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Well, here we are again, welcome back campers.
Daily threads as ever, usual sources, Inr, The Tour Official Site, Cycling Stage and CyclingTips for the pics.
So then, stage 1, what's in store?
Start and finish are only 20 kilometres away by road, yet the riders are to traverse a bumpy route of 187 kilometres through Brittany. The first part goes south and the riders move through places like Locronan and Quimper before returning via Monts the d’Arrée. Brutal climbs are not to be expected – the highest points of the 330 million years old mountain rises merely 385 metres above sea level.
Although the route is far from flat the peloton is likely to enter the last 3 kilometres bunched. The Côte de la Fosse aux Loups rises with an average gradient of 5.7% to the line. Featuring a steepest section at 14%, the first kilometre goes up at almost 10% before the ramp flattens out to a false flat in the last 500 metres.
The Grand Départ of 2020 boiled down to a rain-soaked sprint finish Nice with Alexander Kristoff taking the first maillot jaune.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds.
All very nice.
So, to the contenders:
The Contenders: we should see a bunch sprint of sorts, the peloton coming into the finish because so many teams can benefit from this. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) is the obvious pick, he’s got the speed to win bunch sprints but has the explosivity to cope with a sharp climb like this and he was strolling around Switzerland picking off the wins a couple of weeks ago. But he got ill, packed in the Dutch champs and so a little doubt is there, plus he’s the rider to watch today, there will be a queue on his wheel.Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) can do almost everything his long term rival van der Poel can, plus he’s a better climber and time triallist. The new Belgian champion is an obvious contender but short on racing after appendicitis last month and his team mate Primož Roglič has to be an outsider too, he won the Paris-Nice stage with the uphill finish in Biot earlier this year ahead of some sprinters.Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) is the third of a trio and a different rider, he might prefer to pre-empt the sprint with a late attack and he’ll certainly need his team to hit the climb hard in order to soften up the others. In a straight sprint he’s less quick but if it’s tactical he can find a way through too.Sonny Colbrelli doesn’t have the star profile of the three names above but he demolished the field to win the Italian championships and the tricolore jersey should give him some lustre, he’s a powerful sprinter who can float over climbs.Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) would be the pick five years ago and is winning less but still one to watch, his team mate Ide Schelling maybe too. Can any sprinters make it? The final climb is hard but so is the whole day, the risk having heavy legs before tackling the final climb but both Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) have won athletic uphill finishes before. More outside picks are Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) and Benoît Cosnefroy (Ag2r Citroën) but a win would be a huge result for them. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) and Michael Matthews(Bike Exchange) can figure too but how to beat all the names above? Today’s stage is open to many and so we could list more names but if they end up beating van der Poel, van Aert, Alaphilippe and Colbrelli then something unusual surely happened.
And, as it's day 1 and we have no pics of this years event yet, here's a few from last year.
Thanks lunge. Can’t wait!
Thanks for doing these lunge, love these daily threads ☺️
Yessssss, that’s started my day off perfectly. Thanks for doing these @Lunge.
What’s the best option for a highlights show? I don’t usually have time to watch the stage live but always enjoy the highlights. ITV last year was annoying for taking an age to appear on catch up (if you missed the highlights ‘live’ at 7pm then sometimes you had to wait until the next day). Perhaps they’ll have fixed that. Eurosport was good in the past.
GCN?
Eurosport?
I enjoyed the Giro on Quest, are they doing it as well?
Thanks for doing these lunge, love these daily threads
+1 I did smile this morning when I realised the next three weeks of breakfast time reading had this to look forward to again. Time to max out the GCN+ Sub.
What’s the best option for a highlights show?
I rarely bother with highlights on Eurosport, partly because they tend to just replay the final part of the stage, and you can do that yourself at any time, either by rewinding the live feed, or watching it on catch-up, which will be on pretty much as soon as its finished.
They also usually have 'The Breakaway', which is a bit of discussion about the stage, usually broadcast live right after it's finished.
For highlight shows, itv4 with Ned Boulting and David Millar commentating. 7pm each night
Don't forget itv4+1 if you miss 7pm 👌
What’s the best way to watch it live? gcn+?
Excellent, been so busy I had totally forgotten it was Depart day. Used to live round there 30 years ago - lovely part of the world. Playben brings back memories as I was always hitching from Perros to Benodet to see my girlfriend and the weird church in Playben was almost always where I was dropped off by one ride and had to hitch another
happy days!
[strong][/strong] wrote:
What’s the best way to watch it live? gcn+?
ITV4 seem to be showing it live
here we go 👍🚴
looking forward to three weeks of these threads and juggling my evenings to catch the highlights (wasnt aware there was an itv4+1). probably need to book a couple of days off work to watch the bigger stages.
there will be spoilers - if you dont want the highlights show spoilled... stay off the internets.
Top work @lunge , love these daily threads.
This is a lumpy little course isn't it?! Crosswinds off the coast too maybe.
Outside punt on Alaphilippe as WvA and MvdP look at each other and cancel out.
Nice photography already, that is a very impressive ship!
Yeah been really looking forward to this. Will watch the break form and then come back with about an hour or two to go I think.
From a sporting perspective it’s nice to see the crowds coming back a bit.
Guy Kesteven gets his carbon wheels knowledge read out by Carlton Kirby. I wonder if Carlton knows who guy is….
What I always find interesting is the lack of tricolours at Breton stages. Blag and white flags everywhere.
Ooofty 😲 utter idiot
a famous idiot
What a clown. Not even watching the race.
allez opi omi... what does that translate to I wonder...
Hope jumbo visma brought plenty bikes......
The colnago they focused on for a while.... Bluetooth seat stays ...
How nice to see the crowds back…………
What’s the current vaccination situation in the area just now? Barely a face mask in evidence among the crowd on that climb.. fans right in the faces of riders and with the crash, a fair amount of mingling with riders waiting for medics or spare bikes..
wonder how quick that moron took his sign and scarpered over the banking once they realised what they’d done..? Good to see Tony Martin back up and riding., looked like the first few that went down behind him pretty much rode over his head.. hoping he makes it to tomorrow’s stage without being pulled out..
****'s sake - what an arsehole
I think I preferred last year when fans weren't allowed!
That one needs a good smacking with his own sign.
Where is it on the tellY?
Itv4
****, that is awful. 😥
Oof 😣
Nice, I called the win! I'll take that.
Hope that everyone in those crashes is OK, they both looked horrendous.
Don't tell me Thomas avoided those crashes!
Both looked brutal, horrible to see.
Glad to see Froome back on his bike
Wow.
Good to see but he does not look good at all.. barely walking pace and looking very wobbly.. given he was struggling to put any weight on his injured side after the crash and how long it took to get moving again.. I’m not sure we’ll see him again tomorrow.. and if we do I won’t be surprised to see him drop out before the first rest day.. I really hope not but you have to imagine a further injury of any seriousness on top of what he’s recovering from and it may not be just his racing career that’s at risk.. he already had to relearn how to walk once..
Love the DQS rider (Asgreen ?) "Come on then" to Alaphilippe
has someone nicked Gs' white rimmed oakleys ? or did he finally look in the mirror and think "Nah!"
I thought exactly the same Klunk 😁
has someone nicked Gs’ white rimmed oakleys ? or did he finally look in the mirror and think “Nah!”
how will I ever spot him now? No wonder I kissed him crossing the line...
Love the DQS rider (Asgreen ?) “Come on then” to Alaphilippe
Aye, spotted that! I’ll be honest I thought thought he went about 1000m to soon. Seems the works champ knows better than some rando on the internet!
how will I ever spot him now?
going by todays race the only greenwash rider at the pointy end.
No wonder I kissed him crossing the line…
And it's only the first day.
Two awful crashes. Was it my imagination or did a rider hit that pole in the second crash? Great attack for Alaphilippe. Sometimes they work. Mine never did! Brittany has some fabulous parcours. Just like Devon. Perros Guirrec is my home twin town. Went there on an exchange a couple of times. Will ride tomorrow and watch with interest.
Why is there no sanction for the spectator who caused that first crash?