2019 Tour de France

[Sir Bugsy]

I know it is early, but I can't wait for July 6 and the Grand Départ. Of course I turn to CivFanatics to get the best opinions on what to look for in the race. So cycling fans, what do you see for this year's Tour? Who is going to surprise? Who is going to fold? And most importantly, who is going to win?

 

[Serutan]

Welp, there won't be any Froome/Thomas drama this year - sounds like Froome was well and truly smashed up.

 

[AdrienIer]

With Froome and Dumoulin out, and Thomas recovering from a fall, there is no obvious favorite. La Planche des Belles Filles will be the first test, and it would be premature to draw conclusions before that

 

[Sir Bugsy]

It all starts Saturday! Other than Thomas, I don't know who has a chance. There are new teams too. It should be exciting to watch.

On a sad note, here in the US we won't have Paul Sherwen on the broadcasts this year. I watched some of the Tour of California and I quickly tired of Bob Roll. Christian Vande Velde is good, but he has a tendency to talk over Phil.

 

[AdrienIer]

Bardet, Pinot, Fuglsang, Uran, Bernal, Yates Porte and Dan Martin have a shot as well IMO

Edit : And Quintana. Nibali too tired after the Giro

 

[AdrienIer]

Sorry for necroing this thread, especially for something about the 2020 TDF, but what the hell just happened ???

 

[thetrooper]

You talking about the Roglic choke job?

 

[AdrienIer]

I'd call it Pogacar's amazing performance. Roglic did ok on that last stage, finishing in the top 5. But how could Pogacar do 1mn21 better than the second best, Dumoulin ?

 

[thetrooper]

Yes, it's jaw dropping. Could weight difference be the key? ITT with massive elevation gain at the end. Just a few kg could result in differences. Do you know if they switched bikes before the climb?

 

[AdrienIer]

Both of them changed bikes, pogacar before the climb really started, Roglic when it started getting steep.
What's incredible is that pogacar beat roglic at the slovenian ITT championship (~2months ago) by like 10s. This time : 2mn, including 40s in the kms before the final climb !

 

[Serutan]

Pogacar's change was *much* smoother than that of Roglic. But yeah that TT result was pretty amazing.

 

[thetrooper]

What a shame, we're still using the 2019 thread...

Just popping by to show you that I scratch my head seeing van Aert in the sprint finale one day and the next day winning the monster stage. How is that even possible?

 

[AdrienIer]

Van Aert is an all around monster. By starting his career in cyclo cross he's developped both his sprinting and his climbing. He'll probably never be the best sprinter or the best climber but he's good at both.

 

[thetrooper]

I can't have both. That's for sure. Too old and not a pro

 

[AdrienIer]

I was never a fan of Cavendish during his best years, but following his years of struggle it's very nice to see him do a comeback. 34 overall victories in the TDF, equal to Merckx, is impressive.

 

[thetrooper]

Indeed! Never liked the guy but credit where credit is due.