2024 Tour de France

[Kolumbo]

Stage 1
Winner Romain Bardet (FRA) 33 and Frank van den Broek (NED) 23 on DSM-Firmenich Post NL (Dutch) come across the line 1 & 2 after holding on to a very small lead the end of the race.
Romain Bardet riding his last Tour and Frank van den Broek riding his first Tour.
Amazing. Just 2 guys with a very small lead with a long flat finish and a long way to go. The leaders always get caught by the Peloton in this situation.
Romain's 4th career stage win and 1st time wearing the Yellow Jersey.
Romain spent most of his career with AG2R (FRA) and always in the mix on the climbs. It will be great to see Romain wearing the Maillot Jaune for the first time. Good for him!

"The accelerations of Ineos Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek and EF Education-EasyPost (who had reeled Healy back to help) on the Côte de San Marino (Cat 3, km 179.7) barely reduced the advantage of the dsm-firmenich duo to 1'35” at the top of the seventh and last categorised climb of the day. The chase was on, with Van den Broek and Bardet grinding hard over the mainly flat final 25 km. At 5 km from the finish in Rimini the leading duo maintained a 30” advantage, despite the efforts of the teams behind them. Together they managed to win the fight to keep the chasing group at bay and achieve a remarkable victory."

Yellow for Bardet in Rimini - Tour de France 2024

On a historic day in Italy it was Romain Bardet who grabbed the Stage 1 victory on the Rimini seafront, securing the Yellow Jersey with a fine performance for T

www.letour.fr

 

[Kolumbo]

 

[Kolumbo]

Stage 5 - Yesterday seemed like a very odd sprint finish. Off all the favorites to win, no one even challenged Cavendish who won easily for his 35 stage win. Seems a little fishy to me.

 

[Kolumbo]

In the Tour of Austria this past weekend, Norwegian cyclist Andre Drege was killed when he crashed during the descent on the Grossglockner. Racing is extremely dangerous and I've always thought the descents were way too dangerous. Racing down a mountain at 60 mph on two skinny tires with virtually no protection. A rock or a small animal crossing the road, or a flat, and the rider is toast. The risk seems excessive when they have no safeguards in place.

"Jaka saw that there were problems with the rear wheel of Drege's bike," Andreas Lidner of the Austrian police told Norwegian VG.
"Then something white came out of the tyre," Lidner possibly referring to the sealant (a kind of milky substance) that squirts out of tubeless tyres when they go flat. Drege then fell off his bike, Primožič informed police. The speed at this point was between eighty and a hundred kilometres per hour, according to the witness. Lindner: "Everything happened within seconds."

MSN

 

[Waquoit]

For me, the star of the TdF so far is Biniam Girmay. Two stage wins and another great performance today. I keyed on him once Phil said he was washed away. He passed 19 other cyclists in the last mile without help. His acceleration is incredible.

 

[Kolumbo]

Agreed, Girmay is the story. Peter Sagan was always fun to watch because he competed for the Green but he also hung tough on the bigger hills. Girmay may fill that role.

Stage 11, great ride. The top 4 finished in the top 4.
Vingegaard
Pogacar
Evenepoel
Roglic

Pogacar attacked at the end of a climb, again, and got another lead by about 30 seconds on Vingegaard. Vingegaard and Roglic worked together on the descent to reel in Pogacar. Then it was Vingegaard and Pogacar working together, Evenepoel and Roglic working together. Vingegaard beat Pogacar at the uphill line for a sprint finish. Evenepoel came in 3rd and Roglic came in 4th after wiping out on a sharp turn. Really surprised to see Vingegaard do so well today since he is coming off a collapsed lung injury. These guys are sick.

Current overall standings
Pogacar
Evenepoel +1:06
Vingegaard +1:14
Roglic +2:15

 

[Waquoit]

He only won by a few inches but Jonas kicked ass yesterday. And Girmay kicked ass today. I keyed on him with 2 km left. He's awesome. And didn't get a call until he crossed the finish line.

 

[Kolumbo]

He only won by a few inches but Jonas kicked ass yesterday. And Girmay kicked ass today. I keyed on him with 2 km left. He's awesome. And didn't get a call until he crossed the finish line.

Jonas did kick ass and I really didn't expect him to 1 catch back up to Tadej and 2 hold him off at the finish. Tadej likes to use the element of surprise and his strong kick to beat you. Tadej is very strong but I think the effort to get the lead after such a fast race drained him. Great time for the sport.

I watch the replay late at night.

 

[Waquoit]

Jonas did kick ass and I really didn't expect him to 1 catch back up to Tadej and 2 hold him off at the finish. Tadej likes to use the element of surprise and his strong kick to beat you. Tadej is very strong but I think the effort to get the lead after such a fast race drained him. Great time for the sport.

I watch the replay late at night.

I'll switch to 1-day delay.

 

[Waquoit]

I get a bit of a Federer-Djokovic vibe from the Tadej-Jonas rivalry. Seems to me that Pogacar is the fan fave that everyone thought would dominate for years. Along comes less flashy Vingegaard to challenge and looks like, surpass him. Jonas is tougher. I think he proved that on Wednesday.

 

[Kolumbo]

Girmay crashed out as everyone was driving for the final sprint stage. The have the final sprint stage going through a series of roundabouts which is a recipe for disaster. He had a huge lead for the green jersey but he lost out on 50 points which Philipsen won. So the difference is down to about 30 something.

"You're a fighter"
"Yeah, why not"

 

[Waquoit]

Girmay crashed out as everyone was driving for the final sprint stage.

 

[Kolumbo]

To be clear, Girmay crashed but not out. He raced today.

Pogacar annoys me in some ways. Attacks just at the finish to gain 2 seconds. Come on.