Key occasions
My podcast feed is filling up for the prepare house later, George Scott has come by with one other shout:
I believe you may’t get higher for prime degree biking evaluation than the Lanterne Rouge podcast and its accompanying YouTube tactical movies. Patrick Boe is dry, trustworthy and exceptionally switched on. You simply need to get previous Benji’s giggle and also you’ll be on to a winner. Patrick now being employed as a group supervisor for (and for the document, not exhibiting any favouritism on the pod) has proven how far he’s come from making movies in a single day whereas he labored full time as a lawyer in Australia. Coining the time period “tug-buddies” could also be its greatest achievement although.
95km to go. The riders who went down are working by the group automobiles to get again on. The group of 5 riders are about 1min 20secs behind. Wright is certainly one of them and he’ll be determined to remain in contact as he positively has an opportunity of taking the stage as we speak together with his skillset. That may rely lots on how he recovers over the following 60km or so.
99km to go. Now we have one other crash, this one appears to be like extra severe. It’s not clear precisely what occurred however Visma-Lease a Bike’s Victor Campenaerts, Eddie Dunbar from Jayco-Alula and Fred Wright from Bahrain Victorious are just a few of the riders who went down. Wright has a visual lower on his face. We managed to get by the moist with out an excessive amount of incident however now it has dried out maybe just a few riders felt they may loosen up?
103km to go. There’s a spill within the peloton and it appears to be like like Adam Yates is a kind of on the deck. Nothing too severe, fortunately, and we’re again underway.
104km to go. There’s a dash for the road on the prime of the hill which sees Leknessund move Van Moer in the previous few metres. The Norwegian’s eventful day continues.
105km to go. We’re on the climb and we’ll see shortly who luggage the one polka dot level on supply.
Ted Raney has extra podcast recommendations:
The Transfer can also be a responsible pleasure for me. Although episodes with Spencer [Martin]
can get within the bin.
I additionally love the Social Distance Podcast, which, regardless of that includes
antipodeans, makes me giggle like a drain. Nonetheless, it appears they will’t
actually get it collectively to forged recurrently.
Chris Horner calling everybody idiots is a flip off for me. I additionally discover Geraint’s pod laborious going due to Tom Fordyce.
Harsh on Tom Fordyce, I at all times thought he was the key sauce of Peter Crouch’s podcast and it misplaced a step when he needed to drop out.
114km to go. Now we have about 10km till the peloton hits its first categorised climb of the day. The Côte de Cavron-Saint-Martin is barely brief, about 1km and maxes out at 5.9%, so it’s unlikely to throw up any surprises.
Robin Lynch has acquired in first with the biking podcast recommendations:
Biking Podcast is the one and just for me, particularly once they function 40-year Tour veteran, troubadour, gourmand and Tour historian Francois Thomazeau.
That may be very a lot the OG podcast in biking and it’s a pretty pay attention. I was a spiritual listener however lately I dip out and in. For my sins, I additionally get pleasure from Lance Armstrong’s The Transfer through the grand excursions. He’s not everybody’s cup of tea (for apparent causes), however the evaluation is commonly brutally trustworthy.
121km to go. Leknessund has one other concern as he wants to drag over to get some work performed on his bike. I think about he’ll make his method again to the opposite three within the breakaway however it’s not been simple for the Norwegian rider. He’s about 13 seconds behind the leaders now.
As promised, right here is William Preston’s electronic mail:
Appears to be like correct moist, doesn’t it?
It’s solely stage two however I concern the fever dream I had shall not come to move: Visma utilizing Vingegaard as a stalking horse in opposition to Pogacar as Yates sits quietly a minute or so behind within the GC rating earlier than getting a stomp on up the mountains to win all of it. After his thrilling heroics in Italy, he deserves a second grand tour win.
Nonetheless, this yr appears to be like set to be an absolute corker, with Visma redefining tremendous domestique riders to topple Pogacar’s crown.
My apologies to John Westwell, who was the creator that electronic mail. I do have an electronic mail from William Preston that I might be sharing shortly.
John Westwell has emailed in with a few factors on as we speak’s stage:
Firstly, I wasn’t stunned to see Simon Yates lose time yesterday. Effectively, possibly seeing him lose time on the primary stage, however not usually. After the huge excessive of profitable the Giro – particularly the best way he did it by laying to relaxation the ghosts of the Colle delle Finestre from 2018 – he was at all times going to wrestle to be aggressive for the Tour. Physiologically, he isn’t the form of rider who may be aggressive in two stage races barely a month aside. Excluding Pogacar, no rider is lately, however a climber who solely weighs 58kg is at all times going to wrestle to return again to type so rapidly. I gained’t be stunned if Simon isn’t notably seen within the excessive mountains within the later components of the stage. I believe it will likely be largely as much as Kuss and Jorgenson to accompany Vingegaard when the motion hots up.
Secondly, Ned Boulting flagged up that he was going to learn a passage from Les Miserables just a few weeks in the past on his podcast. He had recognized the route on this stage as linking the 2 cities which he talked about as being on as we speak’s stage.
There’s a ‘demob pleased’ environment concerning the ITV crew this yr, not least now that Boulting and Millar – accompanied by Lizzie Deignan – might be on the Tour subsequent yr reporting from the roadside independently of ITV. I’d count on just a few more unusual interludes within the subsequent three weeks.
Ned Boulting is a unbelievable broadcaster, I hope he can discover a method again on to our screens when the Tour goes behind a paywall on TNT subsequent yr. I had a stunning chat with him earlier than a tour a number of years in the past for a preview piece that by no means acquired revealed, a completely charming man. Right here’s a query for the readers, what are your favorite biking podcasts through the Tour? There’s a good few to select from lately.
154km to go. Tim Wellens has a concern together with his bike and the digital camera captures him having a consolation break earlier than ultimately determining what’s occurring and pans over to the mechanic who’s engaged on the bike.
158km to go. There may be a completely big bull being tugged round a area on the again of a tractor by a smiley farmer. Nice stuff. The breakaway group has reformed and is now 2mins 33secs forward of the peloton.
I ought to level out that we’ve a bumper afternoon of sport on Massive Web site as we speak. Rob Smyth has over-by-over protection of the fifth day of the second Check between England and India:
If tennis is extra your factor, Daniel Harris is throughout all the things at Wimbledon. Comply with that right here:
164km to go. Now we have a crash within the breakaway! Fedorov and Andreas Leknessund hit the deck on a slippery bend. It appears to be like like each riders simply misplaced their again wheels beneath them. Happily they’re each again up and look fantastic. They’ve misplaced about 20 seconds however are working collectively to get again as much as Armirail and Van Moer.
172km to go. You realize it’s early on a protracted stage as a result of now Ned Boulting is studying passages from Les Miserables. The breakaway is now 2mins 42secs forward of the principle bunch.
Nick Wayne has emailed in:
Simon Yates, What occurred? Six minutes in arrears means relegation to tremendous domestique. Was that the plan? No competitors to Pog I suppose.
After his dramatic win on the Giro, I believe Simon Yates was at all times going to be delegated the duty of assist rider to Jonas Vingegaard on the Tour. With that form of time hole he’ll additionally now have extra of an opportunity of going for the odd stage win when the race reaches the mountains.
182km to go. The climate is gray however the vibes are excessive on the roadside, there’s a brass band enjoying because the peloton passes by one other commune.
190km to go. The peloton is cruising alongside at round 50km/h, not prime pace however a good lick. On ITV the motion is so scorching that the printed is simply enjoying the Carpenters’ ‘We’ve Solely Simply Begun’ excessive of the dwell footage, fairly why isn’t clear. On the highway, Movistar’s Nelson Oliveira has come off the again for a backwheel tyre change and is now attempting to work his method again into the peloton.
199km to go. The four-man breakaway has settled in and pulled out a lead which is now greater than two minutes. Yevgeni Fedorov (XDS-Astana), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Brent Van Moer (Lotto) and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) are the courageous males who will attempt to take this result in end.
206km to go. Now we have racing, in what appears to be like like actually terrible situations. There are 4 courageous souls who’re making an early bid to type the break. As soon as I’ve discovered who they’re I’ll let you already know.
The ceremonial rollout is winding its method out of Lauwin-Planque and we’re aproaching the flag drop in about 1km. A number of the riders had been a bit late arriving at the beginning line on account of visitors on the slender streets of the commune that’s house to only 1,600 individuals so we’re a bit delayed. A whole lot of the riders are of their rain gear, which supplies a bit extra safety for them however makes my job a bit more durable as they’re all in black jackets robust over their typical jerseys. Kilometre zero incoming.
Preamble
Settle in people, that is going to be a protracted one. The overall size of the stage is a mammoth 209.1km, with just a few categorised climbs that can most likely weed out the pure sprinters however nothing too punishing. The excellent news is the finale might be definitely worth the wait. The learn on the stage profile is that the stage will explode within the ultimate 35km, the place there are a pair steep lumps and a little bit of an incline in direction of a end line, which runs alongside the banks of the river Liane within the streets of Boulogne. This might be one for the puncheurs and an early alternative for the likes of Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert to bag a stage and the yellow jersey. Simply to cowl my very own again, I ought to level out that Tadej Pogacar is as able to profitable this stage as another however will he wish to present his hand this early? Frankly, attempting to foretell what the Slovenian will do is a idiot’s sport, so I’ll chorus from doing that.
What is less complicated to foretell is that the climate will certainly be an element. In typical northern French vogue, rain and crosswinds are going to batter a peloton that might be stuffed with riders cautious of being on the flawed facet of any cut up. Pressure can result in errors and hopefully we gained’t see a repeat of the crashes that marred stage one.
Seize your snacks, get your self a drink and comply with alongside. I’ll have you ever lined by to the top of the stage. When you have any ideas you’d wish to share, do ship them in by way of the hyperlink on the prime of the web page.
