CYCLING

[Macca 17,022]

Into the mountains over the next 2 nights as well as next Thursday,  Friday & Saturday

Alaphilippe leads and he extended his lead last night after another slashing victory ... Richie Porte is 04.44 behind (overall)  But with 5 mountain stages to come,  anything is possible

Official Site - Live Coverage

 

Stage 14 Profile (tonight)

 

Stage 15 Profile (tomorrow night)

 

[bing181 9,251]

My predictions:

Alaphilippe won't be able to sustain this, and will crack at some stage, at least enough to lose the yellow.

Thomas is not as strong as last year, and will lose time in the Alps. It'll come down to Pinot vs Kruijswijk, but time gaps will be small.

 

[Macca 17,022]

2 hours ago, bing181 said:

My predictions:

Alaphilippe won't be able to sustain this, and will crack at some stage, at least enough to lose the yellow.

Thomas is not as strong as last year, and will lose time in the Alps. It'll come down to Pinot vs Kruijswijk, but time gaps will be small.

Yes,  Alaphilippe faltered a bit last night

And with 3 tough mountain stages to come (Thurs,  Fri & Sat) it's all ahead of him

No real help from.his team forthcoming either ... he's done well to be going so well this far in though

 

[bing181 9,251]

On 7/22/2019 at 9:21 AM, bing181 said:

My predictions:

Alaphilippe won't be able to sustain this, and will crack at some stage, at least enough to lose the yellow.

Thomas is not as strong as last year, and will lose time in the Alps. It'll come down to Pinot vs Kruijswijk, but time gaps will be small.

 

God, how did I ignore Bernal! Was always going to be there.

[Macca 17,022]

13 hours ago, bing181 said:

God, how did I ignore Bernal! Was always going to be there.

Worked out alright for Bernal but he was on the attack and the rules fell in favour of the aggressive rider (or riders)  So no complaints from me. Mother nature intervened.

All to ride for later tonight though and they're still in the Alps with a category 2 climb as well as 2 category 1 climbs.  Including a gruelling one with a summit finish.  Not a lot separates the top 5 in the general classification so the tour is still up for grabs 

Meanwhile,  the Demons have started well and we're kicking straight! 

[Macca 17,022]

Tonight's stage distance has been slashed due to landslides.  59k only although the last 35 kilometres is a category 1 climb covering close to 2ks in elevation.

There'll be lots of attacks and they'll come early you'd imagine. 

[Macca 17,022]

The Tour de France starts tomorrow night with limited attendance at the event being somehow enforced ... it will be interesting to see it all unfolds nonetheless. 

Just catching up with the news but we won't see Chris Froome as he will be contesting the Vuelta (Oct 20 - Nov 8 )  Geraint Thomas will be contesting the Giro (Oct 3 - Oct 25) and will also not contest le tour.

8 mountain stages including one on day 2 (Sunday) ... Egan Bernal & Primoz Roglic are joint favourites to take out the event although Thibaut Pinot & Tom Dumoulin could easily be big players.  Quintana will be thereabouts whilst Richie Porte is listed at 100-1 to take out the prize. 

Anyway,  the best late night TV is back with us and I'm eagerly looking forward to it. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Macca

[Macca 17,022]

How good is Caleb Ewan!  2 stage wins now and he certainly knows where the finishing line is.  Times his run's to perfection.  He could win another stage or 2 as well just yet

However,  we now venture into the Hills,  Mountains & Alps for the next 7 stages.  Various category 1 climbs await as the tour hots up.

Richie Porte is 11th overall but is only 1'53" behind the leader (Primoz Roglic)  Top 5 might be his aim but the next few days might sort a few things out for the GC riders.  After the rest day on Monday we have 3 consecutive days in the Alps with some grueling climbs involved.

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Macca

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Richie Porte up to 6th and riding really well.  Only 2'13" off the lead with a top 5 finish beckoning and a podium finish not far out of reach.  His team is working well for him too.

Pogacar looked strong last night and last years winner (Bernal) was dropped and is now out of contention.  Roglic still leads. 

In the Alps tonight as well as tomorrow and Thursday.  A flatter stage on Friday with the time trial on Saturday. 

There is still a lot to play out.

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Pogacar replaces Roglic as the leader and is the virtual winner of the Tour.  That was one hell of a time trial.  Pogacar just smashed his way through it.  Quite incredible!

And Richie Porte rides his way into clear 3rd position and an overall podium finish.  Only the 2nd Aussie to do so. 

An eventful night to say the least!

[Macca 17,022]

Mens Road Race on SBS (Viceland) tonight ... World Championships

The winner gets to wear the rainbow jersey for the entire year.  8 Aussies competing (Porte & Matthews included)

Pogacar,  Roglic and a host of other big names are competing.  Should be a great race.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Macca

[Macca 17,022]

Good news with the 'Giro' being televised on Viceland every night (Ch31)

Main riders to look out for ... Yates, Bernel, Evenepoel, Vlasov, Carthy, Sosa, Aru, Pinot, Lander, McNulty & Almeida

Niboli & Bardet are racing as well

Next Thursday, Saturday & Sunday the competitors are in the Mountains with some tough climbs involved

Go to CyclingNews.com for more info

[Macca 17,022]

Tour de France starts tomorrow night (SBS)

SBS cycling commentator Matthew Keenan said today that up to 4 Aussies could end up in a top 10 position (overall) in the tour ... 3 of the 4 are the head riders for their team's with Porte to aid Geraint Thomas when applicable.  A support role but if Thomas falters, Richie can step in especially if he is in and around the top 10 in the GC

Richie Porte - Ineos Grenadiers
Ben O'Connor - AG2R
Jack Haig - Bahrain Victorious
Lucas Hamilton - Team Bike Exchange

So there's a bit to look forward to aside from Caleb Ewan & Michael Matthews probably featuring in the sprint finish stages

There are also another 4 Aussies involved and www.cyclingnews.com has a feature article on the Australian involvement (click on Tour de France on cyclingnews.com or try google)

Here's a brief description of each Stage ... n.b. Cat1, Cat2 & Cat3 indicate the degree of difficulty of the various climbs

Stage 1 Sat 26/6 Flat/Hilly
Stage 2 Sun 27/6 Flat/Hilly
Stage 3 Mon 28/6 Flat
Stage 4 Tues 29/6 Flat
Stage 5 Wed 30/6 Time Trial
Stage 6 Thurs 1/7 Flat
Stage 7 Fri 2/7 ... 2 x Cat4, 2 x Cat3 and 1 x Cat1
Stage 8 Sat 3/7 ... 1 x Cat3, 1 x Cat4 and 3 x Cat1
Stage 9 Sun 4/7 ... 2 x Cat2 and 3 x Cat1

Stage 10 Tues 6/7 Flat
Stage 11 Wed 7/7 ... 2 x Cat4 and 3 x Cat1(includes the double ascent of the notorious Mont Ventoux)
Stage 12 Thurs 8/7 Flat
Stage 13 Fri 9/7 Flat
Stage 14 Sat 10/7 ... 2 x Cat3 and 3 x Cat2
Stage 15 Sun 11/7 ... 1 x Cat2 and 3 x Cat1

Stage 16 Tues 13/7 ... 1 x Cat4, 2 x Cat2 and 1 x Cat1
Stage 17 Wed 14/7 ... 3 x Cat1
Stage 18 Thurs 15/7 ... 2 x Cat4 and 2 x Cat1
Stage 19 Fri 16/7 Flat
Stage 20 Sat 17/7 Time Trial
Stage 21 Sun 18/7 Flat

 

Sprinters to look out for on the flat/hilly stages ...

Caleb Ewan
Mark Cavendish
Peter Sagan
Arnaud Demare
Tim Merlier
Sonny Colbrelli
Wout van Aert
Mattieu van der Poel
Alexander Kristoff
Elia Viviani

Michael Matthews

And the GC contenders ...

Tadej Pogacar
Primoz Roglic
Geraint Thomas
Richie Porte
Richard Carapaz
Enric Mas
Julian Alaphilippe
Rigoberto Uran
Ben O'Connor
Lucas Hamilton
Jack Haig
Marc Hirschi
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Nairo Quintana
David Gaudu
Chris Froome
Brandon McNulty
Radal Majka
Marc Soler
Giillaume Martin
Patrick Konrad
Wilco Kelderman
Emanuel Buchmann
Michael Woods
Alejandro Valverde

For more info www.cyclingnews.com has a full Tour de France preview

 

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Macca

[Macca 17,022]

Paris-Roubaix on tonight on SBS

And there is already a large breakaway group

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Jail Hindley is on the verge of winning the Giro d'Italia after a magnificent performance on the final climb yesterday

1'25" ahead of Richard Carapaz going into tonight's final stage (17.4 Kilometres)

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Coverage of the Tour de France starts tonight at midnight with the time-trial in Copenhagen!

Overall winner of the tour should come from Pogacar, Roglic or Vingegaard (or perhaps Thomas, Vlasov or Martinez)

[Macca 17,022]

Amstel Gold race for Women & Men on Viceland tonight (on now)

The women's race is close to finishing with the men's race set to finish at about 1.00am

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Another one day event tonight (Fleche-Wallonne in Belgium)

Women's race is on now (SBS Viceland) and will finish just after 8.30pm

The Men's race is also live on SBS Viceland and should finish around 1.00am

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Pogacar wins both one day races ... what a gun rider he is!

[IRW 1,387]

Giro ....anyone on board?

It's one of my favourites but time constraints and now off to the " dig tree" at Coopers Creek put me out of vision range.

Updates welcomed

[Macca 17,022]

11 hours ago, IRW said:

Giro ....anyone on board?

It's one of my favourites but time constraints and now off to the " dig tree" at Coopers Creek put me out of vision range.

Updates welcomed

'ol mate Geraint Thomas is a narrow leader after Evenepoel withdrew with Covid.  A few others have got Covid as well from the Quickstep team

Not much time between the top 10-15 so anyone could win ... Roglic is 2 seconds behind and Geogheghan Hart 5 seconds behind.  Aussie Jack Haig 3 minutes behind

In the mountains Thursday thru Sunday so it's about to heat up

Edited May 17, 2023 by Macca