That was close, indeed... A shame Marcus didn't feel good, else I guess he'd have finished in white, and inside the Top 15.
With the most important cobbled races already behind for this year, let's work a bit more on his mountain skills for now, so he'll easily get that Top 15 result next year
Very entertaining Giro and a warrior's race through and through from our Marcus, very proud of him!
+1 RES
+1.5 FTR
+1.5 ACC
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Staying in a hospitality suite in the newly constructed Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage, I started to visualize what the future might hold. Finally, after years of playing abroad, I was finally home again. London. We made it back.
My daydream of carrying Fulham back into the Premier League was interrupt by a knock on the door. It was General Manager Tony Khan.
"Well, the paperwork is already. Are you ready?"
The summer transfer window had only been opened for two days, but I had my mind made up. Fulham believes in me. So, I believe in them. It's that simple.
"Yes sir, I'm ready."
We walked down to Khan's office, where Fulham memorabilia covered the walls. There were plenty of photos of past team legends celebrating, but a distinct lack of hardware on display. Perhaps because the Cottagers haven't won anything since 2001, when they hoisted the Sky Bet Championship to promote to the top flight.
I want to do that again, and that's why I'm here.
"Sign once more there... OK, it's a done deal. Welcome to Fulham, Marcus."
The contract laid out confirmation of Feyenoord's 5.5 million euro deal to ship me out. I enjoyed my time there, but things just never quite worked out.
I'm still renting an apartment in the Netherlands with cyclists Alex Vogel and my girlfriend Grace Garner. It's a nice hangout spot. But, since I'm traveling so much, I've also decided to rent out a small condo here in London for the time being. That gives Grace and I our own place to stay when we visit my family up here as well.
Just one of the perks of making 75,000 euros per month (from football) — yes, I took a pretty significant pay cut to join Fulham's roster, but playing this game I love has never been about the money. Grace and I are doing just fine.
Alright, enough rambling. I got to compose myself and get back to the moment at hand, as Khan stepped forward and introduced me to the local press.
"We are proud to announce the signing of Marcus Diamond from Feyenoord. We are pleased to bring in a potential star at an affordable price. We believe Diamond is the missing piece we need to control our midfield and make us a better football club. We will now let Diamond take over and answer a few questions."
Marcus, what are your thoughts on come back home?
Excited. Very excited. Playing in England again means a lot to me. This is my chance to prove a lot doubters wrong. I wasn't highly scouted as a young kid. I didn't get to play on all the world-class academy teams growing up.
I started at the bottom. A walk-on tryout with my hometown club in Canvey Island. They gave me a chance and I'm forever grateful. Yet, I had to leave to make a name for myself. Not only at the club level, but internationally as well.
Shout out to my brothers in Nigeria.
That said, I've learned nothing is given. Everything is earned. Coming home doesn't mean some of the struggles I had the last two years in Feyenoord are forgiven. I still have to earn my place, just like everybody else.
Marcus, over here, have you given any thought
to how this move might affect your cycling career?
Not really. Everything will mostly be the same as before. Both teams are willing to work with my schedule and we will schedule accordingly. Sure, it will be different with the two headquarters being in two different countries but it's a quick flight.
Yes, thanks Marcus. Many football fans around the world were introduced to you at the World Cup, where you set a World Cup record with four assists in one game. Here we are two years later and that's still mostly your legacy along being with a two-sport athlete. Do you feel pressure to be more than a one-hit wonder or a so-called gimmick athlete?
Loaded question there. I'm only 24. I got plenty of time left to accomplish a lot of things. No pressure. I'm just doing my thing. Whatever happens, happens.
Over here. Do you expect to play right away Marcus?
Don't ask me. Ask coach Coppinger.
Well, do you think you should play right away?
I don't think I'm getting paid all this money to sit on the bench. Does that answer your question? I want to play. I want to win. I want to win here. At Fulham.
Fan Questions: That does it for our press questions today, we will now open this press conference open to the supporter group. Leave any questions you might have for Marcus Diamond below.
The room went silent. I looked over at the Fulham FC social media manager who was trying to find any questions from the Facebook live stream. Nothing. That's when I realized I still have a long ways to go. Seemingly nobody cared to tune into my press conference. Or if they did, they didn't care what I had to say.
I'm not a glorified superstar, I'm just another "over-hyped" talent that everyone hopes will pan out. Talk is cheap, results matter. Nigeria didn't invite me to play in their lone friendly game against U.A.E in June either. They won 4-1.
I took all that motivation into my summer football training sessions. Much to my girlfriend's dismay, I spent a lot of June on the pitch trying to get better.
I could do that with only three cycling races on my calendar before the daunting month of July, where I will compete in the Tour de France and my hometown classic RideLondon-Surrey, followed by a trip back to lovely Paris, France, for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in early August.
Only going for gold in the cycling events since Nigeria didn't qualify in football, and even if they did, I don't think they would have selected me to be one of the three veteran players on the team. Got to work my way back on the squad.
But I'm getting too far ahead of myself. Let's stick to this month. Up next, we have the cobbled Halle-Ingoolgem and the Great Britain National Championships.
(The GB road race in Keswick was held July 1st, but figured it would be practical to include the report in this update. You're welcome.)
Race Day #46 at Halle - Ingoolgem
June 19, 2024
Over three weeks rest since completing the Giro, back on the bike I go.
Spoiler
Summary: After a long day of battling the wind, rain and each other, a 23-cyclist lead group approaches 5kms to go. Looking like a sprint will decide this one, unless somebody wants to try a bold move...
Race favourite Xander Das (not pictured by the limited race cameras) gives it go! He isn't the strongest sprinter so this is his best shot to win today. A few cyclists scramble to get on his wheel.
Das runs out of steam and Irish national champion Sam Bennett, wearing the NC jersey for perhaps just a few more weeks, sprints away in the final meters! He has a significant gap on the rest of the pack.
Bennett takes it ahead of a hard-charging Marcus Diamond, who beats Das to the finish line for a solid runner-up finish.
Result: 2nd - Credit to my teammates for pulling back multiple attacks in the final 20kms. I was set on waiting for the sprint finish, but after seeing how far ahead Bennett got with his early sprint, I decided I had to go early as well. It worked out, I guess. Third time I have finished second this season, while that first win continues to elude me.
Summary: Larry Gooden retains his fourth straight TT crown by besting the entire field by a minute and a half. The 25-year-old is well on his way to challenging Stuart Dangerfield (6) for the most career GB NC TT wins.
Result: 25th - While winning today was never going to happen, we decided to have a little family competition since it's not very often Grace, her sister Lucy and I are all racing at the same event.
The rules were simple: Whoever set the slowest time was buying the other two dinner after the race. Lucy set off first and clocked a 52'02". Grace was 14 seconds slower to put herself on the hot seat.
I was one of the last riders to go, so I knew what I had to beat... And I stopped the clock under 50 minutes with a 49'33" to earn an expensive steak dinner as a reward. Thanks babe.
Summary: We are off! The bookies had a hard time putting initial odds on this race because it could go a variety of different ways.
If the hills are hard, then Hugh Carthy or one of the Yates brothers could ride away solo. Not so hard, then you turn to the punchy sprinters like Marcus Diamond, Ben Swift or defending champion Christopher Lawless.
After a few rounds of attacks, the breakaway of the day settles on these five: Alistair Slater, James Knox, Harry Tanfield, Alex Braybrooke and Brent Prindiville. The only notable result between these five is Tanfield winning the 2022 edition of this race with a late attack that spoiled the sprinters. Can he surprise again?
Solid pacing from SEG and Tao Geoghegan Hart (for teammate Simon Yates) sees the first split with 95kms to go. The peloton is reduced to 22 cyclists with the breakaway 3'45" up the road.
Some outside sprinters miss the split, like Townsend and Blythe, but a majority of the well-known names were paying attention at the front.
Those riders do fight back to get in the pack, but another split happens on the next incline, and this one is more important with five more riders escaping off the front: Simon Yates, Ben Swift, Geoghegan Hart, Luke Rowe and Mark Donovan.
Bad spot for SEG to be in with only the couple of Grace Garner and Marcus Diamond left in the chase group. Hartley and Van Der Haar have already been exhausted with 72kms to go.
After 10kms of the peloton not really wanting to put forth an effort to chase. Diamond decides it's in his best interest to go after the recent attackers. Carthy decides to tag along for the ride.
What a free-for-all stage this is turning into. Still 60kms to go.
Well done! Carthy and Diamond work together to reach the front of the race. It took them 20kms of chasing. They only man missing from this group is early morning breakaway rider Braybrooke who fell behind.
That gives us 11 cyclists in the lead coming up to the penultimate climb, followed by Braybooke 40 seconds back and a "peloton" of 10 cyclists featuring Lawless and Adam Yates that is 3'22" behind.
Donovan attacks with 19kms to go and the final ascent ahead. Swift, Diamond, Carthy and Yates all have the energy to follow this move.
They all come back together with 16kms to go. They don't have a lot of time to play around here with Lawless and Kennaugh attacking across the gap a minute back.
It's Ben Swift's turn to give it a go!
Oh so close to the summit of the climb, and that accelerate cracks Diamond! Only Simon Yates, Rowe, Donovan and Carthy stay with Swift.
However, they can't match Swift's speed burst at the finish. The 36-year-old wins his first national championship by nipping S. Yates on the line!
Lawless wins the sprint for sixth ahead of Kennaugh and Diamond.
Result: 8th (+2'40") - Second year in a row finishing 8th. Maybe it's a Top 3 finish if I survive the last 250 meters of that final climb. Oh well. Try again next year.
1
Ben Swift
De Marchi
6h06'05
2
Simon Yates
Qantas
s.t.
3
Luke Rowe
The Guardian
s.t.
4
Mark Donovan
JLT Condor
s.t.
5
Hugh Carthy
Liquigas
s.t.
Calendar
Spoiler
Date
Race
Winner
2-Jun
Heistse Pijl
Bryan Coquard
3-Jun
Critérium du Dauphiné
Egan Arley Bernal
3-Jun
Gran Premio Città di Lugano
Wout Poels
4-Jun
Memorial Philippe van Coningsloo
Tim Merlier
7-Jun
GP du Canton d'Argovie
Esteban Chaves
8-Jun
Oberösterreichrundfahrt
Hafiz Sidek
9-Jun
Tour of Malopolska
Niklas Eg
9-Jun
Tour de Suisse
Nairo Quintana
10-Jun
Ronde van Limburg
Jérémy Lecroq
10-Jun
Rund um Köln
Runako Tshabalala
13-Jun
Tour of Slovenia
Dinmukhammed Ulysbayev
13-Jun
Ster ZLM Tour
Mike Teunissen
13-Jun
Tour de Beauce
Evgenii Kazanov
14-Jun
Route d'Occitanie
Tao Geoghegan Hart
15-Jun
Dwars door het Hageland - Aarschot
Sam Bennett
16-Jun
Fyen Rundt
Nico Fletcher
17-Jun
Elfstedenronde
Roller Diagama
17-Jun
GP Horsens Posten
Metkel Eyob
19-Jun
Halle - Ingooigem
Sam Bennett
20-Jun
Adriatica Ionica Race
Antonio Nibali
27-Jun
I.W.T. Jong Maar Moedig
Sean De Bie
28-Jun
Portuguese Championships (ITT)
Nelson Oliveira
28-Jun
German Championships (ITT)
Jasha Sütterlin
28-Jun
Great Britain Championships (ITT)
Larry Gooden
28-Jun
Czech Championships (ITT)
Jiri Kolda
28-Jun
USA Championships (ITT)
Neilson Powless
28-Jun
Russian Championships (ITT)
Daniil Eldzharov
28-Jun
Swiss Championships (ITT)
Gino Mäder
28-Jun
Danish Championships (ITT)
Mads Pedersen
28-Jun
Slovak Championships (ITT)
Daniel Mores
28-Jun
Ukrainian Championships (ITT)
Mark Padun
28-Jun
Slovenian Championships (ITT)
Primož Roglič
28-Jun
Norwegian Championships (ITT)
Andreas Leknessund
28-Jun
Kazakh Championships (ITT)
Maxim Shirshov
28-Jun
Irish Championships (ITT)
Steve Fanthorpe
28-Jun
Canadian Championships (ITT)
Jack Burke
28-Jun
Dutch Championships (ITT)
Wilco Kelderman
28-Jun
Belgian Championships (ITT)
Laurens De Plus
28-Jun
Austrian Championships (ITT)
Dieter Wagner
28-Jun
French Championships (ITT)
Alexys Brunel
28-Jun
Italian Championships (ITT)
Gianni Moscon
28-Jun
Spanish Championships (ITT)
Mikel Landa
28-Jun
Polish Championships (ITT)
Filip Maciejuk
1-Jul
Portuguese Championships
Amaro Manuel Antunes
1-Jul
French Championships
Julian Alaphilippe
1-Jul
Spanish Championships
Mikel Aristi
1-Jul
Italian Championships
Fausto Masnada
1-Jul
Belgian Championships
Tiesj Benoot
1-Jul
Dutch Championships
Mathieu Van Der Poel
1-Jul
German Championships
Marcel Kittel
1-Jul
Canadian Championships
Jim Arghittu
1-Jul
Danish Championships
Søren Kragh Andersen
1-Jul
Swiss Championships
Silvan Dillier
1-Jul
USA Championships
Gavin Mannion
1-Jul
Russian Championships
Alexandr Kulikovskiy
1-Jul
Great Britain Championships
Ben Swift
1-Jul
Polish Championships
Alan Banaszek
1-Jul
Czech Championships
Frantisek Sisr
1-Jul
Ukrainian Championships
Mikayil Saenko
1-Jul
Slovak Championships
Peter Sagan
1-Jul
Slovenian Championships
Jaka Primozic
1-Jul
CCdS et des Champions Olympiques
1-Jul
Austrian Championships
Felix Gall
1-Jul
Irish Championships
Michael O'Loughlin
1-Jul
Kazakh Championships
Maxim Shirshov
1-Jul
Norwegian Championships
Odd Christian Eiking
4-Jul
Sibiu Cycling Tour
6-Jul
GP Internacional Torres Vedras
7-Jul
Tour de France
Marcus Diamond In
7-Jul
Int. Österreich Rundfahrt
8-Jul
White Spot / Delta Road Race
15-Jul
Tour of Qinghai Lake
25-Jul
Prueba Villafranca-Ordiziako Klasika
25-Jul
Grand Prix Cerami
26-Jul
La Tour Alsace
27-Jul
VOO-Tour de Wallonie
29-Jul
GP Kranj
31-Jul
RideLondon-Surrey Classic
Marcus Diamond In
31-Jul
CdG Memorial Ricardo Otxoa
Season Rankings
Pro Tour Points
Team
Individual
1
The Guardian
9320
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
2261
2
Astana
5820
Michał Kwiatkowski
The Guardian
1895
3
Lotto Soudal
4335
Egan Arley Bernal
The Guardian
1664
4
AG2R La Mondiale
4127
Tiesj Benoot
Astana
1591
5
Movistar
3882
Enric Mas
The Guardian
1366
6
Ridley
3854
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana
1334
7
Groupama - FDJ
3771
Felix Gall
Movistar
1320
8
Bahrain - Merida
3588
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
1280
9
Philips
3478
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52
1180
10
Amazon
3416
Fernando Gaviria
Polska Travel
1165
…
…
14
SEG
2623
31Marcus Diamond
SEG
711
164Alex Vogel
SEG
95
303Grace Garner
SEG
22
Individual Wins
Cyclist
Nation
Team
Wins
1
Bryan Coquard
France
Bretagne
16
2
Abderahmane Mansouri
Algeria
Chubu Electric Power
12
3
Sam Bennett
Ireland
CAP48
10
4
Mark Padun
Ukraine
Bahrain - Merida
8
5
Ion Izagirre
Spain
Movistar
8
6
Egan Arley Bernal
Colombia
The Guardian
6
7
Tao Geoghegan Hart
United-Kingdom
Qantas
6
8
Romain Bardet
France
AG2R La Mondiale
6
9
Alberto Bettiol
Italy
Saeco
6
10
Aliaksandr Riabushenko
Belarus
Moravia Steel
6
…
NR
Marcus Diamond
United Kingdom
SEG
0
NR
Grace Garner
United Kingdom
SEG
0
NR
Alex Vogel
Netherlands
SEG
0
Evaluation
Training Ride *Community Growth Development*
Upgraded Training Facilities Boost:+1 Point Per Member
Spoiler
- Each member gets 4.0 points to spread however they like over the 13 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 55.0.
- Stats are bumped up in PCM when they hit that number, ex. 55.9 = 55 in-game, and 61.4 = 61 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 85. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery.
- Comment below to provide stat upgrades
TDF Prediction: Similar to the Giro d'Italia GC prediction held earlier this season, there will also be a Tour de France GC prediction. Correctly predict Marcus Diamond's GC finish to +3 any stat: unlocked or locked.
Added Notes: Diamond will be coming into the TDF on low fitness but should gradually get better as the race wears on. His teammates will be Stefan Kung, Mathieu van der Poel, Lennard Hofstede, Sjoerd van Ginneken, Rick Ottema, David Dekker and Maarten van Trijp.
Not much time for football this month since I have 21 stages of cycling's biggest event to complete (no spoilers). But I did manage to get one Friendly game in with my new club to build at least some chemistry with my teammates.
Here is an overview of the preseason schedule:
Fulham Preseason Friendlies
Date
Result
Diamond's Rating/Stats
July 24
1-1 Draw vs. Sochaux
DNP at TDF
July 27
3-2 Win at Leyton Orient
DNP at TDF
July 30
See Below at Mainz 05
Diamond's Debut
Aug. 2
TBD at Bradford City
Won't Play at Olympics
Aug. 5
TBD at AFC
Won't Play at Olympics
Preseason Friendly vs. Mainz 05
July 30, 2024
First game back on the pitch in a while, might be a tad rusty.
Spoiler
Fulham 2, Mainz 05 1
Summary: It's not going to be saved on his resume, but the home supporters will certainly remember. Marcus Diamond makes a dazzling first impression by scoring what turns out to be the game-winning goal in the 15th minute. Welcome home!
Rating: 7.3 - Great showing to ease some of the tension/pressure of Fulham signing me and not being able to play every day. Because of the Olympics I'll have to miss the season/home-opener against Cardiff City on Aug. 10. So this is my only appearance in the team's first six games.
Player of Game: Jon Dagur Porsteinsson, Fulham (7.5)
The Team
Head coach James Coppinger, the former Doncaster Rovers and Newcastle United staple, enters his second season as the Fulham head coach. This will be his first full season in charge after taking over in Nov. 2023 when former manager Phil Neville left to become the head coach at Ipswich Town.
Coppinger went 13-12-4 in 29 games last season, while selling one of the team's rising stars, midfielder Max Clayton-Robb, for 7.75 million euros in the winter transfer window to fund the eventual purchase of another midfielder, Marcus Diamond, for 5.5 million euros over the summer transfer winder.
Coppinger prefers the simple 4-4-2 formation on most occasions.
The Strikers: Timmy Abraham (23yo), Aboubakar Kamara (29).
Subs: Simon Wolfenden (22), Ashley Hunter (28).
U23 Hot Prospect: Greg Cross (20).
Abraham provides the pace, but lacks that finishing touch. The long-time Fulham project has 48 goals in 180 career appearances. Most often, Abraham will play alongside Kamara, who has a knack for finding the back of the net. Kamara is one of eight Fulham players to score at least 100 goals for the club. He is currently 6th all-time with 127 league goals.
Wolfenden has the potential to replace Kamara someday but hasn't quite shown the consistency yet to earn every day starts. Hunter was Coppinger's first major signing for a reasonable 700k fee in the winter transfer window last season. Hunter brings a veteran's composure and is capable of slotting in a goal or two.
Cross is on the verge of making the leap to the senior team full-time and the scouts are raving at his potential. Despite his name, they see him as a pure goal scorer rather than an assist man.
The Midfielders: Jon Dagur Porsteinsson (25), Marcus Diamond (24), Vacant, Jonathan Leko (25).
Subs: Russell York (21), Lee Smith (20 on loan from Everton), Steve Wilson (20), Samuel Tanko (21).
Injured: Stefan Johansen (33, out 6-9 weeks), Lewis Macleod (30, out 6-10 days).
On loan: Sion Allen (20 at Billericay).
What should have been a pretty strong midfield is left with a glaring question mark after Johansen broke three ribs in the preseason friendly against Leyton Orient. The Norwegian has 303 caps with Fulham since 2016 and his absence will be felt the first few months of the season.
Fulham has the pieces though to survive with hard to pronounce Porsteinsson on the left wing, speedy Leko on the right and newest signing Diamond controlling the middle with a English up-and-coming. Also fellow Nigeria countryman Tanko is still seeking his first senior league cap since working his way up through Fulham's youth system.
A poor preseason training camp so far by York forced Coppinger's hand to bring in Smith from Everton to add more competition for the vacant spot. Wilson is also in the mix and veteran Macleod could use his experience to slide back into the lineup when he recovers from a hernia injury.
The Defense: Jonas Knudsen (31), Reese James (24), Arlind Ajeti (30), Cyrus Christie (31).
Subs: John O'Neill (20).
U23 Hot Prospects: Phil Hitchcock (18), Chris Swift (17).
Besides James, it's likely the defense might look the most different when the season comes to an end. The other starters are aging out with three budding prospects waiting patiently for their turn. Swift has already made seven league appearances at right back, while center backs O'Neill and Hitchcock haven't seen senior team action yet. Maybe soon?
The Goalies: Marcus Bettinelli (32).
Subs: Marek Jaroszewski (21).
U23 Hot Prospect: Paul Foster-Burton (18).
This year's team caption is long-timer stopper Bettinelli. While being loaned out four separate times, Bettinelli has spent his entire 18-year career being payed by Fulham. He has made 281 league appearances and has been the full-time starter since 2019.
The reins will soon be turned over to either Jaroszewski or Foster-Burton in the near future. Jaroszewski is taller at 6'3" to 5'11" and more well-rounded, but Foster-Burton has that flair for making impossible saves.
Of course the transfer window is currently open so more players could be leaving or joining us at any time. Here is the full overview as the roster currently stands:
The Media's Season Preview predicted Fulham to finish 9th this season at 50-1 odds, while naming newbie Marcus Diamond in their preseason Dream Eleven.
Calendar
Club
International
Diamond hasn't been called up to the international team so far this season.
His last international appearance was Nov. 17, 2023, in a World Cup qualifier.
Evaluation
Training Ground *Community Growth Development*
Fulham Training Facilities Boost: +3 Points Per Member
Spoiler
- Each member gets 8.0 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Only stats that aren't locked can be upgraded.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
-Comment below to provide stat upgrades.
Housekeeping: Before embarking on a new club season with Fulham, just want to remind everyone that jandal7 and Fabianski still have stat unlocks that they can use at any time and Aequitas can choose one hidden attribute to improve as well. These perks were won two seasons ago, but haven't been claimed/used yet.
@DavidCorperial
You can assign 8 points, not just 3. Would be great if you could make use of them
@Everyone
If you want me to use a stat unlock, just tell me. I don't really know the mechanics of the game, so it's hard to judge what would make sense.
France proudly hosts the 111th edition of the Tour de France on the eve of hosting its third Summer Olympic Games — the first since 1924, exactly 100 years ago. The abundance of history here is palpable. And yet, more history can be made.
The hosts will be hoping a French savor will emerge as the first home winner since Bernard Hinault in 1986. Their best bet is three-time Grand Tour champion Pierre-Roger Latour (2021, 2022 Giro d'Italia & 2021 Vuelta a Espana).
The oddsmakers, however, don't see that happening. They believe Colombian Egan Arley Bernal will shake off back-to-back runner-up finishes to earn his fourth TDF title (2019, 2020 & 2021). In fact, the bookies top four selections are all Colombian climbers: Bernal, Nairo Quintana, Miguel Angel Lopez and Ivan Sosa.
Meanwhile, Great Britain has produced the last two winners in Simon Yates and Tao Geoghegan Hart. Both are back — on the same team nonetheless — looking for a repeat performance with Qantas.
Race Day #49-55 at Tour de France
July 7-13, 2024
First Week: We start with three days in Germany and a stop in Belgium.
Pre-Race GC Favourites
SEG Racing Squad
Stage 1
Spoiler
Summary: The Grand Departure is in Berlin for this monster 243kms opening stage. It's the only hilly stage in the entire tour, so the punchuers better make it count if they want to wear the yellow jersey.
The first attack of the TDF belongs to two Frenchmen! It's 23-year-old David Verger from Bretagne and 30-year-old Bruno Armirail from Direct Energie (who shows off his ability to drink and attack at the same time!).
Well, this is just bizarre. Early crosswinds allow a group of 18 cyclists at the front to make up a makeshift morning breakaway. Some of these cyclist didn't even try to get away, they just did. Like half of the SEG cycling team is here, including white jersey hopeful Marcus Diamond.
This group has their fun for a little bit before the peloton reels everybody back with 225kms to go. But, still, some early TV time for the energetic Diamond. We shall see if he or the gentile crosswinds make another appearance later today.
As the peloton starts the final climb of the day with 3.8kms to go, they can see the last remaining breakaway riders up the road: Diamond's teammate David Dekker and Frenchman J.P. Guillermin.
The leaders split as they throw in the towel. Big acceleration coming from David Gaudu, followed by Tim Wellens! 2.5kms left to climb.
Gaudu has a gap! It's not much, but the last kilometer flattens out. The Frenchman could be the first wearer of this year's yellow jersey!
Gaudu makes the bend with a few bike lengths lead over Wellens. Diamond is leading the charge from the chasing peloton!
The raw emotions on his face... Gaudu does it for FDJ! The scenes!
The World Champion Michael Matthews beats Wellens to the line for second, as Diamond fades hard to finish outside the Top 10 in 15th.
Result: 15th, 1st Youth - Got to remember to patient. I let the adrenaline rush get the better of me there. At least no time gaps were awarded up front, and the first 31 finishers got a 35-second gap over some of the time trialists. I also pulled on the first white jersey.
It's going to be a close competition between 25-year-old Maxim Shirshov (80MO, 81TT) and I, but I like a challenge. Stage 1 to me!
1
David Gaudu
Groupama - FDJ
5h34'03
2
Michael Matthews
W52 FC Porto
s.t.
3
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
4
Simon Yates
Qantas
s.t.
5
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
General Classification
1
David Gaudu
Groupama - FDJ
5h33'53
2
Michael Matthews
W52 FC Porto
+ 4
3
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
+ 6
4
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 10
5
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
6
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
s.t.
7
Felix Gall
Movistar Team
s.t.
8
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
s.t.
9
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
s.t.
10
Enric Mas
The Guardian
s.t.
Stage 2
Spoiler
Summary: Marcus Diamond's journey in white lasted one whole day. Despite having TT specialist Stefan Kung, SEG struggles to a 17th place.
Great Britain, however, happily trades in the white jersey for the yellow one. Diamond's former teammate and former TDF winner Simon Yates takes over the race lead with his team Qantas winning the TTT by 14 seconds over Great Britain's main team The Guardian.
Last year's TDF winner Tao Geoghegan Hart and Carlos Betancur move onto the podium as well for Qantas, tied on the same time with Yates.
Result: 17th (+1'17"), 42nd GC (+1'17"), 2nd Youth (+23") - Not good, but not terrible. Still within striking distance for what should be an interesting cobbled finish on Stage 4 in Belgium.
1
Qantas
38'14
2
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 14
3
Philips
+ 15
4
The Guardian
s.t.
5
Trek - Segafredo
+ 30
General Classification
1
Simon Yates
Qantas
6h12'17
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
s.t.
3
Carlos Betancur
Qantas
s.t.
4
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 13
5
José Gonçalves
Team Katusha Alpecin
s.t.
6
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 14
7
Fabio Aru
Philips
s.t.
8
Jhonatan Narvaez
The Guardian
s.t.
9
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
s.t.
10
Emanuel Buchmann
The Guardian
s.t.
Stage 3
Spoiler
Summary: The first stage to sort out the green jersey contenders goes to German National Champion Marcel Kittel in his home country of Dusseldorf, Germany. While that captures the headlines, a split happens at the back of the peloton with a few notable names losing 1'47" today: the white jersey of Maxim Shirshov, Tadej Pogacar and Kilian Frankiny.
Result: 34th, 26th GC (+1'17"), 1st Youth - Back in white after Shirshov misses the split today. Didn't really waste any energy in the sprint so I could be fresh for tomorrow's cobbled stage!
1
Marcel Kittel
T-Mobile
4h31'56
2
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
3
Lorena Wiebes
Team Katusha Alpecin
s.t.
4
Dylan Groenewegen
Philips
s.t.
5
Nacer Bouhanni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
General Classification
1
Simon Yates
Qantas
10h44'13
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
s.t.
3
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 13
4
Fabio Aru
Philips
+ 14
5
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
s.t.
6
Enric Mas
The Guardian
s.t.
7
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
+ 29
8
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
+ 32
9
Luke Durbridge
Qantas
+ 35
10
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
+ 42
Stage 4
Spoiler
Summary: We hit the first cobbled sector with roughly 19kms to go. The breakaway, which contains three SEG riders, is struggle to hold on. No causalities in the peloton just yet. But we expect that to happen soon.
Lars Boom, Thomas Pidcock and Marcus Diamond are attacking from distance! 15kms to go and they got a small gap over the yellow jersey that is down to 16 cyclists already. Diamond still has three teammates up the road he can use (well, if they have any energy to spare).
With the Simon Yates and company fast approaching, Diamond decides to go solo. He leaves Pidcock and Boom behind and passes teammates Ottema and Hofstede. Three are still three breakaway riders a minute up the road, including van Trijp to aid Diamond if he can reach them.
We have 14kms to go.
Dig Diamond Dig! The young Brit has the experience Brit Yates panicking to keep his yellow jersey. The GC leader is now pacing the chase group, but the gap has grown to 32 seconds. A very inspired attack by Diamond.
Diamond final reaches the breakaway on the final climb. He looks exhausted and his gap to the peloton is gone. It's over.
Turns out Boom had the right idea by going back to the lead group after the first climb and using the final climb to take home the stage win.
Result: 9th (+33"), 23rd GC (+1'17"), 1st Youth - No time gained on my direct GC rivals. Although, I did distance Shirshov by another 3'23" to give me a 4'47" gap for when we reach the mountains.
1
Lars Boom
Philips
5h00'29
2
Jens Keukeleire
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
3
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
4
André Looij
Bahrain - Merida
s.t.
5
Marco Haller
T-Mobile
s.t.
General Classification
1
Simon Yates
Qantas
15h45'15
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
s.t.
3
Jens Keukeleire
Lotto Soudal
+ 7
4
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 13
5
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 14
6
Enric Mas
The Guardian
s.t.
7
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
+ 29
8
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
+ 32
9
Luke Durbridge
Qantas
+ 35
10
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
+ 46
Stage 5
Spoiler
Summary: The first stage in France is another sprinter's delight.
It's a seven-way photo finish with the green jersey of Kittel not involved. Goes to show how close the sprints can be this tour. The win goes to the Frenchman on home soil, Nacer Bouhanni! Lorena Wiebes takes second.
Result: 15th, 22nd GC (+1'17"), 1st Youth - Stuck my nose in the sprint to see what I could manage. Wasn't able to crack the Top 10. With bonus seconds gained, Wiebes moved within 9 seconds of taking the white jersey from me. However, I should be able to shake her when the road starts to go up. That starts on Stage 8.
1
Nacer Bouhanni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
4h24'02
2
Lorena Wiebes
Team Katusha Alpecin
s.t.
3
André Looij
Bahrain - Merida
s.t.
4
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
5
Dylan Groenewegen
Philips
s.t.
General Classification
1
Simon Yates
Qantas
20h09'17
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
s.t.
3
Jens Keukeleire
Lotto Soudal
+ 7
4
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 13
5
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 14
6
Enric Mas
The Guardian
s.t.
7
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
+ 29
8
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
+ 32
9
Luke Durbridge
Qantas
+ 35
10
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
+ 46
Stage 6
Spoiler
Summary: Not as straight forward as yesterday, with a tricky Cat. 4 climb coming a few kilometers before the downhill finish into the town of Pont-a-Mousson. We shall see how many sprinters can overcome the speed bump.
Marcus Diamond isn't going to make it easy on them. This is a huge attack at the base of the climb from the Brit wearing the white jersey! Sajnok tries to keep up for his sprinter Groenewegen.
Diamond hits the summit with a 29-second gap!
Full tilt, head down. Diamond even catches some air on the downhill!
The banner. The crowd screaming. Do dreams come true?
Let the celebration commence!
DIAMOND WINS STAGE 6 OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE!
The look on his face. He doesn't believe it.
What's even more unbelievable? Diamond could be pulling on the yellow jersey! He needs 1'08" after gaining 10 bonus seconds for the victory. Reports have the chasing group, with the yellow jersey of Simon Yates, around a minute behind.
Groenewegen hits the line and stops the clock... 48 seconds later.
Simon Yates will keep yellow. Maybe, just maybe, Diamond gains 20 more seconds if he doesn't celebrate as much. It was quite an exuberant celebration. Do you blame him? His first grand tour triumph.
Diamond got what he wanted: a stage win.
Result: 1st, 7th GC (+19"), 1st Youth - We did it... Wow. So thankful. So happy. So... incredible. Been waiting for this first win all season and it comes in the biggest race. Just a huge relief. This is better than I could have even imagined. Hard to put into words really. Wish I could talk more, but I'm going to go celebrate with my girlfriend.
1
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
4h46'12
2
Dylan Groenewegen
Philips
+ 48
3
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
4
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
5
Marcel Kittel
T-Mobile
s.t.
General Classification
1
Simon Yates
Qantas
24h56'17
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
s.t.
3
Jens Keukeleire
Lotto Soudal
+ 7
4
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 13
5
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 14
6
Enric Mas
The Guardian
s.t.
7
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
+ 19
8
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
+ 29
9
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
+ 32
10
Luke Durbridge
Qantas
+ 35
Stage 7
Spoiler
Summary: We pick up our coverage with the Top 10 GC riders left to leave the start gate here in Nancy. The current best time has been set by Fabio Aru at 56'15".
The rain has been off and on throughout the day. Although the rain has stopped for now and Tom Dumoulin, currently on course, has beat Aru through the first two time checks.
Yesterday's winner Diamond struggles, as expected, and comes home over four minutes behind the winner...
Dumoulin, who completes his strong performance.
New leader of the race is stage runner-up Laurens De Plus, building a healthy 30-second gap over Tao Geoghegan Hart and 42 seconds on Dumoulin. Yates is lurking, less than a minute back.
Result: 93rd (+4'19"), 25th GC (+4'00"), 1st Youth - I mean, after all the celebrating I did last night, this still could have gone much worse.
Amazing first season win, congrats! Shame it wasn't enough for the Maillot Jaune, I guess if he had been in top form he might have taken that time in stage 4. But well, it's still a great showing so far - now let the suffering start
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
The punchuers, sprinters, time trialists and cobblers have already had their fun. It's now time for the mountain goats to take over in the fight for the Maillot Jaune. On deck, we have five straight mountain stages! Buckle up.
The current man to dethrone is Laurens De Plus. The 28-year-old Belgian in his prime has yet to win a Grand Tour, but has now worn the leader's jersey in all three GTs. His best finish was 4th in the 2020 Tour de France.
Race Day #56-62 at Tour de France
July 14-21, 2024
Recap of the first week of racing can be found below:
Spoiler
Stages So Far
Winner
GC
Points
KoM
U25
1
Gaudu
Gaudu
Gaudu
Gaudu
Diamond
2
Qantas
S. Yates
Gaudu
Gaudu
Shirshov
3
Kittel
S. Yates
Kittel
Gaudu
Diamond
4
Boom
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
5
Bouhanni
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
6
Diamond
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
7
Dumoulin
De Plus
Kittel
Dumoulin
Diamond
General Classification
1
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
25h52'11
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 30
3
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 42
4
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 57
5
Bob Jungels
T-Mobile
+ 1'09
6
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 1'11
7
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
+ 1'14
8
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 1'21
9
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
10
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
+ 1'32
...
25
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
+ 4'00
Points Classfication
1
Marcel Kittel
T-Mobile
113
2
Dylan Groenewegen
Philips
96
3
Nacer Bouhanni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
94
4
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto Soudal
85
5
Lorena Wiebes
Team Katusha Alpecin
79
...
8
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
65
KoM Classification
1
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
3
2
Jens Keukeleire
Lotto Soudal
2
3
Julien Duval
AG2R La Mondiale
2
4
Jimmy Turgis
Bretagne
2
5
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
1
U25 Classification
1
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
25h56'11
2
Lorena Wiebes
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 2'38
3
Maxim Shirshov
Bahrain - Merida
+ 3'32
4
Thomas Pidcock
Groupama - FDJ
+ 4'02
5
Maikel Zijlaard
Amazon
+ 4'06
Best Team
1
Qantas
76h22'39
2
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 7
3
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'20
...
15
SEG Racing Academy
+ 8'00
Stage 8
Spoiler
Summary: The Guardian is laying down a heavy tempo in pursuit of the remaining breakaway riders. No favourites have attacked yet, everybody just trying to hang on at the moment with 3kms to the summit.
Basically at the top, Martinez attacks. Mas follows. This effort, however, goes nowhere. Still 5-7 breakaway cyclists hovering off the front with 19kms remaining.
So here we are, 31 cyclists at the base of the final climb up the Mont Sainte-Odile. The stage win looks out of reach with the breakaway leader 4 minutes ahead.
That didn't take long. Sosa makes the first move. Diamond reacts quickly, followed by Simon Yates, Martinez, Latour, Dumoulin and Geoghegan Hart. No reaction from the yellow jersey of De Plus yet.
De Plus has gotten onto the end of this long chain of attackers. Fifteen in total with Sosa still trying to up the tempo. The Top 9 in GC are all here.
Sosa is drained. Now Yates goes. Again, Diamond, is all over this.
Yates hits a wall. Here goes Columbian national champion Martinez. Diamond can't follow this move. Leaving the chase to the polka dots of Dumoulin.
Diamond quickly fades into the yellow jersey chase group.
The win belongs to breakaway man Tim Wellens.
The favourites are led home by Martinez, who gains a 16-second gap with Ciccone, Sosa, Dumoulin, Padun, S. Yates and De Plus over the other favourites behind.
Result: 24th (+2'37"), 18th GC (+4'16"), 1st Youth - Followed attacks and held on as long as I could. Lead Shirshov by over four minutes in the U25 competition. Solid day.
1
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
4h11'29
2
Alexis Gougeard
AG2R
+ 33
3
Christian Odd Eiking
AG2R
s.t.
4
Corentin Hugon
Bretagne
+ 1'04
5
Bauke Mollema
Trek - Segafredo
+ 1'29
General Classification
1
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
30h06'01
2
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 42
3
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 46
4
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 57
5
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 1'21
6
Bob Jungels
T-Mobile
+ 1'25
7
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 1'27
8
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
+ 1'30
9
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'37
10
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 2'05
Stage 9
Spoiler
Summary: The breakaway warriors looking to challenge the KoM competition have today circled on their calendars. We have three Cat. 1 climbs, two Cat. 2 climbs and a Cat. 3 ahead. And, as expected, we have some very interesting names in a very large 29-cyclist breakaway.
Very surprised the peloton is happy to let this group go.
The best GC rider is 8th overall Wilco Kelderman (+1'30") followed by the U25 leader Marcus Diamond in 18th overall (+4'16"), who has five teammates around him!
The best climbers present? Mikel Landa, Richard Carapaz, Sam Oomen, Primoz Roglic and yesterday's winner Tim Wellens. Surprisingly not present, the KoM leader Alexis Gougeard.
Great sprint up the first climb. Eiking nips Diamond on the line for maximum point. Looks like the white jersey also wants to contend for polka dots!
Eiking goes 2-for-2 with Diamond sending his teammates after the points after not having the legs to keep up this time.
Over the first cat. 1 of Col du Platzerwasel, Kelderman beats Eiking and Diamond. Eiking leads the virtually KoM competition with 24 points, followed by Kelderman (12), Gougeard (11) and Diamond (10).
Rain starts to fall on the downhill. Always dangerous and there is a crash in the breakaway. Diamond narrowly avoids his falling teammate Hofstede and Dolorier. Van Bartle also gets caught up in this.
Diamond is the only rider interested in the sprint point and rolls over in first place. Why not go for the green jersey too? The 20 points gained puts him tied for fourth place (85 points) in that competition behind Kittel (113), Groenewegen (96), Bouhanni (94).
The breakaway is down to 22 cyclists with a 4'39" lead over the peloton with 87kms remaining, which includes three more climbs.
The fog has rolled in and the peloton is closing in on the breakaway.
Roglic wins the race to the top while Diamond gets dropped.
Diamond watches the favourites ride by up the penultimate climb.
Diamond regroups at the base of the final climb. Three breakaway riders still remain up the road Landa, Kelderman and Roglic. Kelderman is dreaming of yellow with the gap approaching 5 minutes with 25kms left.
The win goes to Landa but it's Kelderman behind him who takes the grand prize, the Maillot Jaune! The gap back to the favourites is 1'40" with Mark Padun and Tom Dumoulin attacking away to finish fourth and fifth 55" seconds back.
So, the top two in GC at the end of the night are two Dutchmen: Kelderman and Dumoulin. De Plus drops to third overall after a poor showing from his team.
Result: 38th (+10'18"), 31st GC (+13'10"), 4th points, 6th KoM, 2nd youth (+ 1") - Every eventful day ends with some heartbreak. After getting dropped for good at the base of the final climb, I rode my heart out to keep the white jersey. I stopped the clock one single second short. Maxim Shirshov is the new U25 leader.
The goal for tonight was to do what Landa, Kelderman and Roglic did, but I just didn't have the legs in the end and it costed me dearly. Thankfully, there is a rest day tomorrow so I can recovery a little bit.
1
Mikel Landa
Movistar Team
6h20'05
2
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
s.t.
3
Primož Roglič
Philips
s.t.
4
Mark Padun
Bahrain - Merida
+ 55
5
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
s.t.
General Classification
1
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
36h27'30
2
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 13
3
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 16
4
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 1'02
5
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 1'13
6
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 1'37
7
Bob Jungels
T-Mobile
+ 1'41
8
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 1'43
9
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'53
10
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 2'21
Stage 10
Spoiler
Summary: Back-to-back stages the peloton has conceded a 31-cyclist breakaway. Again we see Diamond rolling through the sprint point to collect maximum points. He has four teammates with him today.
Other notables in this large group are: Carapaz (25th overall) and Eiking (2nd KoM). Not too many climbers in this group. But, the peloton is still taking this move seriously. The gap is only 3'13" with 103kms to go.
Eiking, wearing the KoM jersey, takes first on the opening cat. 4 climb. Diamond doesn't even bother. Saving his energy for later in the day?
It appears so. Diamond second on the cat. 2 climb, losing out to Schachmann. Reaching the summit with them is Carapaz, Diamond's teammate Van der Poel and Paret-Peintre. All five can climb a little bit.
At the base of the final climb, and it's a big one. The HC-rated Le Mont du Chat — 14kms at 8.8%. Last stage crash victim Dolorier rejoins to make it six cyclists up front. In the distance is Gesink trying to bridge the gap.
Reports have the peloton 2 minutes behind Gesink.
With the favourites closing in, SEG shows their cards. Van der Poel attacks! Paret-Peintre is first to react. Diamond follows with Carapaz on his wheel.
Right into our camera it's Paret-Peintre upping the pace with an attack! 8.5kms from the top.
The road is steep, the peloton is inching ever closer. Paret-Peintre holding a 40-second gap to Carapaz with Diamond hot on his tail. Schachmann also hanging around on Diamond's wheel.
The peloton is just lurking to make the catch.
So close. Paret-Peintre is caught with 2kms left to climb. It's Mas doing the dirty work for Sosa. Martinez and Latour are along for the ride. Those four end up going over the top together.
Mas outsprints Martinez and his teammate Sosa for the stage win. Kelderman struggles, losing 4'45" and the yellow jersey to fellow countryman Tom Dumoulin. De Plus is only three seconds back with Sosa (+33), Geoghegan Hart (+49) and Latour (+53) all within a minute of the lead still.
Result: 20th (+1'26"), 28th GC (+13'36"), 2nd points, 7th KoM, 1st youth - No stage win, but a fantastic day nonetheless. Back in the white jersey by over three minutes as Shirshov didn't have the legs today. Now just eight points behind Kittel for the green jersey... Never thought that prize would be within reach. Just got to stay consistent, which probably means a lot more breakaway miles ahead.
1
Enric Mas
The Guardian
5h00'11
2
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
3
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
s.t.
4
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
5
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 47
General Classification
1
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
41h28'41
2
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 3
3
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 33
4
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 49
5
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 53
6
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 1'00
7
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 1'12
8
Bob Jungels
T-Mobile
+ 1'28
9
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 1'30
10
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 2'05
Stage 11
Spoiler
Summary: It never gets easier. Three more challenging climbs today!
Marcus Diamond, in the breakaway for a third straight day, leads the front group across the lone sprint. That gives Diamond 125 points and the virtually green jersey over Marcel Kittel (113 points)!
But surely Diamond isn't thinking too much about that now. The breakaway has a massive 15-minute gap over the peloton with 155kms to go.
GC contenders pressing their luck in the break are: KoM leader and 15th overall Kelderman (+3'45"), 16th Alaphilippe (+3'52"), 19th Gaudu (+6'31"), 22nd Carapaz (+9'49"), 23th Grosschartner (+9'53"), 24th Roglic (+10'05") and 26th Wellens (+10'25").
And, of course, Diamond in 28th (+13'36"). Who has the most support with three teammates to lean on: Hofstede, Van der Poel and Kung.
At the top of the first HC climb, the Col de I'lseran, Grosschartner attacks away for the maximum points. Kelderman biggest challenger, however, is the man with the lead in two other competitions already. Diamond takes fourth on the climb to move up to third in the KoM competition.
What can't Diamond do?
The leaders still have 14-minute gap to the peloton with 109kms left.
The second climb goes to Sam Oomen, but it's ever-steady Diamond with a third place behind Alaphilippe. Diamond now a point away from being the KoM virtual leader with the HC climb of Col du Finestre looming.
The peloton is reported to be 10'17" back with 69kms left. So, the breakaway has a realistic shot to win today's stage as well!
Our 13 leaders make the turn onto the 20km climb up the Col du Finestre.
We have Wellens leading the charge followed by a pair of TEAM Ridley climbers in Schachmann and Paret-Peintre. Behind them is Dolorier, Oomen, Diamond, Brozyna, Grosschartner, Moscon, Roglic, Carapaz, Alaphilippe and Meintjes.
The strongest climber is probably Grosschartner, but he used a lot of energy up winning the first climb today. The most dangerous however, has to be Diamond. If he can stay in contact over this final climb, he wins the sprint to the line hands down.
Halfway up and the breakaway splits! Eight riders go clear with Carapaz, Meintjes, Schachmann, Moscon and Brozyna getting dropped. Carapaz and Meintjes recover to cross the gap, but Wellens is dropped in their place.
The peloton is also gaining, just 4'20" back and closing in fast.
Diamond is struggling at the back of this group, but he is hanging on!
Not anymore... Oomen creates the attack that pops Diamond with 5.3kms to the top of the climb. Carapaz, Alaphilippe and Grosschartner have the legs to follow Oomen.
Moments later the favourites arrive, flying past Diamond and Roglic. They have made massive time up on this climb. Those power numbers have to be surreal.
Oomen rightfully wins the sprint for the win after a gutsy attack on the final climb. He beats favourite Sosa and breakaway partners Alaphilippe and Carapaz to the line.
Sosa is happy enough with becoming the next yellow jersey wearer. He also takes the lead in the KoM competition (32 points) ahead of Kelderman (30) and Diamond (29).
Diamond holds the other two coveted jerseys: green and white.
Result: 21st (+2'47"), 25th GC (+15'56"), 1st Points, 3rd KoM, 1st Youth - Another great day in the breakaway. Legs getting tired, but with all these prizes I'm collecting, got to keep pushing on.
1
Sam Oomen
Amazon
7h26'02
2
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
s.t.
3
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
s.t.
4
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
5
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
s.t.
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
48h55'10
2
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 42
3
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 45
4
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 1'31
5
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'35
6
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 1'42
7
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 1'54
8
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 2'12
9
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 2'22
10
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 2'47
Stage 12
Spoiler
Summary: We start the day with some familiar names battling for the KoM points. Alaphilippe gets the best of Oomen, Eiking, Kelderman and Diamond.
Diamond, wearing the green jersey today, is in pursuit of becoming the first rider since Eddy Merckx in 1969 to win both the green jersey and the KoM jersey. Fifth here doesn't help his cause as Alaphilippe is now the virtual leader on the road.
Brozyna denies Diamond max points at the sprint point. Could be costly later in the tour. But, for in the meantime, Diamond increase his advantage to 142-113 over Kittel in that competition. Two flat stages ahead, though.
Interesting strategy by SEG on the second climb as Van der Poel steals max points at the top with Diamond not having the legs to keep up.
Or was he just saving them! Diamond attacks at the base of second HC climb. All the KoM contenders take notice and follow. Although, I doubt they wanted to attack from this far out.
Kelderman and Diamond eventually do get a tiny gap. Still 13kms to the top. So strange to see the green jersey and KoM jersey side-by-side leading a mountain stage in the Tour de France.
Diamond wasted a lot of energy trying to make this move happen and it's not going work. The remaining breakaway riders that have paced themselves have now dropped the green jersey with 7kms to the top.
In that group is the white jersey holder Shirshov, who needs 7'32" to grab the jersey for real from Diamond, who is struggling mightily now.
Carapaz leads the breakaway home for another win. He skyrockets to third in GC with fellow breakaway man and new KoM leader Alaphilippe moving up to second overall tonight. The peloton was caught napping.
Diamond is the last breakaway rider to reach the finish in 14th place before the yellow jersey of Sosa crosses. His lead is down to 45 seconds to Alaphilippe.
Whereas Diamond is going to lose his lead in U25 competition by a single second... again! Utterly impossible how that happens once, but twice. At least there are nine more stages left to get the lead back from Shirshov.
Result: 14th (+8'10"), 26th GC (+15'49"), 1st Points, 7th KoM, 2nd Youth (+1") - Goal today was to get KoM points. That backfired and I lost the white jersey. Now I could easily lose the green jersey with two flat stages left to close out the second week of the tour. I might have too many eggs in multiple baskets.
1
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
5h40'16
2
Louis Meintjes
Philips
+ 8
3
Primož Roglič
Philips
s.t.
4
Felix Grosschartner
T-Mobile
s.t.
5
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
+ 37
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
54h43'43
2
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
+ 45
3
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
+ 55
4
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 1'48
5
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 1'59
6
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 2'11
7
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 2'19
8
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 2'39
9
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 3'03
10
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 3'09
Stage 13
Spoiler
Summary: After five energy-sapping mountain stages, the GC contenders finally get a day off today. It's the sprinter's turn once again. And for Diamond. He seemingly never gets a day off.
A ninth place at the sprint point extends Diamond's green jersey lead by four more points over Kittel, who took 13th. A precursory for what's to come at the finish line?
Van der Poel is finally reeled back as the last breakaway man with the banner in sight. We will get a sprint finish for the first time in a long time!
Bouhanni is the fastest! Over De Buyst and Demare. Kittel 6th and Diamond does well to grab 9th after multiple breakaway days in the mountains.
As a result, the points competition tights up considerably. Diamond (159), Bouhanni (153), Kittel (130), De Buyst (126) and Groenewegen (122).
Result: 9th, 26th (+15'49"), 1st Points, 7th KoM, 2nd Youth (+1") - Needed a decent sprint to keep the green jersey and did that. Not sure I can do the same tomorrow. Then again, it's an uphill sprint.
1
Nacer Bouhanni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
4h11'48
2
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
3
Arnaud Démare
Groupama - FDJ
s.t.
4
Lorena Wiebes
Team Katusha Alpecin
s.t.
5
Dylan Groenewegen
Philips
s.t.
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
58h55'31
2
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
+ 45
3
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
+ 55
4
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 1'48
5
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 1'59
6
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 2'11
7
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 2'19
8
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 2'39
9
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 3'03
10
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 3'09
Stage 14
Spoiler
Summary: The sprint point comes early and Groenewegen tops Bouhanni for the 20 points. With Diamond taking 8th, Bouhanni is the virtual green jersey leader by three points (170-167).
Surprisingly, the peloton has no interest in chasing the 6-man breakaway today. They have a 9-minute gap with 11kms to go. The best placed GC rider here is Van der Poel in 37th place (+43'20"). But, more importantly, he will clean up some of the points so the sprinter's will only be racing for seventh today (or a max of 13 points).
Diamond should be pleased with that, unless this is a stage he thinks he could have won with a sharp incline up to the finish line.
That would be a hard no. Diamond looking a little fatigued with a 47th place finish. At least he doesn't lose too much today with Kittel finishing 9th, Groenewegen 11th and De Buyst 15th.
Bouhanni nowhere to be found.
So the point standings after two weeks of racing: Bouhanni (170), Diamond (167), Kittel (154), Groenewegen (147) and De Buyst (141).
Diamond will trade the green jersey in for white though as Shirshov inexplicitly lost 37 seconds on the quick climb to the line today. Alaphilippe and Carapaz also paid for their efforts yesterday and dropped to 4th and 5th overall, respectively.
Nils Politt wins. SEG gets a podium finish with Van der Poel in third.
Result: 47th (+9'30"), 25th GC (+16'28"), 2nd Points, 7th KoM, 1st Youth - Two weeks down, lots of drama left to unfold. Legs are burning, but can't back down. Probably should decide on one jersey to target over the last seven days, but with three of them within my reach...
Entertaining week from Marcus. Love the ambition to fight on three fronts
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
After two weeks of racing, 26-year-old Colombian Ivan Sosa is in the driver's seat seeking his first Grand Tour crown. The Guardian leader is looking to break Great Britain's run of two straight champions (Tao Geoghegan Hart in 2023 and Simon Yates in 2022) to become the next Colombian winner since his teammate Egan Arley Bernal back in 2021.
Yet, still a lot of work to be done with remaining climbs up the Port de Pailheres, Ax-3-Domaines, Prat Mataou and the famous Col du Tourmalet (just to name a few). Plus, a 49km ITT awaits on Stage 20 if the mountains aren't decisive.
Also, sprinkle in two flat stages for the sprinters, including the iconic finish on the Champs-Élysées. Plenty left to fight for, let's continue the action!
Race Day #63-69 at Tour de France
July 22-29, 2024
Recap of the first and second week of racing can be found below:
Spoiler
Stages So Far
Winner
GC
Points
KoM
U25
1
Gaudu
Gaudu
Gaudu
Gaudu
Diamond
2
Qantas
S. Yates
Gaudu
Gaudu
Shirshov
3
Kittel
S. Yates
Kittel
Gaudu
Diamond
4
Boom
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
5
Bouhanni
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
6
Diamond
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
7
Dumoulin
De Plus
Kittel
Dumoulin
Diamond
8
Wellens
De Plus
Kittel
Gougeard
Diamond
9
Landa
Kelderman
Kittel
Kelderman
Shirshov
10
Mas
Dumoulin
Kittel
Kelderman
Diamond
11
Oomen
Sosa
Diamond
Sosa
Diamond
12
Carapaz
Sosa
Diamond
Alaphilippe
Shirshov
13
Bouhanni
Sosa
Diamond
Alaphilippe
Shirshov
14
Politt
Sosa
Bouhanni
Alaphilippe
Diamond
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
62h37'03
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 1'48
3
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 1'59
4
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
+ 2'01
5
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
+ 2'11
6
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 2'39
7
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 2'50
8
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 2'58
9
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 3'03
10
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 3'09
...
25
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
+ 16'28
Points Classfication
1
Nacer Bouhanni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
170
2
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
167
3
Marcel Kittel
T-Mobile
154
4
Dylan Groenewegen
Philips
147
5
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto Soudal
141
KoM Classification
1
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
56
2
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
54
3
Wilco Kelderman
Trek - Segafredo
46
4
Felix Grosschartner
T-Mobile
45
5
Sam Oomen
Amazon
42
...
7
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
38
U25 Classification
1
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
25h56'11
2
Maxim Shirshov
Bahrain - Merida
+ 36
3
Segundo Dolorier
La Plage Le Club
+ 43'30
4
David Verger
Bretagne
+ 1h21'23
5
Corentin Hugon
Bretagne
+ 1h43'08
Best Team
1
The Guardian
186h40'10
2
Movistar Team
+ 6'18
3
Philips
+ 17'22
...
13
SEG Racing Academy
+ 1h54'53
Stage 15
Spoiler
Summary: A maximum of 28 KoM points available today, so you know a handful of riders wanted in on the breakaway. Surprisingly, though, Marcus Diamond isn't involved today. He looks to protect the white jersey with Shirshov not going on the attack either.
The breakaway contains: Kung, Van der Poel, Jungels, Landa, Pinot, Roglic, Alaphilippe and Brozyna. Kung gets dropped rather early on after supporting Van der Poel for SEG Racing.
Crash on the descent of the first climb splits the peloton. In total, 38 cyclists are caught out, including big names of Padun, Aru and De Plus. It takes them a bit, but they do eventually rejoin.
Both breakaway riders Landa and Alaphilippe crash on the downhill leading to the penultimate climb and sprint point. The 43-cyclist peloton picks them up with ease. Landa, the Stage 9 winner, eventually retires from the race.
Alaphilippe survives just before the sprint point, as Diamond sneaks up to grab 8th and 8 points. Enough to give him the green jersey back after Bouhanni was dropped on the latest climb.
We start the final climb with 28kms to go. Half of that will be going up and the other half will be coming down. Three breakaway riders are left standing. Jungels leads with a 36-second gap to Roglic, followed by Pinot another 20 seconds back. The peloton is 40 seconds behind Pinot with 35 cyclists still working well together.
After 9kms of gentle climb and the peloton not really going anywhere, 6th overall Miguel Angel Lopez attack! Finally some action!
Lopez quickly sweeps up Pinot and Roglic. Grosschartner, Diamond, Carapaz and Oomen all try to follow this move. The peloton is also quick to react.
When they all get brought back, Martinez makes a dig with Carapaz going again. This comes with 3.2kms to climb and Jungels 1'25" up the road. His time looks limited though.
When that move fails to create a gap, Lopez goes again! Jungels is now in the distance. The peloton pinned him back with multiple failed attacks.
Jungels looks around in disbelief as the peloton catches him 900 meters from the top. 28 cyclists up front but many are struggling at the back of this group, including the white jersey of Diamond. Who is a good bet to win a downhill sprint if he can recover in time.
Speak of the devil. As Martinez makes yet another attack, Diamond gets thrown off the back a few hundred meters from the top. Can he rejoin on the downhill?
No. Diamond loses 1'18" and the white jersey to Shirshov again.
The Guardian goes 1-6 at the finish leading Sosa home safely. What a team result for them.
Result: 26th (+1'18"), 25th GC (+17'46"), 1st Points, 8th KoM, 2nd Youth (+42") - Trading white for green. Just couldn't hang on over the final climb. Maybe if I don't waste energy following MAL, I stay in the group and compete for the stage win.
1
Emanuel Buchmann
The Guardian
5h12'00
2
Egan Arley Bernal
The Guardian
s.t.
3
Enric Mas
The Guardian
s.t.
4
Tadej Pogacar
The Guardian
s.t.
5
Kilian Frankiny
The Guardian
s.t.
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
67h49'03
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 1'48
3
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 1'59
4
Richard Carapaz
Lotto Soudal
+ 2'11
5
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 2'39
6
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 2'46
7
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 2'58
8
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 3'03
9
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 3'09
10
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 3'20
Stage 16
Spoiler
Summary: We are back in the Pyrenees following the second and final rest day of this year's Tour de France. We still have 164 cyclists dreaming of making it to Paris as we depart from a bright and sunny Narbonne.
It takes a while for the breakaway to get organized, but eventually 21 cyclists getaway for good. They are:
13th overall Grosschartner, 17th and KoM leader Alaphilippe, 18th Jungels, 19th Roglic, 21st Pinot, 24th and U25 leader Shirshov, 25th and points leader Diamond, 26th Oomen, 27th Meintjes and 28th Moscon.
Other climbers: Kelderman, Dolorier, Konrad, Brozyna, Jornet, Eiking, Van der Poel, Sepulveda, Niewiadoma, Verger and Paret-Peintre.
Diamond leads the breakaway through the sprint point uncontested. That's 20 more points to give him a 25-point lead over Bouhanni. Meanwhile, the peloton is doing a good job keeping this large breakaway in check. The gap hovers around three minutes.
Roglic, Diamond and Paret-Peintre all get detached as we start the HC climb up the Port de Pailheres. Only 10 cyclists left in the lead group. The peloton is roughly 3 minutes behind Group Roglic/Diamond (no offense Paret-Peintre).
I take that back... Diamond drops Roglic in his pursuit to rejoin the leaders. Make this Group Diamond/Paret-Peintre.
Soon it's only Diamond. He continues to pick through the fallen leaders while the peloton is slowly approaching. 3kms to the top of this climb.
It's a suburb ride by Diamond! He might be the fastest rider up this incline. He crosses the line sixth ahead of Alaphilippe. The five riders in front of him: Niewiadoma, Meintjes, Shirshov, Jornet and Oomen.
Under 5kms to go, Diamond/Oomen/Alaphilippe are caught by a group of attacking outsiders: Dumoulin and Lopez, with former breakaway riders Aru, Sepulveda and Moscon hanging on for the free ride.
Diamond caught by the yellow jersey group with 2.5kms left to climb.
History made at the top! Katarzyna Niewiadoma becomes the second female to win a stage in the Tour de France! Following in the pedal strokes of Lorena Wiebes.
MAL beats the yellow jersey home for second place on the stage and in GC with Geoghegan Hart, Yates and Carapaz all having off days.
Diamond with another solid climb to finish near the front in eighth place. That's a valuable eight additional sprint points on day he looked defeated after being dropped on the first climb.
Result: 8th (+2'33"), 18th GC (+18'16"), 1st Points, 6th KoM, 1st Youth - Decided halfway up the first climb to start riding my own tempo. Paid off massively today. Jumped seven spots in GC, gained some key sprint points and took back the U25 lead by 1'17" over Shirshov. Oh, and not to mention, a Top 10 stage result.
1
Katarzyna Niewiadoma
Groupama - FDJ
5h39'42
2
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 2'07
3
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
s.t.
4
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
s.t.
5
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
73h30'48
2
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 2'37
3
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 3'02
4
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 3'16
5
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 3'19
6
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 3'24
7
Simon Yates
Qantas
+ 3'30
8
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 3'33
9
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 4'40
10
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 5'04
Stage 17
Spoiler
Summary: Sick of mountains yet? The green jersey isn't. As per usual, Diamond gets in the breakaway and nabs the sprint points today.
He didn't contest the first two climbs, though. Looks like he is conceding the KoM competition in hopes of saving energy for the stage win or move further up in GC.
The breakaway is currently 29 cyclists strong with a 5-minute gap to the yellow jersey. Six riders have already been dropped from the front group. Hard day so far with 75kms still to go.
By the top of the first Cat. 1 of Col du la Crouzette, eight riders have gone slightly clear from the breakaway: Jungels, Moscon, Diamond, Meintjes, Formolo, Carapaz, Wellens and Jornet.
Six more rejoin before the base of next climb: Alaphilippe, Gaudu, Oomen, Shirshov, Pinot and yesterday's winner Niewiadoma.
The same can't be said once they reach the other side of the mountain. Rain and snow causing some chaos. Jungels, Niewiadoma, Meintjes, Pinot, Moscon and Jornet have rode away from the chase group of Diamond, Shirshov, Carapaz, Alaphilippe, Bilbao and Herrada.
And we just got word (no photos) of a crash in the peloton taking down 4th overall Mas, Roglic and bunch of others on the descent.
Diamond looks to lose his followers on the small downhill section in the middle of the final climb. The peloton is closing in fast.
Decent attempt but the move doesn't stick and now the peloton is here.
Diamond limps home for a 21st place finish. But still gaining 49 seconds on Shirshov who finished in 25th. Diamond now leads Bouhanni by 53 points in the green jersey competition.
The winner? Breakaway man Jungels finally gets his prize. GC wise, Sosa as strong as ever. Mas recovers from his crash to maintain his spot in the Top 5. And De Plus flops, losing five minutes to drop from 3rd to 14th.
Result: 21st (+3'11"), 19th GC (+20'50"), 1st Points, 6th KoM, 1st Youth - Average day. Got my sprint points and being in the breakaway gave me the head start I needed over the peloton. One mountain stage left.
1
Bob Jungels
T-Mobile
4h30'00
2
Louis Meintjes
Philips
+ 21
3
Katarzyna Niewiadoma
Groupama - FDJ
s.t.
4
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 37
5
Thibaut Pinot
Groupama - FDJ
+ 1'02
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
78h01'25
2
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 3'20
3
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 4'02
4
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 4'07
5
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 4'39
6
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 4'56
7
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 5'23
8
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 5'47
9
Egan Arley Bernal
The Guardian
+ 6'08
10
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 6'40
Stage 18
Spoiler
Summary: It's a mini peloton in front of the peloton! The largest breakaway of the tour comes on the final mountain stage, 42 cyclists are allowed clear. Too many for us to go through right now but we will sort them out when it dwindles down.
Diamond takes the sprint points without any fuss. Probably the last sprint points he will get uncontested.
At the base of the Tourmalet, the penultimate climb, the breakaway has been split to pieces. Three leaders of Jungels, Shirshov and Oomen have a 25-second gap on Diamond, Aru, Jornet, Brozyna and Eiking.
The yellow jersey is reported to be almost 10 minutes behind. So, one of these eight, could be a stage winner. All that stands in their way is the majestic Tourmalet and the Luz Ardiden. No sweat.
Then there were five brave souls. Diamond doing a lot of work. Dragging white jersey rival Shirshov, Oomen, Eiking and Jornet up this climb.
Bye bye to Eiking and Jornet. Diamond is a machine. 5.7kms to the top.
The pace slows a tad and Shirshov sees this as his opportunity! Oomen grabs the wheel, Diamond decides to keep his own tempo.
Diamond can physical see his white jersey riding away from him.
Diamond not giving in. He pulls back Oomen.
Over the Tourmalet. Shirshov, Diamond and Oomen in that order. Who knows where everybody else is. All eyes are on these three men.
Here we go. The final major climb of the Tour de France. Oomen wheel-sucking Diamond as he chases after his white jersey and a stage win.
Diamond cracks Oomen with 11.2kms remaining.
Shirshov dances on the pedals while Diamond sets tempo in the saddle.
Shirshov goes again! Does he have the leg power to sustain this?
The devil screams go faster. Diamond isn't going away. 4.4kms to go!
Diamond is willing to go to Hell and back for this stage win. Incredible!
But Shirshov won't slow down. He knows what is at-stake.
Past the banner. Diamond looks back to see nobody. The man he wants is in front of him. Shirshov is riding away with his white jersey and the stage win.
Maxim Shirshov denies Diamond! What a win!
Diamond stops the clock 59 seconds behind Shirshov. Which is good enough to keep the U25 lead by 63 seconds, but Shirshov is a better time trialist and should grab the white jersey for good on Stage 20.
Oomen finishes third a few minutes later to secure the KoM competition. Sosa then brings in the favourites to basically seal his first TDF victory.
On a brutally stage, 13 cyclists didn't make the time limit. Roglic, Kelderman, Paret-Peintre, Gesink and Kung are the notables to miss out.
Result: 2nd (+59"), 16th GC (+15'03"), 1st Points, 3rd KoM, 1st Youth - Most memorable stage of my career so far. Gave Shirshov everything I had. He was just better. Made up a bunch of time. But not over my closest rival. Looks like I might finish second in another Grand Tour youth competition, but that's fine if I steal the green jersey. Hopefully, 90 points up on Bouhanni is enough cushion with two flat stages left.
1
Maxim Shirshov
Bahrain - Merida
6h22'36
2
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
+ 59
3
Sam Oomen
Amazon
+ 5'02
4
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
+ 6'40
5
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 6'54
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
84h30'41
2
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 3'34
3
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 4'16
4
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 4'21
5
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 4'53
6
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 6'32
7
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 7'07
8
Egan Arley Bernal
The Guardian
+ 7'11
9
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 7'24
10
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 8'40
Stage 19
Spoiler
Summary: With the yellow jersey and KoM jersey basically wrapped up, today the green jersey gets put under pressure. Marcus Diamond leads with 260 points followed by pure sprinters Bouhanni (170), Kittel (154) and Groenewegen (147).
Bouhanni is the only sprinter in the peloton to contest the sprint point on today's route. With seven breakaway riders ahead of him, Bouhanni takes 8 points to move within 82 points of Diamond's lead. Diamond, and well everybody else, are saving their energy for the finish.
The morning breakaway has been caught and for the first time this tour we see the SEG boys creating the front sprint train for Marcus Diamond. The green jersey is getting the proper treatment today!
Van Trijp does his job and pulls off. Leaving Ottema as Diamond's last leadout. Meanwhile, Bouhanni is almost 11 guys back down the line.
Flying past the banner! Diamond still in an excellent position, but here comes Wiebes, Groenewegen and Cort Nielsen on the inside. Bouhanni is still caught in traffic and might struggle to even get a Top 5 at this point.
Kittel with a late burst, as Wiebes eyes her fifth career TDF stage win.
It will be Wiebes on the line! Groenewegen beats Kittel for second. Then Arghittu, Kulikovskiy and Cort Nielsen. However, the happiest rider of them all has to be Diamond in 7th place. His team's great leadout might just have won him the green jersey.
Bouhanni wasted all his energy at the sprint point, and takes 11th at the finish. Meaning the points standings now look like this: Diamond (272), Bouhanni (184), Groenewegen (177), Kittel (174) and Wiebes (166).
Result: 7th, 16th GC (+15'03"), 1st Points, 3rd KoM, 1st Youth - Can't thank my teammates enough. Perfect sprint. I might not be the fastest, but I was the smartest throughout this tour. With a ITT and Paris left, I can't see myself losing over 88 points to Bouhanni. Next challenge is keeping white. It's a longshot. I have a 1'03" gap over Shirshov going into a 49km TT. Wish me luck.
1
Lorena Wiebes
Team Katusha Alpecin
4h48'40
2
Dylan Groenewegen
Philips
s.t.
3
Marcel Kittel
T-Mobile
s.t.
4
Jim Arghittu
Amazon
s.t.
5
Alexandr Kulikovskiy
Polska Travel
s.t.
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
89h19'21
2
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 3'34
3
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 4'16
4
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 4'21
5
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 4'53
6
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 6'32
7
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 7'07
8
Egan Arley Bernal
The Guardian
+ 7'11
9
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 7'24
10
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+ 8'40
Stage 20
Spoiler
Summary: Realistically, the only jersey that could change hands today is the white jersey. Marcus Diamond vs. Maxim Shirshov.
Shirshov exited the starthouse right before Diamond. So the green jersey knew what times he had to keep up with. Shirshov eventually stopped the clock at 55'50". Good enough to finish 8th on the stage, which was won by former yellow jersey holder Laurens De Plus.
Diamond crossed the finish line and peered up to see 1h02'13", losing over 6'23" to Shirshov on a day he only had a 63-second advantage. But, hey, the green jersey is a nice consolation prize. None of the sprinters scored points today, so as long as Diamond finishes tomorrow, he joins the likes of Lorena Wiebes (2022) and Peter Sagan (2012) as recent cyclists to win the green jersey before their 25th birthday.
Diamond, despite the poor TT, also only dropped one place in GC to 17th.
Result: 89th (+7'15"), 17th GC (+19'59"), 1st Points, 3rd KoM, 2nd Youth (+5'20") - Can't be good at everything. For the second straight Grand Tour, I'll take the runner-up spot in the U25 competition. Oh well, I'm ready to take my victory laps wearing green tomorrow in Paris!
1
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
54'58
2
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 10
3
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 23
4
Bob Jungels
T-Mobile
+ 25
5
Niklas Larsen
Trek - Segafredo
+ 35
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
90h16'38
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 2'20
3
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 3'26
4
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 3'50
5
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 5'15
6
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 5'34
7
Egan Arley Bernal
The Guardian
+ 5'51
8
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 6'16
9
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 6'53
10
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 7'23
Stage 21
Spoiler
Summary: A day of celebration. The peloton has made it home to Paris.
Former World Champion Magnus Cort Nielsen earns the honor of winning on the Champs-Élysées. He is the first rider to step onto the famed podium. Followed by the overall winner Ivan Sosa, next to second overall Tao Geoghegan Hart and third overall Miguel Angel Lopez.
Dutchman Sam Oomen then steps up to bask in his moment as the King of the Mountains winner. He topped Julian Alaphilippe, Maxim Shirshov and Marcus Diamond.
Speaking of the latter, Diamond strutted to the podium next. He becomes the second-ever British cyclist to win the points competition. The first one obviously being the great Mark Cavendish in 2011.
Result: 14th, 17th GC (+19'59"), 1st Points, 4th KoM, 2nd Youth (+5'20") - Some people questioned why I targeted two Grand Tours this season. This was why. To make history. A Tour de France stage win and the green jersey. Wow. I can't even comprehend. I can't stopped dreaming because my dreams continue to come true. So happy!
1
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Astana Pro Team
3h50'55
2
Bryan Coquard
Bretagne
s.t.
3
Lorena Wiebes
Team Katusha Alpecin
s.t.
4
Marcel Kittel
T-Mobile
s.t.
5
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
TDF Full Recap
Spoiler
Stages Overview
Winner
GC
Points
KoM
U25
1
Gaudu
Gaudu
Gaudu
Gaudu
Diamond
2
Qantas
S. Yates
Gaudu
Gaudu
Shirshov
3
Kittel
S. Yates
Kittel
Gaudu
Diamond
4
Boom
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
5
Bouhanni
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
6
Diamond
S. Yates
Kittel
Keukeleire
Diamond
7
Dumoulin
De Plus
Kittel
Dumoulin
Diamond
8
Wellens
De Plus
Kittel
Gougeard
Diamond
9
Landa
Kelderman
Kittel
Kelderman
Shirshov
10
Mas
Dumoulin
Kittel
Kelderman
Diamond
11
Oomen
Sosa
Diamond
Sosa
Diamond
12
Carapaz
Sosa
Diamond
Alaphilippe
Shirshov
13
Bouhanni
Sosa
Diamond
Alaphilippe
Shirshov
14
Politt
Sosa
Bouhanni
Alaphilippe
Diamond
15
Buchmann
Sosa
Diamond
Alaphilippe
Shirshov
16
Niewiadoma
Sosa
Diamond
Alaphilippe
Diamond
17
Jungels
Sosa
Diamond
Alaphilippe
Diamond
18
Shirshov
Sosa
Diamond
Oomen
Diamond
19
Wiebes
Sosa
Diamond
Oomen
Diamond
20
De Plus
Sosa
Diamond
Oomen
Shirshov
21
Cort Nielsen
Sosa
Diamond
Oomen
Shirshov
General Classification
1
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
94h07'33
2
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
+ 2'20
3
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52 FC Porto
+ 3'26
4
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 3'50
5
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+ 5'15
6
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 5'34
7
Egan Arley Bernal
The Guardian
+ 5'51
8
Enric Mas
The Guardian
+ 6'16
9
Laurens De Plus
Team Katusha Alpecin
+ 6'53
10
Pierre-Roger Latour
Astana Pro Team
+ 7'23
...
17
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
+ 19'59
Points Classfication
1
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
275
2
Nacer Bouhanni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
198
3
Marcel Kittel
T-Mobile
192
4
Lorena Wiebes
Team Katusha Alpecin
186
5
Dylan Groenewegen
Philips
183
KoM Classification
1
Sam Oomen
Amazon
109
2
Julian Alaphilippe
TEAM Ridley
87
3
Maxim Shirshov
Bahrain - Merida
80
4
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
80
5
Katarzyna Niewiadoma
Groupama - FDJ
69
U25 Classification
1
Maxim Shirshov
Bahrain - Merida
94h22'12
2
Marcus Diamond
SEG Racing Academy
+ 5'20
3
Segundo Dolorier
La Plage Le Club
+ 1h30'40
4
David Verger
Bretagne
+ 2h27'10
5
Corentin Hugon
Bretagne
+ 2h32'31
Best Team
1
The Guardian
281h13'08
2
Movistar Team
+ 46'15
3
Qantas
+ 1h00'59
...
14
SEG Racing Academy
+ 3h35'48
Race Day #70 at RideLondon-Surrey Classic
July 31, 2024
Home prep race before the returning to France for the Olympics.
Spoiler
Summary: Aussie sprinter Bayung van Steeden wins his first race of the season. Pretty easily I might add as well.
Result: 9th - Today was more of a parade than anything. Got to ride in front of friends and family again. We have done lots of celebrating these last few days together. Pleased with a Top 10 here, considering my mind was pretty much elsewhere at the time. But more on that later.
Olympics here we come!
1
Bayung van Steeden
Astana Pro Team
5h11'13
2
Bahram Niftaliev
Team Sunweb
s.t.
3
Alexandr Kulikovskiy
Polska Travel
s.t.
4
Simone Consonni
Bahrain - Merida
s.t.
5
Rasmus Tiller
Bahrain - Merida
s.t.
Calendar
Spoiler
Date
Race
Winner
1-Jul
Portuguese Championships
Amaro Manuel Antunes
1-Jul
French Championships
Julian Alaphilippe
1-Jul
Spanish Championships
Mikel Aristi
1-Jul
Italian Championships
Fausto Masnada
1-Jul
Belgian Championships
Tiesj Benoot
1-Jul
Dutch Championships
Mathieu Van Der Poel
1-Jul
German Championships
Marcel Kittel
1-Jul
Canadian Championships
Jim Arghittu
1-Jul
Danish Championships
Søren Kragh Andersen
1-Jul
Swiss Championships
Silvan Dillier
1-Jul
USA Championships
Gavin Mannion
1-Jul
Russian Championships
Alexandr Kulikovskiy
1-Jul
Great Britain Championships
Ben Swift
1-Jul
Polish Championships
Alan Banaszek
1-Jul
Czech Championships
Frantisek Sisr
1-Jul
Ukrainian Championships
Mikayil Saenko
1-Jul
Slovak Championships
Peter Sagan
1-Jul
Slovenian Championships
Jaka Primozic
1-Jul
CCdS et des Champions Olympiques
Hafiz Sidek
1-Jul
Austrian Championships
Felix Gall
1-Jul
Irish Championships
Michael O'Loughlin
1-Jul
Kazakh Championships
Maxim Shirshov
1-Jul
Norwegian Championships
Odd Christian Eiking
4-Jul
Sibiu Cycling Tour
Amaro Manuel Antunes
6-Jul
GP Internacional Torres Vedras
Nicola Toffali
7-Jul
Tour de France
Ivan Sosa
7-Jul
Int. Österreich Rundfahrt
Georg Preidler
8-Jul
White Spot / Delta Road Race
Gian Friesecke
15-Jul
Tour of Qinghai Lake
Salvadore Gazzea
25-Jul
Prueba Villafranca
Sepp Kuss
25-Jul
Grand Prix Cerami
Marc Sarreau
26-Jul
La Tour Alsace
Issac Canton
27-Jul
VOO-Tour de Wallonie
Baptiste Planckaert
29-Jul
GP Kranj
Matvei Mamykin
31-Jul
RideLondon-Surrey Classic
Bayung van Steeden
31-Jul
CdG Memorial Ricardo Otxoa
Michele Gazzoli
1-Aug
Volta a Portugal
1-Aug
PostNord Danmark Rundt
4-Aug
Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian
4-Aug
Tour de Pologne
4-Aug
Hansa Bygg Kalmar Road Race
5-Aug
La Poly Normande
6-Aug
The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah
7-Aug
Vuelta a Burgos
9-Aug
Czech Cycling Tour
11-Aug
KOGA Slag om Norg
13-Aug
BinckBank Tour
15-Aug
Tour du Limousin
16-Aug
Arctic Race of Norway
16-Aug
Colorado Pro Classic
19-Aug
EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg
21-Aug
GP Stad Zottegem
21-Aug
Baltic Chain Tour
22-Aug
Arnhem-Veenendaal Classic
23-Aug
Deutschland Tour
25-Aug
Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde
25-Aug
Bretagne Classic-Ouest France
25-Aug
Vuelta a España
26-Aug
Croatia-Slovenia
26-Aug
Ronde van Midden Nederland
29-Aug
Druivenkoers - Overijse
Olympics Cycling Schedule
2-Aug
Road: Time Trial
3-Aug
Track: Keirin
4-Aug
Track: Elimination Race
5-Aug
Track: Sprint
6-Aug
Track: Time Trial
7-Aug
Track: Points Race
8-Aug
Track: Scratch
9-Aug
Track: Omnium
Marcus Diamond In
10-Aug
Mountain Bike: Cyclocross
Marcus Diamond In
11-Aug
Road: Race
Marcus Diamond In
Season Rankings
Pro Tour Points
Team
Individual
1
The Guardian
11928
Ivan Sosa
The Guardian
2466
2
Astana
6587
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
2261
3
Lotto Soudal
4990
Egan Arley Bernal
The Guardian
2039
4
Movistar
4582
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
1955
5
Bahrain - Merida
4283
Michał Kwiatkowski
The Guardian
1920
6
AG2R La Mondiale
4217
Miguel Angel Lopez
W52
1910
7
Groupama - FDJ
4171
Enric Mas
The Guardian
1786
8
Team Sunweb
4063
Tiesj Benoot
Astana
1616
9
Ridley
4023
Daniel Felipe Martinez
Cofidis
1580
10
Philips
3943
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Qantas
1555
…
…
16
SEG
3035
18Marcus Diamond
SEG
1006
178Alex Vogel
SEG
95
330Grace Garner
SEG
22
Individual Wins
Cyclist
Nation
Team
Wins
1
Bryan Coquard
France
Bretagne
16
2
Abderahmane Mansouri
Algeria
Chubu Electric Power
12
3
Sam Bennett
Ireland
CAP48
10
4
Mark Padun
Ukraine
Bahrain - Merida
8
5
Ion Izagirre
Spain
Movistar
8
6
Konrad Gessner
Germany
Vorarlberg Santic
7
7
Matteo Moschetti
Italy
Saeco
7
8
Egan Arley Bernal
Colombia
The Guardian
6
9
Tao Geoghegan Hart
United-Kingdom
Qantas
6
10
Romain Bardet
France
AG2R La Mondiale
6
…
133
Marcus Diamond
United Kingdom
SEG
1
NR
Grace Garner
United Kingdom
SEG
0
NR
Alex Vogel
Netherlands
SEG
0
Evaluation
Training Ride *Community Growth Development*
Upgraded Training Facilities Boost:+1 Point Per Member
Spoiler
- Each member gets 4.0 points to spread however they like over the 13 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 55.0.
- Stats are bumped up in PCM when they hit that number, ex. 55.9 = 55 in-game, and 61.4 = 61 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 85. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery.
- Comment below to provide stat upgrades
TDF Prediction (Resolved): Everybody underestimated Diamond's abilities by finishing 17th in the Tour de France. DavidCorperial was super close, however, by picking 18th place. But, no stat increase given.
That said, due to Diamond's performance in his first TDF. The locked sprint attribute will receive a +1 stat upgrade for every four members who help with Diamond's community growth development this month.
great read!! Glad to see you still going with this story! But yeh +4 cobbles 
Halle - Ingoolgem
Great Britain ITT Championship
Sochaux
Leyton Orient
Mainz 05
AFC
Aboubakar Kamara (29). 
Jon Dagur Porsteinsson (25), 
Marcus Diamond (24), 
Stefan Johansen (33, out 6-9 weeks), 
Lewis Macleod (30, out 6-10 days).
Sion Allen (20 at Billericay).
Jonas Knudsen (31), 
Arlind Ajeti (30), 
Cyrus Christie (31). 
Marek Jaroszewski (21).
