Tour de France 2024

Have been watching young rookie Frank van den Broek, #187, since his very strong 2nd in grueling Stage 1 — most of which he also led with little help.

After Stage 5, he's 49th of 174 overall. Totally forgotten by NBC after Stage 2.

Could well have overexerted himself in Stage 1. Hope he makes a comeback.
 
Rás Cnoic said:
Cav
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Have a look at the dropped chain. @mfgrep and you thought you were alone... :)

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All photos by Szymon Gruchalski Cycling, the photographer who also took three excellent photos of me during Sudovia Gravel Race 2024 :)

See more photos from TdF by Szymon Gruchalski here.
 
Grrr. Stayed away from news all day while at work. Came home did my 90 minutes of yardwork, came in sweaty, sat down, cracked open a beer and started Peacock so I could watch the whole stage.

...And right there next to the stage replay, Peacock gives away the ending with the title of the highlight stream.
 
BlackHand said:
Well, the Dutch sprinter won by a nose.

www.cyclingnews.com

Dylan Groenewegen’s stage winning ‘aero beak’ is €350 of craziness, but it’s not the most outlandish eyewear we’ve seen at the Tour de France

The nosepiece is a €350 add-on to his Scicon shades, but from over-the-top Oakleys to motocross goggles, the Tour has seen it all
www.cyclingnews.com www.cyclingnews.com
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Should've talked to me. I would have been happy to fold up a little square of black construction paper and sell it to him for €200, pre-cut scotch tape included.

Cav said in an interview that his only path to the front was too close to the barrier to risk. Hard to fault him for passing on a replay of his last crash — his most serious by far. But he had high praises for the work his team did to get him there.
 
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Saw an article about Cavendish's kit for this TdF. The custom Wiliers bike cost a bundle, but his new watch cost much, much more. After those 2 outlays, the £1,200 aero sox must've seemed like pocket change.
 
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The brother in law is doing a blog, hes follwing the tour in a car and ebikes.

Hes quite the journalist , a few great pictures on the trail.

letour24.travel.blog

Sore bums and giant chickens

Tunnels. Narrow tunnels. Narrow dark tunnels. That’s my abiding memory of the six hour drive from Monte Carlo to Serre Chevalier in the Alps. And when you have a passenger with a nervous dispositio…
letour24.travel.blog letour24.travel.blog
 
Chargeride said:
The brother in law is doing a blog, hes follwing the tour in a car and ebikes.

Hes quite the journalist , a few great pictures on the trail.

letour24.travel.blog

Sore bums and giant chickens

Tunnels. Narrow tunnels. Narrow dark tunnels. That’s my abiding memory of the six hour drive from Monte Carlo to Serre Chevalier in the Alps. And when you have a passenger with a nervous dispositio…
letour24.travel.blog letour24.travel.blog
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Really enjoyed that. Your brother's a very entertaining writer.

I'm with your sister-in-law on steering clear of the religiousy stuff. Every stop on our 2 European river cruises, wife would head out on the church-and-castle bus tour, and I'd rent a bike and follow my nose around town.

Worst thing about the bus tours: The guides talk incessantly, and I mean incessantly. On and off the bus. No such thing as dead air — which soon leaves me fantasizing about dead guide.
 
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Tomorrow's mostly flattish, 199 km Stage 9 introduces gravel to the TdF — specifically, 33 km of "white gravel" divided into 14 "sectors", some of which aren't so flat.

Pundits are saying that the gravel sectors are too short to warrant bike changes. My geology training and MTB experience tell me that white color says little about what the gravel would be like to ride on typical TdF wheels and tires at typical TdF speeds. And you can't assume that slope and valley floor gravels will be the same.

Eager to see the equipment compromises reached to strike the Solomaic balance between rider safety, maneuverability, and speed. And how much the riders had to say about it.
 
Interesting tidbit from today's commentary: Week 1 had 12,000 m of climbing. Week 3 will have 22,000 m.

Today, I climbed 214 m in 15 miles on lowest assist and headed straight for the easy chair when I got home. My TdF training has a long way to go.
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
Interesting tidbit from today's commentary: Week 1 had 12,000 m of climbing. Week 3 will have 22,000 m.

Today, I climbed 214 m in 15 miles on lowest assist and headed straight for the easy chair when I got home. My TdF training has a long way to go.
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I'm backing you Jeremy to lead the EBR sponsored team in the 2026 TdF. That should give you enough time to train, assemble the team and most important get that EBR kit designed!
 
Thought Ben Healy might nab it in the run in. He has zero sprint so he had to go for a (doomed) attack. He keeps trying every day.
 
Rás Cnoic said:
Thought Ben Healy might nab it in the run in. He has zero sprint so he had to go for a (doomed) attack. He keeps trying every day.
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You know it's an exciting finish when the commentators — all TdF veterans in one way or another — switch their stage winner picks over and over in the last 2 km.

Highly recommend the post-race interview with Vingegaard, who rode the last 50+ km on a teammate's bike due to a punture, then had another puncture (presumably a slow leak) near the end. And still stayed on Pogacar's wheel to the finish line!

Thanked his team profusely more than once. Then said unequivocally that gravel doesn't belong in the TdF, as there's plenty of risk and luck already.

Commentators all said baloney, it made for great viewing. But I'm with Vingegaard. These amazing athletes deserve better than to be turned into gladiators for the viewers' entertainment.
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
You know it's an exciting finish when the commentators — all TdF veterans in one way or another — switch their stage winner picks over and over in the last 2 km.

Highly recommend the post-race interview with Vingegaard, who rode the last 50+ km on a teammate's bike due to a punture, then had another puncture (presumably a slow leak) near the end. And still stayed on Pogacar's wheel to the finish line!

Thanked his team profusely more than once. Then said unequivocally that gravel doesn't belong in the TdF, as there's plenty of risk and luck already.

Commentators all said baloney, it made for great viewing. But I'm with Vingegaard. These amazing athletes deserve better than to be turned into gladiators for the viewers' entertainment.
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They’ve been running gravel sections in the Giro & Vuelta for a couple of seasons and it’s pretty marmite; riders like Van De Poel & Pidcock (both cyclocross & mtbers) like it) and Road purists don’t. I like it. Makes for a spectacular looking stage. And after all the Tour sometimes uses the cobbles of Northern France for a stage with similar outrage & division. I like seeing how good technically some of the riders are. Like in the muddy & small roads of the Spring classics. It’s all bike riding after all.
 
"I was not expecting the gravel to be so...gravelly"
-Pogacar

Great stage. Not a fan of the idea of gravel in TDF, but I have to admit it made for a dramatic stage. Fantastic first 9 stages, it feels like the GC, green jersey, and KOM jersey battles have all been great and are mostly still up for grabs.

Really enjoying Abrahamsen in the polka dots. Love his aggressiveness but not sure if he'll have the legs to keep it up when the real mountain stages begin this week.
 
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