Tomorrow is the start of the Tour de France. 4th to 26th July.
The names to watch for the winner are Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vinegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Adam Yates and Paul Seixas. No great surprises there except for the new name Paul Seixas.
Seixas, pronounced SAYSHASH, is the new young boy, French, who is on the slipstream of Pogacar. From what I have read he is the new wonderkid who looks as if he is going to bring a Tour winner back to France if not this year in the not too distant future. He has already been a winner of a World Tour stage this year, at 19 and a half, younger than either Pogacar or Evenepoel when they achieved it. From his achievements since 14 years old he appears to be a champion-in-waiting. A good all rounder with experience of French mountains, cross country, cobbles, cyclocross, and speed he will be much talked about in this Tour.
The Tour starts in Spain with a Team Time Trial. A Team Time Trial is an unusual inclusion and the rules have been changed a bit to suit the Tour in that each individual rider in the team will be given his own time, rather than the team all taking the same time. This is for the sake of the General Classification. It goes a bit against the logic of a team time trial by definition but this is the Tour and can set its own rules. Each team will be eight riders and they will protect their fastest rider and then at the last part of the trial the fastest will be let go, if you follow me. The fastest of all at completion of all the teams trials will be awarded the Yellow Jersey. The eight riders rosters have not been announced yet.
The trial is in Barcelona around the streets from The Forum along the waterfront to the Olympic Stadium and is 19.6 km. 15 km is flat and then 2 short hills.
Stage 2 on Sunday is Tarragona down into Barcelona. 183.9 km. There is a mountainous part at about 85 km and will sort the men from the boys.
Stage 3 and it gets even harder on Monday, Granollers to Les Angles when they go through this mountain stage and a new Yellow Jersey leader may emerge who is good climber. This is where the Tour leaves Spain and goes into France.
Stage 4 goes from Carcassonne to Foix and so on we go.
The map this year was tricky but I did a quick one yesterday afternoon. The Tour seems to go all over the place in disconnected ways. So apologies for the map but it gives you an idea of the area covered, I hope. On 11th July, Stage 8, it goes within waving distance of Cro, Perigueux to Bergerac.
Watching is tricky - it will be live on HBO Max and TNT Sports and free highlights in the evening on Channel 5 from 7pm as far as I am aware.
I won't be watching it on tv. I don't think it's shown here anyway unless there's a serious accident, or scandal. I'll be enjoying your commentary.
ReplyDeleteIt's an exciting competition again this year
I am not sure about daily watching, may just do evening highlights and results although I do enjoy the day racing for the scenery as much as the racing. I think I can get HBO Max coverage for free but until it happens I am not 100% sure. I am pleased you will be following with me when I write, and hopefully there will be others who will too. I look forward to the new young boy and seeing how he is doing.
DeleteWe shall be recording it and watching it at our leisure. We enjoy it every year, though some of the crashes are pretty gruesome.
ReplyDeleteMany of us here have enjoyed the Tour over the years and I used to illustrate each stage. Although I was working at the time I still used to illustrate each stage, however, now that I am not working I seem to not have the time to do it! I do not want to see any crashes, just good racing. Rachel
DeleteI'm looking forward to your coverage and drawings. Lesley x
ReplyDeleteHi Lesley, good to see you and to have you on board. I often think about you. I walked past the house you stayed in yesterday. I don't use that station very much at the moment because I haven't had the energy to manage the steps up and over the track so have been catching the train at the next station along. Hope you are well. Rachel xx
DeleteI usually like to dip into watching the Tour, ( like you, I enjoy the scenery as much as the racing ) but it sounds as if I won't be able to this time.....what is HBO Max? Prefer watching " live" rather than highlights but will try Ch 5 .
ReplyDeleteHBO Max is a subscription streaming channel which I get as part of my Sky subscription. I actually watch loads of stuff on the channel but have yet to try it for sport, hence me not being sure if it will let me or not. TNT tend to be a bit mean about free sport coverage and if it comes via Discovery+ then it will be supplied by TNT. I hope you are able to watch somewhere. Rachel xx
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