Le Tour de France
7 Mountain (5 MTF) | 7 Flat | 4 Hill (2 HTF) | 3 TT (2 ITT, 1 TTT)
La Grande Boucle beckons! You've seen Andy Schleck proving he still has it at the Giro, you witnessed 24-year-old Silvio Herklotz absolutely crush his maiden Grand Tour victory at the Vuelta, but now it's time for their big brother. This is more than a race - a cultural icon, the biggest race on the planet, and one for the emotions. And let's be honest, it's the only one normal sports fans care about.
Welcome to Le Tour de France.
Week one of Le Tour starts outside France, which is normal, and spends the whole time outside la République, which is less so. The Czech Republic is the beneficiary this time around - their first ever Grand Depart!
We kick things off in beautiful Prague with a lengthier prologue - 8km, still one for the short-form specialists but enough for some minor, minor gaps. We then go out to Karlovy Vary and back, which even the organisers of the Praha - Karlovy Vary - Praha race think is inhumane to do in one day (hence why it's now a stage race) - and that's without 19 more days afterwards! But someone at MGASO really wanted to retrace the old classic...
We then have our first two uphill finishes, the first after a fairly easy parcours, the second after a tougher one. The former is a little monster of a climb, 3km long and always above 7% until towards the end, with nearly 2km over 10%. Then another hilly day before we cross the border into Germany and Plauen for the first nailed-on sprint stage on day 6. We then honour the time-old tradition of a Bavarian time trial, with a 25km team time trial to shake up the GC. It won't decide the race, but it's a good distributor of GC men before we head into...
The Vosges for Stage 8! The first mountain stage, plenty of climbs before a tough 5km slog up to La Planche des Belles Filles - which has a 20% kicker up to the finish. A sprint stage as we head south to Besançon before a Swiss excursion - but not your normal high mountain fare, but our last TT kilometres of the race. Interestingly poised with them all in the first 10 stages, but with over 50km in this one it should see the TT-heavy stage racers with a nice advantage over the pure climbers. However it could be fatal to ignore the tough climb midway through, the narrow and tough Montée de Hérimoncourt.
Then into the Ain for a flat stage, which can only mean one thing: Les Alps! A typical opening day with a tough Cat.1 climb towards the finish, a smaller one after and a downhill finish, before a typical follow-up Alpine day over some famed climbs: Madeleine, Croix de Fer, and up to La Toussuire for a summit finish. For those who remember, a very similar (last year kicked off on the Col de Chaussy rather than Madeleine) of Stage 18 from last year, where Taaramae took a solo win on his podium quest as Gesink lost well over a minute. We then go for a long day to Nimes, and with some roundabouts towards the end and some tired legs, we could see a breakaway run it close.
Back away from Nimes towards the Alps, but we will be taking on a different mountain challenge. We're climbing to the moon - or as close as you can get on Earth. The legendary Mont Ventoux from the famed Bedoin side. No climbs in the buildup, and so we should see a royal smackdown between the big guns. The Beast of Provence provides one of the truest tests of a Tour de France winner's credentials. Then back down towards Nimes for an interesting summit finish on Mont Faron near Toulon, a slice of cycling history. The Tour Méditerranéen was always decided here, Paris-Nice often stops by, and most interestingly it used to be the host of a hill climb event won by such names as Bahamontes, Simpson, Anquetil, Gaul, and Poulidor. With another flat stage after, it could be an interesting finish.
Then comes the deciding trio of stages. On stage 18, we take on the fearsome Col d'Aubisque before ascending the Tour's most used climb of the Col du Tourmalet - with a finish just over the summit at La Mongie, another regular Tour finish. However in this combination, it is a new finish for Le Tour.
The 213km stage 19 features a tough summit finish at the Plateau de Beille after a tough parcours, before we swing from two classic stages, to a new innovation. Yes, we do start in Bagneres-du-Luchon, but that's it! A 68km mountain stage! The reverse Peyresourde, Val Louron Azet and a brand new, freshly paved climb, and the new highest paved road in the French Pyrenees - the Col de Portet! Above Saint-Lary-Soulan lies a new mythique for the next 100 years of Le Tour. The stage should be a crazy finish to what should be a great tour - with nothing left to lose for some riders, we should see 68km of action! Then it's TGV time to head back to the Champs-Elysee for the traditional parade and sprint finish.
Year
1st
2nd
3rd
2017
Spilak
Phinney
Gesink
2016
A.Schleck
Taaramae
Spilak
2015
Pluchkin
Taaramae
Amador
2014
A.Schleck
Pluchkin
Spilak
2013
Madrazo
Cunego
A.Schleck
2012
Cunego
Madrazo
Pluchkin
2011
Spilak
Dekker
Popovych
2010
Fothen
Devolder
Spilak
2009
Devolder
F.Schleck
Gadret
2008
F.Schleck
Di Luca
Valverde
2007
Moreau
Vinokourov
Leipheimer
Now we've previewed the route, it's time to look at the past winners of Le Tour. Last year Simon Spilak became our second double winner ever, after Andy Schleck did so the year before. This year he's back for a third, and speaking of third, last year's podium rounder-offer is here in what some would say is the same capacity - but surely he'd like to move up a step after his TDF podium duck was broken last year. The man who finished behind him, Taaramae, will hope to not suffer the back luck of last year, and change his best result of 2nd here (2015-16) to a first yellow jersey. One last name with podium pedigree is Thomas Dekker (2nd in 2011) - not the top rider he once was but surely a good chance at a top 10 or more.
Favourites
Rider
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
ACC
TTT
Taaramäe
85
78
81
79
80
79
76
*****
Spilak
85
82
77
80
81
78
74
*
Gesink
83
81
80
78
80
80
68
**
Lecuisinier
82
75
77
78
80
79
74
*
Sicard
82
78
76
80
79
82
70
****
Intxausti
82
71
77
78
78
77
70
*****
Barguil
81
75
70
77
77
82
75
**
Wellens
81
75
72
79
80
76
68
*
Reis
81
73
76
78
76
78
63
*****
Galta
81
73
73
78
79
77
64
***
Dekker
80
74
77
75
80
78
69
****
This Tour has been billed as a two-horse race all season between two of the best riders on the planet: The mercurial Taaramäe and the defending champion Spilak. The former has been perhaps the best mountain rider of the last two years - but didn't snare a GT last year despite success in Paris-Nice, Liechtenstein GP and the Tour de Suisse. This year he has taken the former again as well as the PTHC Apex Mountain Classic.
Stage 19, 2018 - Spilak beats Taaramae to stage victory on Alpe d’Huez
However the Slovenian surely has a claim to that title as well, given his yellow jersey last year and an upset victory at the GP Lichtenstein ahead of Taaramae with a daring attack from the foot of the 27km-long final climb, as the Estonian languished (by his standards) in fourth. That's the only direct match-up the two shared since last year's Tour de France and, moderately surprisingly, the ball was once again in Spilak's court.
So who will take it out? Well, provided neither suffers the ill-fortune of Taaramae last July, the key differences are in the hills and time trials. Spilak will surely want to go into Stage 7's team time trial with an advantage after the bumpy Bohemian stages, given the huge difference in quality of the TTT between Isostar and T-Mobile. If not he could be at a marked disadvantage by the time the Alps roll around, given the 62km of individual and 25km of team time trialling to be done, where Taaramae should gain advantages. However our Simon is no schmuck in an ITT and on his day could even keep Taaramae in check in a chrono stage. However the Estonian is world-class in that discipline and it's a key weapon for him.
In the mountains? You'd tend to give a slight advantage to Taaramae with a slight advantage in kick and his pedigree over the last two years - even going further back before his peak, he has troubled Spilak in the past. And as for the team support there's not much debate - Taaramae has a top TTT lineup, but Spilak's Isostar are here to control the mountains with the maximum support possible coming here.
Next in line for the throne - or more probably just to stand on the lowest step of the podium, are the 2016 Vuelta winner Robert Gesink, The Portuguese Intxausti and the two great hopes of France (minus Brittany - I'll get to that): Romain Sicard et Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, the latter of whom is undisputed favourite for the white jersey.
So far this season it's been an unspectacular one for the Dutchman (who was third here last year), with 4th in Paris-Nice, 9th in the GP Lichtenstein and just 17th in the Scandinavia Open Road Race. Meanwhile Intxausti will look to bounce back from a dissapointing 9th in La Vuelta just two months ago, Lecuisinier will look to build on his 4th at the Giro, and Romain Sicard has laid low, with a recent 6th in an admittedly very tough Criterium du Dauphine.
Gesink is the most distinguished Grand Tour rider in this field, and is the bookie's favourite for third and to upset either of the big two, as the most notable climber of this quarter (just), as well as an excellent puncheur who will look to use the Czech stages, and Stage 16 to Mont Faron, to his advantage. And lest we forget - he's the World Champion in the individual time trial! This kind of pedigree gives him an advantage over all his rivals - even if some would argue Taaramae is better on paper.
Sicard and Lecuisinier may look the same - their age the main difference - to many of you and to be fair they are similar riders - all-around stage racers with great strength, French hopes riding for a French team - but Lecuisinier is perhaps a bit more impulsive, a better attacker but more subsceptible at the same time to the shorter climbs in the opening week - how he comes out of the first seven days will be a test of maturity for him and his team. However Intxausti will perhaps be even more scared of the Bohemian stages - we don't mean to make him cry, but he may be caught in a landslide if he's not paying attention. What he does have though, are two pretty stunning superdomestiques/foils - Rafael Reis is a top 10 contender in his own right if Intxausti falters or if he doesn't have to sacrifice himself, whilst Rui "Mr. Party Pooper" Vinhas has a tendency to poop parties and generally act like the fun police. I'm sad he's here, he always seems to come to races I commentate and end my fun and make me look like a dick when I get excited about short-lived attacks and I'm kind of over it. He is really good at what he does though - which makes it worse.
Behind these six are the main players for the top 10 - and with some luck, perhaps the top 5. You know when I mentioned Sicard and Lecuisinier were the hope for everyone in France... except Brittany? That's because they're crazy about Wawa - Warren Barguil, to make it not sound like he's a cute baby. And, well, he's not a baby. He's probably the next best and has pedigree winning a 21 day stage race that the lovely MGASO won't let me call a Grand Tour - the Tour of America. Joining him as the other one of the outside contenders for a top 5 is last year's 8th place Tim Wellens. The aggressive Breton and the more measured Vlaming - both very much climbers who can TT not awfully, with the former with much more of an attacking punch and the later with great endurance for medium-to-long efforts.
Also not to go unmentioned has to be last year's 10th place Thomas Dekker - he may be past his prime but the Dutchman very much still has it - and brings experience untouched by any of his rivals, whilst Frederik Strand Galta is another very good climber who will be hoping for a top 10 or more. The Norwegian didn't do as well on GC as hoped for at La Vuelta but did have some KoM-chasing fun, ending up second there.
Outsiders
Rider
MON
HIL
TT
STA
RES
REC
ACC*
Nibali
80
75
75
75
74
71
56
Nerz
80
72
73
75
72
74
68
Schelling
80
75
72
75
76
73
70
Keinath
79
76
75
77
76
76
70
Brambilla
79
76
70
75
73
76
63
Bongiorno
79
75
68
77
77
77
69
Haig
78
74
77
76
75
78
73
Slagter
78
79
66
71
73
74
71
Formolo
78
76
69
76
76
74
71
Karnulin
78
74
70
76
75
77
70
Sosnitskiy
78
72
64
73
77
68
73
Nesset
78
73
69
77
76
74
69
Koch
77
73
68
69
74
74
76
Salinas
77
73
71
74
74
70
72
Vasyliv
77
74
72
78
72
75
67
Kolesnikov
77
72
72
76
74
76
77
Kunshin
77
73
71
75
75
76
71
Novikov
77
72
70
74
71
71
70
Ignatenko
77
73
71
74
70
74
63
Kangert
75
77
77
76
75
75
72
*I lost the TTT ratings
Three or four big names in this group that could really be favourites - Nibali, Nerz, Keinath and Schelling will be looking to prove me wrong and all should be aiming for the top 10. The former as a master descender but afraid of increasing the pace by more than 2km/h per minute, but a very good stage racer nonetheless, and will look to break into the top 10 after missing out last year, whilst the former German climber gets a chance at eladership after assisting his young teammate Herklotz to victory at La Vuelta.
Meanwhile the other German here, a man who lit up the Tour de France with an epic 21-minute victory into Bagneres-de-Bigorre en route to beating Nibali (and Dekker in fact) last year, the aggressive Nico Keinath will look to repeat that result after a mediocre outing in Spain in May. Schelling will look to bounce back from a dissapointing result in that same race where he managed just 17th. However coming up for his first leading season in PT after improvements over the last year means this is a learning curve.
Beyond that four quite different riders will (aside from one) lead their teams as the last four with real top 10 aspirations - eBuddy's Gianluca Brambilla, Franciso Bongiorno of Puma, Bennelong's golden boy Jack Haig, and Tom Jelte-Slagter of the Spanish team Hugo Boss. The first two as great climbers, more diesel than punchy, who can TT decently too. Brambilla leads an eBuddy team focused on the sprint, whilst Bongiorno acts as a foil and backup for Nerz - it may be the latter knowing the German.
The young Aussie Jack Haig is an exciting name on the startlist of this Tour de France - looking to bounce back from a sorely dissapointing Vuelta a España as well as improve on his 16th place last year. However, it must be mentioned that he was one of the winners of the June mountain double-header, with 7th, the white jersey and a stage win at the Dauphine. The bennelong man is a fantastic stage racer who also displays the kick of a climber - a very dangerous outsider but prone to big time losses in the high mountains. He will also look to fill the void of Lecuisinier if the Frenchman falls out of contention, and take the white jersey of best young rider. Tom Jelte Slagter is very good over all kinds of climbs, big or small, so taking gaps on his top 10/15 rivals in the opening Czech stages could be key.
And when talking of the top 10 we'd be remiss not to mention Tsgabu Grmay - not a name on the startlist but as many of you will remember took a stage, the KoM jersey and nearly broke into the top 10 on a perfect wildcard performance, and a shining example of how a mystery unexpected outsider must also be considered as a top 10 contender.
Elsewhere Nesset has the unenviable task of winning the Tour de France for Grieg, whilst a man who is glad not to have that responsibility is Michel Koch, who famously had a lot of expectations thrust on his skinny shoulders by the Evonik manager (this year that job belongs to Sakalou). He has the task of helping Sicard to the podium, but is well suited to fill the role of this year's Grmay - especially given his pedigree shown at last year's Tour de Suisse, when he broke into the top 10 and took the KoM jersey in one of, if not the, toughest startlist in recent memory. He'll be joined by the luxury super sexy superdomestique that is Salinas, fresh off a very personally good Tour de Suisse. Another superdomestique for a French team with top 20 possibilities is Vasyliv of Festina - Dexia.
Meanwhile two teams brought a cavalcade of climbers in hopes one can break into the top 15 or have some breakout breakaway breakthroughs: Tinkoff with Kolesnikov, Novikov, Kunshin and Ignatenko, and Gazelle with Formolo, Karnulin, Sosnitskiy and Kangert - the latter by far the stronger squad. The Estonian for Gazelle as surely the most intriguing option - better known for races such as the Vuelta al Pais Vasco that err between hilly and mountainous with long time trials - but with a strong opening week who knows? It must be mentioned that both teams are forgiven for throwing out such a "throw it at the wall and hope it sticks" tactic after hard-earned Vuelta a España top 5s each.
The Sprinters
Rider
SPR
ACC
FLA
HIL
STA
RES
REC
Grosu
83
80
73
73
74
70
79
Ahlstrand
83
82
74
67
74
73
79
Cavendish
83
81
73
65
74
71
80
Mohs
83
82
75
65
73
64
76
Boeckmans
81
83
73
68
74
71
81
Vesely
81
80
73
68
74
68
76
Tzortzakis
81
77
73
64
70
64
73
Haller
80
79
72
65
72
71
76
Guardini
80
82
72
64
74
69
71
Kupfernagel
80
80
74
64
73
66
78
Houle
79
78
78
75
76
71
79
Afewerki
79
80
73
63
77
70
81
Aberasturi
79
78
74
64
73
71
76
Stepniak
79
79
72
67
70
70
75
Reinhardt
79
84
71
67
73
66
78
Havik
79
76
73
64
74
68
75
Scully
79
80
74
67
66
70
78
Young
78
77
74
69
74
70
79
Mansilla
77
78
72
71
73
68
75
Kreder
77
78
73
75
75
71
77
Aren't you sick of all that talk about mountains and time trials and actually entertaining the fans? You skipped every word of that except the paragraphs of your riders didn't you? Yeah, I know.
Luckily I have the news on who to look out far when you want to do just that - skip to the sprinting. 7 days should come down to the fastmen - too many for me as a commentator who can only tell you so many times about how Salinas has either been in the CT or Tour de France winning teams, or that time Thomas De Gendt rode home from Lombardia, on a boring flat stage. But perhaps too little for you, alex and viking. You're killing cycling for all of us with your "sprinting is an art" and your "recovery" and your "we can't just have cobbles instead you're being ridiculous" and your "they can't ride 200km of mountains every day" and "no they might seriously die if they ride too many mountains".
So yes, Ahlstrand and Grosu - probably the two fastest sprinters, with the latter having an edge on hillier days, and the former with a faster burst up to speed, and a much better train. Like, ridiculously better. Ariesen vs Gerts, multi-GT stage winner Bertilsson vs... Calmejane? The one men with trains to match - and one is possibly a better one - is the Manx Missile himself, Mark Cavendish, who with his top speed and leadout is perfectly capable of usurping the top two. His train consists of the versatile Gough to grab position or even sprint himself, with Kreder as the pilot and Haller to open the leadout. Meanwhile Mohs has Stepniak on hand as a pilot or leadout - the trouble is getting teammate Guardini on side.
Also in the mix for stage wins, but more realistically trying to rack up podiums, will be Boeckmans, Vesely (with a high-powered leadout in Scully) and Tzortzakis - none of whom have particularly flash leadouts, but that's nothing on Kupfernagel, who has to effectively go it alone as a teammate of Gesink!
Further down the list there are interesting names such as Afewerki in his first season leading in the Pro Tour, Reinhardt who goes up to speed quickly but needs some good tactics to beat the best, the Hugo Boss duo of Havik and Aberasturi, and the Canadian rider Hugo Houle who as well as battling for top 5s will also look to compete on tough days in the wind or on Stages 4 and 5 in the hills.
The Stage Hunters
Puncheurs
HI
MO
SP
AC
RS
Time Trial
TT
PL
RS
Flügel
81
72
68
74
67
Fiedler
83
82
76
Froome
81
69
53
73
71
Paillot
80
80
74
Vakoc
80
71
71
74
71
Dillier
80
79
77
Vogt
80
62
62
63
71
Fraile
79
79
76
Reichenbach
79
73
63
69
69
Nascimento
79
63
73
Roche
78
76
67
69
72
Hepburn
79
79
77
Buchmann
78
74
65
71
73
Kwok
79
79
73
Jensen
78
70
66
76
73
Goncalves
78
66
72
Poljanski
77
77
61
71
70
Dumoulin
78
78
76
Zardini
77
76
72
68
66
Hofer
78
78
72
Sergis
76
75
58
70
73
Bernaudeau
78
78
71
Gerts
76
66
72
70
80
Boom
77
77
75
Calmejane
75
70
71
74
75
Boaro
77
78
71
Houle
75
66
79
78
71
Vangstad
77
76
75
Kreder
75
64
77
78
71
Van Baarle
77
77
76
Gallopin
74
71
70
73
78
Ivars
77
77
74
Boom
74
70
60
74
75
Frison
77
77
71
Oss
74
66
74
74
75
Andersen
77
77
74
Prologue
TT
PRL
RES
O'Shea
77
77
73
Leung
76
80
75
Verona
77
77
75
Stoltz
66
80
79
Korsaeth
77
78
71
Two quite contrasting fields - a very deep time trial field, without even including top GC contenders such as Intxausti, Spilak, Taaramae and Haig, but a puncheur field which looks like it offers few surprises - save some punchy sprinters if the stages aren't so selective. The main goal for PCT rivals Flügel and Froome will be distancing the GC men doing battle on the four hilly stages - and keeping the likes of Houle at bay. An advantage for the German surely is the presence of Kreder back in the peloton, a favourite for a reduced bunch sprint behind the Canadian. The main man looking to spoil their party? Petr Vakoc, the home favourite for the Czech hilly stages who will surely get a boost from the home crowd. The likes of Froome's teammates Poljanski and Roche, the experienced Irish punchy climber, as well as up and comer Sergis (cue potato jokes for the Irish/Latvian duo) and Zardini will be looking forward to trying to escape the GC men on the tough Stage 3 finish in Strazne, which should offer something to the punchy climbers - and potentially Stage 16 to Mont Faron if they handle the previous day's ascent of Mont Ventoux well enough.
Meanwhile Fiedler will lead the field of time triallists vying for the yellow jersey on Stage 1's prologue and Stage 10's Swiss time trial, with Paillot, Hepburn and Fraile - chasing a prestigious double after victory in the Giro's equivalent - his main rivals, particularly the latter on Stage 10 given the tough hill midway through, which could swing the odds towards the GC men. Stoltz and Leung won't be among the top names then in all likelihood, but both have great chances to take yellow on Stage 1 - with the man from Hong Kong also looking for a spell in the white jersey too.
If stage 3 isn't too tough then we'll be looking for a hybrid of these two lists to take over yellow (otherwise you expect it will be the best GC man on the day or a tossup between the top puncheurs) - and the only man on both is the veteran all-arounder Lars Boom. A long shot, for sure, but my producer told me to mention the possibility.
Finally this afternoon, we leave you with our full startlist, of course, but also with some statistics, with credit to our stats expert Aquarius, who you may remember commentated here last year and fronted La Vuelta a España this year - as well as the official team goals in play here and those riders racing for any of the "GT Watch" awards. See you in Prague.
Welcome to a quick stat attack, updated from last year and based on the extraordinary work of Aquarius, showing the MGUCI-Era stage wins and time in each jersey. Emboldened names denote the rider has won that classification.
Win goal! Hoping Nesset can do a Pereiro Sio here, including the drugs in the final part of the race. Will be needed
Nah, not the biggest ambitions for us here. Nesset in a break or two would be cool, and hopefully somewhere close to top 25. Boeckmans could be able to do something, but he hasn't been convincing so far this season. The sprinters field is not the best here, so if he could get a stage win, this race would be a success.
What a monster of a preview! A beautiful monster, of course. Hell, I've got to re-read this, when I've more time to do so. Brilliant stuff.
Thanks for the words on Haig (man, this preview is full of details and MG history related stories). I'm obviously hoping for him to do better than in his first GT this year and to remember his GT performance from last year (stage win!) and of course his most recent success at the Dauphine. Those top riders will be too strong, but here's hoping that his usually good TT performances will lift him inside the Top-20, where he also may have the chance for an early break late into the race.
Speaking of stage wins, he have a sponsor goal here, jandal a stage-win goal. Brought our best possible TTT lineup for a GT (with our third-tier climbers Canty and Dyball actually knowing, who to do a TT) and that's definitely the stage, I want us to win (not sure about other teams yet, but we should be high in the TTT ranking here). If we fail there, someone else needs to go for breakaways, cause that's our only lucky chance for a stage win here.
The Taaramae/Spilak battle should be interesting. Hoping for things to stay thrilling until the very end!
And looking at the startlist, I must say I like my team here. Not favourites on any stage or in any terrain, but we should have some potential for a surprise result, which would be brilliant. Also encouraging to see Galta listed in the favourites list and not among the outsiders, which makes me hope for a top 10, eventhough that feels very difficult.
I've got higher hopes for a surprise stage result from Vesely or Vakoc. It would be very cool if we could make something happen in the first week, especially when we're in the Czech Republic, but we shall see. At least it's exciting to have some prospects for all stages, eventhough we're lacking any kind of a favourite.
For the overall, Taaramäe has to be the favourite, but fingers crossed it will be tense. Spilak is also one of a kind, and then there's Gesink too. Behind those three though, the fight for 4th and below feels rather open, which could lead to some surprise, I think.
Thank you for the massive job you've put into the preview, jandal! Can't wait to see the racing start
Our very first GT ever! And our main goal is to disrupt all hopes for the PT teams to get any sort of breathing space and of course take some stage wins. I really really hope to see Shapira go for the KoM jersey out of all my guys, but Poljanski could be a black sheep in breakaways too. Also really excited to see how Mohs fares in a GT alongside our sprinting train, to actually see how competitive they can be. However, as for guys to actually deliver those sprinters to the front is something I had to take out and also 21 days of racing is a lot to set aside from guys like Mohs and Froome, so hopefully we can take some stages
Awesome preview btw, high hopes from here for a great Tour and also good luck to those chasing the GC! Lots of strong names here to spice things up.
Regarding the race, with the luck that my team has had this season Gesink nor in the top 10 will be able to finish. the lack of proper support will leave marks on some of the stages, in addition to being of all top 10 candidates who have the worst acceleration and the worst team in the TTT.
In relation to Kupfernagel I will be satisfied if he can be in the discussion of some of the stages and reach some tops 10. The rest of the team only have to work for Gesink and nothing else.
I can not see the discussion of this race passing by anyone other than Spilak and Taaramäe ...
Good luck to all that God be with youEdited by fintas on 19-03-2019 22:44
What a stupendous preview! Hats off, jandal! Loved the bit about Mr. Party Pooper. He goes around unnoticed for most of the season, but I'm glad you're reporting, which should mean he'll be up to his task
Interesting to finally catch the stage for the ultimate duel between Taaramae and Spilak. Looking forward for those battles.
Hopefully for us the hilly stages won't prove too decisive, which isn't very likely to happen let's be honest. Otherwise we could have some great weeks in France.
Good luck everyone, and thanks again for all your work jandal!
second: the startlist seems to be pretty weak, riders battling for teh Top5 I wouldn't have guessed they'd do in advance - let's hope for an epic battle between Spilak and Taaramae
third: as this may be the only chance of going for a Slovenian GT winner at a Slovenian team we decided to mostly put up a climbers squad around mg legend Riccardo Ricco - it was a huge gamble to pass on a stronger TTT-squad, trading that for more support on the climbs
major key to a successful Tour should be stage 3, where we clearly aim to win the stage and take the lead - hopefully we can keep it until the end...
First of, a very nice preview with lots of information!
You are a bit more optimistic than I am actually...if Dekker makes a top10 as 11th best on your list, I am super happy. Guess it will be around 15th in the end as usually. So what I hope a lot more is an active riding from him and the others.
On paper Zardini, Boom, Gallopin are good for attacking, in especially as I don`t have a sprinter here. Which is unfortunate as Swift could have gotten the record here for wins and green jerseys. Well, Dekker can as well (even though not highlighted).
Taaramae vs. Spilak should be an interesting one. Can`t see anyone else stopping them. Gesink would need a super form while Lecuisinier could even become dangerous for him to step onto the podium I think.
Barguil will be a great rider here surely and maybe able to surprise with the top5 beating country man Sicard.
My goal surely is a stage win here with one of my 3-4 very decent riders and a top12 in the GC. Can`t really hope for big points unfortunately.
Thanks guys, hope you all enjoy and the preview can spur plenty of activity and discussion in the next 3-4 days before Stage 1
@tsmoha - Thanks, not much deep history but I like to give some context of the last year or two in this situation as it provides some story Thanks for mentioning the goal, have added it to the post!
@Gustavovskiy - Haha, I guess he's one of my recurring characters so to speak I checked and he's been playing that role in Romandie 2016 and Suisse 2017 for me, so nice to report another race with him
First and most important: What a f...ing great preview! That was an awesome read!
Really looking forward to the battle between Spilak and Taaramäe, but while others hope that it will be tight until the end I hope Rein just crushes him and win by 10 minutes, would be better for my mental health.
I have sent close to the best squad I could to support Rein. Krasnoperov, Moschella, Geniez, Bontenackels and Buchmann can support on the climbs. Buchmann for the hills and Hofer and Fiedler for the flats. Also my best time-trialists to support on the TTT.
Rooting as always for Ahlstrand in the sprints, but Grosu should be favorite with his hill stat. Specially considering that most sprint stages include quite a lot of speed bumps
What a great preview. This is shaping up to be a classic battle between Taaramae and Spilak. Should be interesting to see if Spilak can defend his title, or if Taaramae can take the next step. My money is on Taaramae for this one, I think the difference in TT/TTT will be what does it.
I think there is a decent amount of room in the GC contenders for Schelling to sneak into the top 15. That would be a pretty big result from him. We've done well in TTT's so far this year, but we are missing a couple of pieces in our squad for this one. I hope Schelling doesn't get dropped.
Aside from that, my only hopes are for Reinhardt to participate in a couple of sprints, and Reichenbach to go on the attack.
Sorry Cro, Heine and Tasta but only one of us can achieve the sponsor goal and its time that i can achieve this win goal.
Gonna be interesting to watch Spilak vs Taaramae. Tough for me to cheer against the Rein Reign but id love the spilak winning for the slovenian team.
I dont have high ambitions here but winning the prolog combined with a few days in yellow, two or three stages from breaks and the KoM jersey would be solid considering the squad i sent here
What a terrific preview and big thanks for kicking off this race
As always the TdF is something special. Looking at the lineup this one could be even more interesting than what I had hoped for. Lecuisinier should have a good shot at top 5, and maybe even fight for the podium if he rides aggressively. However, with Sicard and Gesink both better at hills and TT/TTT I doubt it will be possible.
He SHOULD, however win the U25 competition easily, and I really do hope that stage 3 is hard enough for him to take it there already. Taking it from stage 1 would be a dream, but not that likely due to all the randomness of short TT's.
I really hope to see Vasyliv fight for the U25 top 3 aswell, with Fabbro maybe even with a bid for top 10 too. Would be very cool to have such a toss at the young riders list.
Also it will be great to see Tzortzakis in his final Grand Tour (with a realistic shot at winning a stage). He's very much on his own however so I doubt he will be able to do much with his low ACC...
I hope to see some attacks from the likes of Kastrantas and Archimandritis though. They should both have a decent shot at some stage results if they actually try - which I guess they won't.
Good luck everyone, and especially to croatia. I'm rooting for another upset to see Spilak win it all!
This is what I have came up with for a provisional posting schedule (European AM/PM and the days are tailored towards them - sorry to Americans and Australasians who are spectating!
AM
PM
Sat 23
S1
S2
Sun 24
S3
Mon 25
S4
Tue 26
S5
Wed 27
S6
S7
Thu 28
S8
Fri 29
S9
Sat 30
S10
Sun 1
S11
Mon 2
S12
Tue 3
S13
Wed 4
S14
Thu 5
S15
Fri 6
S16
S17
Sat 7
S18
S19
Sun 8
S20
S21
Will try to speed this up but I can't promise anything because as you can probably tell the race isn't done on my end yet and won't be until the 7th as I have got no time for reporting during the weeks mostly, or on the 30/1 weekend potentially - I've tried to do double days when there's a sprint-TT combo, the one missing is S9-S10 which I may be able to do together on the 29th. With sprint stages never two in a row, this means other than that exception there is never 48 hours without a hilly/mountain stage. Sorry I can't provide the pace I'm sure many of you guys would hope for.
We then have a big final weekend at 2 per day starting with the Mont Faron/flat stage duo, followed by two Pyrenean stages, then Stage 20 the following morning before Champs-Elysees on Sunday evening - though if people prefer more tension that can, of course, be more spread out over the next week, or ideally have a 3 every 3 days pace for week 3 if I have time on the 30/1 weekend and still finish on Sunday evening.
Le Tour de France
Spilak
Phinney
Gesink
A.Schleck
Taaramae
Pluchkin
Amador
Madrazo
Cunego
Popovych
Fothen
Devolder
Vinokourov
Nesset
Sakalou
Schelling
haig/ttt
a stage-win goal. Brought our best possible TTT lineup for a GT (with our third-tier climbers Canty and Dyball actually knowing, who to do a TT) and that's definitely the stage, I want us to win (not sure about other teams yet, but we should be high in the TTT ranking here). If we fail there, someone else needs to go for breakaways, cause that's our only lucky chance for a stage win here.
Very Nice job..
Špilak time!!! 
