A short 155 km stage to the British capital, which gave the Tour de France an unforgettable welcome in 2007. A prestigious stage which will take the peloton alongside the Olympic Park and London’s most famous landmarks before finishing opposite Buckingham Palace. Of course, with everything pointing towards a mass sprint, the spotlight will back on CavendishKittel. Will he be at the top of his game? I think so. But one thing is for sure: the crowds will turn out in force, as large and fiery as seven years ago.
Another spectacle yesterday – all guns firing. Especially interesting from Tejay and Nibali, as they haven’t been on form much this year. Should be interesting to see how they get on in the mountains. Great to see Contador, Froome, Sagan, all having a proper go.
So what’s the strategy for OPQS now? Go for stage wins with Terpstra contesting bumpier stages such as 5, and support someone like Renshaw for sprints?
Go for stage wins with Terpstra contesting bumpier stages such as 5, and support someone like Renshaw for sprints?
I was thinking about that too – they’ve still got Renshaw and Petacchi. They might want to save their leadout train for individual efforts, especially Martin for the TT. A lot of them can breathe a sigh of relief though – they’re potentially on for a much easier tour as they won’t be expected to chase down breaks and such without Cav.
@Realman – yes another thank you for the threads, always enjoyed them.
I’ll add another voice to say Chapeau Yorkshire, what a wonderful job !
I decided not to travel up to Yorkshire but plan to be around the finish/Palace/St James Park, probably about 10 rows back and watching the ITV player coverage !
did see the crowd several people deep on the tarmac in sections, bit mental when the peloton are approaching a dozen or so riders wide. Saw a rider lean in with his shoulder and brace when he saw an inevitable collision with a feckless photographer out in the road
the Lithuanian Ramunas Navardauskas was seen angrily swiping at anyone who got too close.
was kinda satisfying to see someone’s iphone go bouncing down the road.
I’ve seen the crowds of nutters in the french mountain stages and figured it’s just the kinda daft thing johnny foreigner does 😉 felt bad when UK crowds were doing it tho.
any footage of the dip in/out of Ewden beck between midhopestones and bradfield? Highlights missed it out completely, rode it a few weeks ago and reckoned it could be “interesting” for the peleton.
Footflaps, good shot! I was up at Parker’s Piece standing above a sign so that I could watch them set off. Absolutely amazing experience.
Town was rammed full of people and there was a really good pro-cycling buzz about the place. Lots of people in their own cycling club kit walking around.
I was at the 0km sign just out of town in Trumpington, and it was pretty busy up there too. Loads of kids out enjoying the sunshine which was good to see (not in a Rolf way)
Just seen riders (on the TV) stopping by the roadside for a wee. OK when you’re in the peloton and relatively easy to catch up, maybe even in a larger break, but if you’re one of the 2 blokes in the breakaway today, what do you do?
Wait till a descent? I think I’ve ridden for over 7 hours without needing a piss – if you’re working hard you’ll be sweating and you don’t need to piss as much I think.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/oeBtgo]Tour De France 2014 Stage 3 Cambridge Kings College and Peleton[/url] by brf, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/nXi5og]Tour De France 2014 Stage 3 Cambridge Kings College and Peleton[/url] by brf, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/oeHNs5]Tour De France 2014 Stage 3 Cambridge Team Sky[/url] by brf, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/nXhQHw]Tour De France 2014 Stage 3 Cambridge Kings College and Mavic Neutral Service Car[/url] by brf, on Flickr
Somebody on the roof on Kings College Chapel watching [url=https://flic.kr/p/oeuLj2]Tour De France 2014 Stage 3 Cambridge Kings College[/url] by brf, on Flickr
I have day 1 and Day 2 on the PVR and can copy footage onto a USB stick/harddrive (.ts format – VLC will play it fine) if anyone want the chance to see themselves…
Got the full ITV version of day 2 on the telly box, only had chance to watch the first half yesterday (upto holme moss), figured I’d better get genned up on the rest with the highlights show, might have a flick through later see if they showed it.
DONK, I’m afraid even the full ITV playback of Day 2 won’t show all of Ewden Beck. They show the descent and then it breaks up (tree coverage?).
I can report that they all made it through without incident 🙁 although they were well spread out at that point. One guy was off the back by about 5 minutes and had a sticky bottle up the hill 🙂