rest of the Tour will be a nice trip around France for Cav, now he has re-gained the respect of the cycling world (never lost at my eyes) and he can just concentrate on enjoying his yellow jersey with the licence to win some more stages.
Congratulations Mark, enjoy your yellow jersey! That was a proper Grand Depart!

Giro d'Italia or Tour de France?

The 99th Giro d'Italia has been a strange Giro so far.
Giro was famous to present great fights since the first week, with tricky stages and new strong climbs found around the country every year, while waiting for the giants of the Alps.
This edition of the Giro d'Italia looks like a poor Tour de France, with predictable stages during the first week, a time trial as first battle ground for the contenders and in general a slow waiting for the climbs that will arrive later on.
This is not what has made Giro the most exciting, hardest and unpredictable Grand Tour.
Giro has always been a race for emotional and crazy riders, ready to attack without too many tactics. This was made possible, even in modern cycling, by the features of the stages, never dull and resourceful for the attackers.
Putting a time trial after the first week it is tipical of the Tour de Frace, where you wait bored until the last week, hoping for a rider to attack by chance.
The Tour de France, in recent years, changed its structure, understanding that the kind of race they presented was unsustainable for the show and the Tour de France became more similar to the Giro.
Now, my question is: why if the proud and presumptuous French organizers have changed the Tour de Frace, making it more similar to the Giro, in order to make more exciting the first part of the race, Italian organizers are copying the old Tour de France organizers making the Giro a boring race with a slow start?