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Just need to make it for a few more hours without buying a Ryobi hedge trimmer.
I bet this three weeks accounts for about 80% of donations to donkey sanctuaries.
First of the Montmatre climbs about to start.
Weird finish - no-one (even in ASO) knows how this will pan out. Paris looking amazing though. Notre Dame restored, massive crowds...
Was there for the finish stage 2 years ago.
Edit: bloody hell, the race is in absolute pieces. It's chucking it down, the climb has split things to buggery and the cobbles are now soaking wet....
This race shows to a tee why everyone loves Tadej and Vingo doesn't exist in people's minds. He's just a pure racer, simple as that.
Absolutely fantastic
Fitting, but also gutting, that it's the ITV coverage swansong
Dusty in here. So happy for Wout
Dusty in here. So happy for Wout
And G.
Nice moment as he rolled across the line.
Good stage but it kind of split into "those who wanted to race" and "those who were happy to roll around". I guess with the GC times / positions being frozen before the Montmatre climbs started, it was just a case of making it to there, then letting the guys who wanted to smash it disappear up the road.
But equally, if you kept the GC completely open, it could cause chaos if the gaps were close and riders were pushing it through that sort of terrain. No-one really wants to win a classification by virtue of the leader decking it with 12km to go. It's a bit different when there's still 14 stages to go!
Matt Rendall just said to Tadej he was his last TdF interview...I'm in bits 😭
Decent highlights montage at the end of the ITV4 coverage. Included all the best riders from the past 40+ years!
Dusty in here. So happy for Wout
I never think of myself as much of a sports 'fan' but was out of my seat shouting for him when he attacked, love seeing a WvA victory 😎
Great stage, not a big Wout fan for some reason but still pleased for him.
Not sure I have the stomach to watch the last ITV highlights show. Since the C4 days its been a massive part of my life, it sounds stupid but I am genuinely gutted. All through this tour I have been exclaiming that I remember watching that bit back in the day when they did the looking back segments.....it's how I fell in love with bikes and what has led to some of my best memories, can't believe next summer its not going to happen and the shit souless Eurosport coverage will be all we are left with. I want to know about more than just the racing, I want to learn about the characters around it......gutted.
Amazing last stage. Much better than the traditional procession, but I do wonder what might have happened if the GC standings weren't frozen. Given the freeze, the only people racing were the handful who fancied their chances, particularly once the rain started. There are very few stages other than the mountains where the GC can really be shaken up, but this would have been incredible (or it would have totally killed the racing as everybody watched each other in an unofficial truce). Anyway, I hope it becomes a new tradition in the race.
Like many on here, I grew up watching the C4 coverage with Phil and Paul, and stoney faced Gary Imlach. I am sure that there must be some crew behind the scenes that stretch that far back too. I wonder what part that coverage played in GB's meteoric rise to the top over the last 15 years. So many of the pros over those years have referenced getting into cycling because of the C4 highlights, and the Live ITV4 feed has taken it up a level in recent years. It is a great shame that the next generation of riders won't have that same inspiration.
I still have VHS of my recordings of the highlights shows. Some kids taped the charts off Radio 1 o a Sunday evening. For me it was the C4 TDF coverage.
A heartfelt thank you to everybody that made it possible. I hope you all find something else to do every July.
Haven't really watched ITV for a few years because of GCN but have really enjoyed it this year just to remind me of what I'm about to be missing. The quality was really excellent this tour. Another one for whom it was my way into the sport watching pantani Vs Lance with my dad as a teenager.
In other news, I finally won STW Velogames 🥳
And just like that, it was over...
In other news, I finally won STW Velogames
258 overall - Well done!
I won't be able to watch the highlights programme until later, but guessing I'll be in bits. Good to know that Geraint is in the Tour of Britain and has a future in cycling.
Amazed to see I've finished at number 7 out of 36 in STW velogames, with for once a full team. Congratulations to Oignons des roscoff at number one.
The last stage was amazing and WvA showed what a truly great racer he still is.
But of course the sadness of losing our free to watch ITV4 coverage with their superb team is not worth thinking about. Ned Boulting's latest book - The accidental Tour-ist is on my list of books to read (at the moment I'm reading Luke Rowe's book -Road Captain, My life at the heart of the pelaton, which is very good).
Just watched the final stage - such a shame it didn't stay dry. Was really enjoyable though, and better than the usual toddle then sprint IMO
Well played t3ap0t - I actually thought I was in with a great team this year but seems the key to a massive score was to omit Vingo and I put a lot of effort into squeezing him in and padding the list with some also-rans ! (one of my boys scored 2 points, despite actually completing the race I think)
at the moment I'm reading Luke Rowe's book -Road Captain, My life at the heart of the pelaton, which is very good
I read it last week and thought it was rubbish! I preferred Alex Dowsets book which, I thought, was very, very good. He was extremely critical of David Miller though, so must have been an interesting dynamic when they first started working together at ITV and joining the Never Strays Far pod
PSA, for those of you who have not yet discovered it, Never Strays Far / Car is an excellent, relaxed pod well worth listening to. A group of mates (ned Boulting, David Miller, Pete Kennaugh, discussing the tour and other random stuff. The record it in the car when travelling between stages. You don't need to listen to it aligned with the race though as the stage related chat is usually only a few minutes long.
Unless there is a good tdf coverage identified that can be accessed by alternate means that will be the last tdf I will watch for a while sadly
Nice goodbye video from ITV. Frog in my throat watching Imlach hold back the tears.
No doubt I will be back into mid-table obscurity and having 5 riders abandon in the first week when the Vuelta velogames comes around!
Just watched the final stage - such a shame it didn't stay dry.
That's what made the stage! I thought Pog looked like he enjoyed himself in proper racing rather than the measured chess game of the previois nine stages after he'd taken yellow. Just all out have a go if you're hard enough.
The best cycling books are the ones by the also rans. Domestique by Charly Wegelius is my favourite.
My team was 77576th, but I couldn't find STW league.
TiRed, was that in Velogames, I thought the main league only went to around 29,900...I was near the bottom:)
STW velogames league had around 36 entries.
We also need a sub-league for non-Prog teams 😉
Unless there is a good tdf coverage identified that can be accessed by alternate means
VPN to Australia, where SBS is free to air ??
My team was 77576th, but I couldn't find STW league.
thw STW league is here
https://www.velogames.com/velogame/2025/leaguescores.php?league=170623027
league code is 170623027 if you still want to add yourself and see where you finished.
Thanks. I was on the TdF official game. Didn't know Velogames was running too. My team is, naturally, velogames_were_robbed from years back.
9372 points
My team is, naturally, velogames_were_robbed from years back
Haha - I occasionally get emails addressed to "Dear booo - I liked velogames"
So….
ITT on stage 5 - ruined the tour basically. Why does a team event even have an ITT?
and also Remco…Have we had an explanation?
Commentary team did their best to pretend things were exciting but all in all a pretty dull tour this year with a mild flicker of interest in the white jersey. Afraid am disappoint.
ITT on stage 5 - ruined the tour basically. Why does a team event even have an ITT?
I was in Nice last year for the final day which they made an ITT I think imagining that things might still be really close, there could be a repeat of Fignon / Lemond, it'll all come down to the wire...
Truth be told, the GC was long since decided, the TT was effectively just the riders going through the motions and it was actually dull as ditchwater.
Why does a team event even have an ITT?
Becuase it's not a team event, it's an individual race where a ride CAN have a team to support them. If you say "why have TTs at all", well it's a race to find the bect cyclist, and a good cyclist needs to be good at TTs AND climbing, AND all the other stuff. It's an ongoing debate, shall we say
I see next year they're starting with a Team Time Trial around Barcelona, that's Saturday July 4th. Day 2 is a ride from Tarragona back into Barcelona, then on the Monday they're heading north over the border into France. Pyrenees in week 1 then to give us nice big gaps in the GC very early?
Still think Visma towing Pog round for the first week was a massive error...let breaks go, let Pog fight MvDP et al for stages if he wants.....let some chancer take a 5min lead into the mountains, try and get Yates or Jorgenson a few mins ahead of Pog, force UAE to work for a win. Let the race pressure UAE. Rather than just tow him round and let him win some punchy stages that Vingago was never going to beat him on and then take it man to man in the mountains and get beat.
So….
ITT on stage 5 - ruined the tour basically. Why does a team event even have an ITT?
and also Remco…Have we had an explanation?
Commentary team did their best to pretend things were exciting but all in all a pretty dull tour this year with a mild flicker of interest in the white jersey. Afraid am disappoint.
I think Remco wrote something along the lines of he overtrained while trying to regain fitness, after his crash with the postie vehicle (last autumn?).
ITT on stage 5 - ruined the tour basically. Why does a team event even have an ITT?
These races are a test to find the strongest rider over multiple terrains and formats. Cycling is a team sport with only one winner. There is no other sport that has such a philosophy, and that makes it captivating. The time trial to ruin a GT is the TEAM time trial. Huge gaps can be possible due to the lack of TT'ing strenth in depth of a team. The teams absolutely hate them, but they are the best spectacle. Big Mig won five tours on the basis of loooong TTs and then a bit of climbing. Now at least we have climbers who can TT, and Pog who can win over all terrains.
I think VLAB played their best cards. Jorgensen wasn't fit for the first half of the race and that curtailed some of their strategy. After Dauphine, I think they knew they were racing for second. Two stage wins and second is a decent haul for the team. I'd have liked Ving to have won a stage, but I think he just didn't want to blow in those last few km of the mountain finishes.
I see next year they're starting with a Team Time Trial around Barcelona,
How did that last one work out for the Vuelta - was a joke 😀 . Shortest GT ride in history for the Ineos rider Laurens De Plus who crashed after the end of the ramp (which was out over the beach/sea).
https://escapecollective.com/three-days-in-paradise-the-vuelta-stumbles-through-turbulent-opening/
Let's hope it's dry and sunny!
The good thing about the TTT to start the TDF in 2026 is that they're using the new rules trialled in the Dauphiné last year where (for GC purposes at least) riders are given individual finishing times, rather than all being given the time of the 4th rider across the line
The good thing about the TTT to start the TDF in 2026 is that they're using the new rules trialled in the Dauphiné last year where (for GC purposes at least) riders are given individual finishing times, rather than all being given the time of the 4th rider across the line
That could be interesting.
From an internal team politics view if nothing else 🙂
45 million people watched the tour on TV in France, quite incredible https://www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-presse/74619137
The good thing about the TTT to start the TDF in 2026 is that they're using the new rules trialled in the Dauphiné last year where (for GC purposes at least) riders are given individual finishing times, rather than all being given the time of the 4th rider across the line
Just a point of clarification, the new TTT rules have also been used for the past 2 years in Paris-Nice as well. I only say this as they made the TTT stages far more enjoyable to watch - particularly seeing the different approaches taken by different teams. Where teams had multi-leaders they would typically finish together (I remember Vignegaard and Jorgensen finishing togehter one year).
45 million people watched the tour on TV in France, quite incredible
The thing about the Tour is that it is part of France, part of being French. It's like it's written into your contract when you're born. Even if you have zero interest in cycling and have never ridden a bike, you will watch the Tour de France.
If it comes through your village, well... You will go out and partake of the fun and games (cos you won't be able to do anything else anyway, all the shops will be closed, you can't drive anywhere so **** it, you're watching the Tour, like it or not).
In the UK, it turns into a tirade about how you'll be "trapped in your own home" and what about the emergency services and...and...and...
In France, it's an excuse for 2 weeks of partying and drinking and community spirit - there are actually lucrative competitions for "village that's made the most effort" and all sorts of government grants for sprucing the place up a bit, money for farmers to do land art etc. The bike race part is almost circumstantial.
Just a point of clarification, the new TTT rules have also been used for the past 2 years in Paris-Nice as well
Maybe my error as to where they'd been trialled, I knew I'd seen them used before sorry
I prefer the old rules. Fourth across the line and they'd better be handy on a TT bike and have no crashes! It's a team sport after all. In those races the stongest go longer not stronger, and take big pulls on the front. It's all strategy and most teams will have a decent TT specialist. Indeed they can all TT to a high standard. Ving was the danish TT champion. And if Rog is riding, expect him to go off the front of his team 😉
So, the Frenchies finally got their own winner. Chapeau PFP
I can’t find a link but Ned Boulting, Lizzie Deignan, Peter Kennaugh and David (the cheat) Millar are planning a live broadcast from the TDF next year. Details on Never Stray Far website.
The thing about the Tour is that it is part of France, part of being French
This. We're on holiday in Samoëns so it seemed rude not to walk over to the Joux Plane yesterday. The whole village was there, old, young, cyclists or not, lovely atmosphere. Huge cheers for everyone, even the poor girl 5 minutes off the back.
Brave effort by van de Breggen, but a superb finish by PFP.
I can’t find a link but Ned Boulting, Lizzie Deignan, Peter Kennaugh and David (the cheat) Millar are planning a live broadcast from the TDF next year. Details on Never Stray Far website.
I heard something about this too. It would be great if I could somehow run the televised race alongside their live broadcast, not sure if that's possible.
Well done Pauline. Friends were out in Morzine and they too said the atmosphere was superb.