Tour de France 2019 General Thread

cunavalos

Just thought it would be nice to get a general thread up and running for the build up and general news for the tour.

Most of the teams have been confirmed and it is shaping up to be an interesting one with lots of question marks over the main contenders. Irish interest lies with Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche where I expect Dan to aim for a top 10 finish with the outside chance of either a murito or mountain stage win and I hope the lack of a true GC contender on the Sunweb team gives Roche the incentive to go stage hunting rather than hanging on for a top 20-25 gc position.

The route should favour some attacking riding in the opening week and I expect several different yellow jersey wearers within the the first 7 days with a mix of sprint stages, a ttt, a classic style stage and a mountain stage on an unpaved road to la planche des belles fille.

Hopefully there will be enough volunteers for Stage Specific threads and for those without access to live coverage during the day keep an eye out for the www.procyclingstats.com live feed which should provide minute by minute text updates and live data regarding virtual gc and time gaps.

Live coverage will be available on ITV4, Eurosport, TG4 and S4C. Eurosport will go with a similar format to the Giro with a studio based show.


AG2R La Mondiale
Romain Bardet, Oliver Naesen, Tony Gallopin, Alexis Vuillermoz, Benoît Cosnefroy, Mickaël Cherel, Mathias Frank, Alexis Gougeard

Astana Pro Team
Jakob Fuglsang, Gorka Izagirre, Magnus Cort, Pello Bilbao, Luis León Sánchez, Alexey Lutsenko, Hugo Houle, Omar Fraile

Bahrain Merida
Vincenzo Nibali, Matej Mohoric, Rohan Dennis, Damiano Caruso, Sonny Colbrelli, Dylan Teuns, Iván García, Jan Tratnik

BORA-hansgrohe
Peter Sagan, Daniel Oss, Maximilian Schachmann, Marcus Burghardt, Emanuel Buchmann, Patrick Konrad, Gregor Mühlberger, Lukas Pöstlberger

CCC Team
Greg Van Avermaet, Alessandro De Marchi, Michael Schär, Joey Rosskopf, Patrick Bevin, Serge Pauwels, Simon Geschke, Łukasz Wiśniowski

Deceuninck-Quick-Step
Enric Mas, Julian Alaphilippe, Elia Viviani, Yves Lampaert, Michael Mørkøv, Maximiliano Richeze, Kasper Asgreen, Dries Devenyns

Dimension Data
Mark Cavendish, Roman Kreuziger, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Louis Meintjes, Bernhard Eisel, Julien Vermote, Ben King, Reinardt Janse van Reinsburg

EF Education First
Rigoberto Uran, Tejay van Garderen, Lawson Craddock, Taylor Phinney, Alberto Bettiol, Michael Woods

Groupama-FDJ
Thibaut Pinot, David Gaudu, Stefan Küng, Anthony Roux, Matthieu Ladagnous, Sébastien Reichenbach, Rudy Molard, William Bonnet

Jumbo-Visma
Steven Kruijswijk, Dylan Groenewegen, George Bennett, Tony Martin, Laurens De Plus, Wout Van Aert, Amund Grøndahl Jansen, Mike Teunissen

Lotto-Soudal
Tiesj Benoot, Tim Wellens, Thomas De Gendt, Caleb Ewan, Jens Keukeleire, Maxime Monfort, Roger Kluge. Jasper De Buyst

Mitchelton-Scott
Adam Yates, Simon Yates, Jack Haig, Daryl Impey, Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Christopher Juul-Jensen, Matteo Trentin

Movistar Team
Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana, Mikel Landa, Marc Soler, Andrey Amador, Imanol Erviti, Carlos Verona, Nelson Oliveira

Team Katusha-Alpecin
Ilnur Zakarin, Marco Haller, Jens Debusschere, Alex Dowsett, Nils Politt, José Gonçalves, Rick Zabel, Mads Würtz Schmidt

Team Ineos
Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, Michal Kwiatkowski, Luke Rowe, Dylan van Baarle, Jonathan Castroviejo, Wout Poels, Gianni Moscon

Team Sunweb
Michael Matthews, Wilco Kelderman, Lennard Kämna, Søren Kragh Andersen, Nicolas Roche, Nikias Arndt, Cees Bol, Chad Haga

Trek-Segafredo
Richie Porte, Bauke Mollema, Jasper Stuyven, Fabio Felline, Koen de Kort, Toms Skujins, Giulio Ciccone, Julien Bernard

UAE-Team Emirates
Daniel Martin, Fabio Aru, Alexander Kristoff, Sergio Henao, Rui Costa, Vegard Stake Laengen, Sven Erik Bystrøm, Jasper Philipsen

Arkéa Samsic
Warren Barguil, André Greipel, Maxime Bouet, Anthony Delaplac, Elie Gesbert, Florian Vachon

Cofidis, Solution Crédits
Jesús Herrada, Nicolas Edet, Julien Simon, Pierre-Luc Périchon, Christophe Laporte, Anthony Perez, Natnael Berhane, Stéphane Rossetto

Direct Energie
Niki Terpstra, Lilian Calmejane, Romain Sicard, Rein Taaramäe, Anthony Turgis, Niccolò Bonifazio, Fabien Grellier, Paul Ourselin

Wanty-Gobert
Guillaume Martin, Andrea Pasqualon, Xandro Meurisse, Aimé De Gendt, Odd Cristian Ekking, Frederik Backaert, Kevin Van Melsen, Yoann Offredo

Think the format on Eurosport worked for Giro so happy to see that back. I don't know why it bothered me but it did bother me that the commentators weren't in Italy though.

No velogames after the problems last year

Even with no Froome Ineos are still the team to beat I think, they even have £6000 chains that save 10w http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-ineos-to-use-muc-offs-6000-chain-at-tour-de-france/

dastardly00

I still have to buy my copy of the Official Guide :eek:

Tim76

Got my jerseys backed with PP:

Bernal yellow, Alaphilippe polka, Ewan green.

Got Dan down for a podium.

retalivity

Movistar going with 3 leaders again??!!

wowy

Cavendish left out of DD squad.

DD Squad is now Lars Bak, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Steve Cummings, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Ben King, Roman Kreuziger, Giacomo Nizzolo, Michael Valgren.

Steve Cummings surprises me a little with his inclusion.

dastardly00

Deleted User wrote: »

DD Squad is now Lars Bak, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Steve Cummings, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Ben King, Roman Kreuziger, Giacomo Nizzolo, Michael Valgren.

Steve Cummings surprises me a little with his inclusion.

Hopefully they turn up for this GT... unlike the Giro!

Tim76

wowy wrote: »

Cavendish left out of DD squad.

What happened Cav?

Tim76

Tim76 wrote: »

What happened Cav?

He's been struggling to get back to fitness having epstein barr virus for the last 2 years or so and a few crashes thrown in.

Not sure what he was doing training wise but he was struggling in the early stages of Slovenia and California. Getting dropped on climbs he should have had no real problems with staying with the bunch on.

Angliru

Hoping Mas can get some form out of nowhere to win but looks like it'll be a Bernal clinic. Surprised he's so short betting wise given it is only his second GT and isn't even outright team lead.

GetWithIt

Have a feeling there'll be some randomers getting jerseys this year

Podium - Thomas, Pinot, Martin (no particular order)
Green - Van Aert
Polka - Martin
White - Bernal

jimbobaloobob

I think the top three will be Bernal, Uran, Nibaili (not in order)


Sagan for Green
Pinot for Polka
Bernal for White

I'd love to see Pinot or Bardet do it. French are due a win but my head says it'll be Ineos.

MPFGLB

For me Bernal is the man to beat ...only handicap will be the team and having to ride for G

Fuglsang, Porte , Yates may all flatter to deceive

Good course for Dan Martin as not so much TTing but team TTT may pull him far down..Has a strong squad (Rui Costa, Aru & Henao) if they ride fro him but they tend to do their own thing ...will see if he is high on GC they may pull it together

Nicolas Roche is going better than he has in a long time ...would love to see him win a stage

odyssey06

Hopefully we'll get a tour diary from Nico, and some stage hunting.
Though it would have made for interesting reading if Domoulin had been there.

Melodeon

Attached should be the official Regulations for 2019, for all you rules lawyers!

The (French language) roadbook is out there too, but it's 162MB so I can't post it here.
However, there's an excellent shared Google Drive (from the Velorooms.com Cycling Forum) of historic and current roadbooks and other official race publications here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6g1gOm2sMzAZVU4eDBIT0x3MXc

Click into the 2019 folder and the TdF 2019 French language roadbook is there.


Edited to add:
Found it in English!:
https://app.box.com/s/1rgv0ygfzwpv3a3pt448aj5wta1vlewt

dastardly00

Looking at the rule/regulations book...
In terms of prize money, aiming for a good GC classification is kind of 'not worth the effort' unless you finish in the top 6 or 8. You'd be better off going in breakaways and trying to get some intermediate sprints bonuses (€1,500 for 1st).

D9Male

GetWithIt wrote: »

Have a feeling there'll be some randomers getting jerseys this year

Podium - Thomas, Pinot, Martin (no particular order)
Green - Van Aert
Polka - Martin
White - Bernal

Van Aert will be working for Groenewegen on the flat stages. It is very difficult to contend for green without consistently hitting top 5 in those stages. They're worth so much more than the tougher stages.

Martin won't be riding for polka dots but he may get it by accident. The bonus seconds (bonifications) at the top of a few climbs will mean he may sprint at KoM points.

Bernal for white is a very safe bet

neris

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd love to see Pinot or Bardet do it

Not a chance. By the start of week 3 those 2 will have fecked off to the French hide & seek championships

letape

neris wrote: »

Not a chance. By the start of week 3 those 2 will have fecked off to the French hide & seek championships

Strange comment in terms of Bardet and Pinot has been in very good form lately.

In France at the moment - was thinking this morning that it must be hell racing in this heat for three weeks!

neris

https://twitter.com/ukcyclingexpert/status/1146785721132429319?s=19

cunavalos

I think it is quite difficult to make overall predictions for the major categories but simply looking at the first week. While i initially voted for Bernal, there are several question marks over lots of the favourites whether they can actually string a three week performance together.

Personally, I am expecting big things from Jumbo Visma with the possibility of 3-4 stage wins and holding yellow for most of the week. Groenewegen x 2 , the team time trial and van Aert for one of the other stages. I don't know if this will generally be a good thing for Kruiswijk's (or Bennett's) GC aspirations having the team needing to do a lot of the work in Week 1

One battle always worth keeping an eye is the "anonymous" rider who sneaks into the top 10 in gc, he will always be found hanging just off the group of favourites and never makes an attack or gets much attention from the commentators but purely by consistency ends up high in the GC. Cyclingnews refer to it as the "Haimar Zubeldia" award.

neris

cunavalos wrote: »

One battle always worth keeping an eye is the "anonymous" rider who sneaks into the top 10 in gc, he will always be found hanging just off the group of favourites and never makes an attack or gets much attention from the commentators but purely by consistency ends up high in the GC. Cyclingnews refer to it as the "Haimar Zubeldia" award.

A la Zubeldia the cycling podcast call it

https://twitter.com/cycling_podcast/status/672786887338233856?s=19

Angliru

Louis Meintjes has been doing that with ages, the most negative cyclist I think I've ever come across. He's injured this time out though.

cunavalos

Angliru wrote: »

Louis Meintjes has been doing that with ages, the most negative cyclist I think I've ever come across. He's injured this time out though.

But he loses out on the anonymous aspect of the title because Carlton would always give us an update on how "little louis meintjes" was yo-yoing out the back of the group of favourites

Angliru

cunavalos wrote: »

But he loses out on the anonymous aspect of the title because Carlton would always give us an update on how "little louis meintjes" was yo-yoing out the back of the group of favourites

Very true actually :pac:

It is mad to see how high Zubeldia has finished over the years. 5th (technically 4th) in 07 is a real surprise. I was fairly young watching that and besides the epic duels of Rasmussen-Contador and Mauricio Soler I remember very little from that Tour. 2012 and 2014 were very forgettable Tours altogether so it is less surprising he top 10'd there.

Very interesting going through the top 10s from a decade ago and tracking down where cyclists ended up. Awful shame about the likes of Bernhard Kohl who showed so much promise. And of course Ricco, who I think would have been a superstar. There were times he was holding his own with the likes of Valverde in the sprint and he was a great climber too. A lunatic on and off the bike.

Shedite27

Any board leage setup for the Fantasy game?

neris

Shedite27 wrote: »

Any board leage setup for the Fantasy game?

No, Velogames don't do a TDF league

TGD

What time does the flag drop?

TGD

TGD wrote: »

What time does the flag drop?

4km left of the roll out according to the panel on Eurosport there.

MPFGLB

I really fancy Dan Martin for a podium for this Tour ...if he can get to the final week in contention without crashes or illness
Staying safe in the opening stages is so crucial .No wonder he is unhappy about the 3 second rule being omitted

jimbobaloobob

Today is like the start of 21 days of Christmas

Angliru

I'd be thoroughly shocked if Martin podiums, would need several to crash out I feel. Will kindly take a charity bet with someone willing to oppose I don't think he'll top 5 FWIW. Really open race this year which I think will mean more riders will go for it instead of dilly dallying around.

odyssey06

Nicolas Roche's Tour Diary is back in The Irish Independent:
https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/nicolas-roches-tour-de-france-diary-with-florians-strength-i-might-finally-fulfil-my-destiny-38287116.html

retalivity

Angliru wrote: »

I'd be thoroughly shocked if Martin podiums, would need several to crash out I feel. Will kindly take a charity bet with someone willing to oppose I don't think he'll top 5 FWIW. Really open race this year which I think will mean more riders will go for it instead of dilly dallying around.

Barring crashes, the 2 sky lads, bardet, pinot, 1 from movistar will finish ahead of him. Would not be surprised to see nibbles and kruiswijk as well, possibly fuglsang too.

Dont see aru being a good mountain dom for dan to work with

Inquitus

Bernal is the bookies favourite interestingly enough:

Eamonnator

Angliru wrote: »

I'd be thoroughly shocked if Martin podiums, would need several to crash out I feel. Will kindly take a charity bet with someone willing to oppose I don't think he'll top 5 FWIW. Really open race this year which I think will mean more riders will go for it instead of dilly dallying around.

I'll bet you €20 that Dan finishes in the top 5.
If I win you pay to my charity, if you win I'll pay to your charity.

I've just had two glasses of wine with dinner.

Edit:I've looked at the odds on Paddy Power. Dan is 50/1 to win

Adamcp898

Does anyone know if there’s a highlights show on anywhere other than Eurosport?

Eamonnator

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Does anyone know if there’s a highlights show on anywhere other than Eurosport?

ITV4 at 7.00pm

Angliru

Eamonnator wrote: »

I'll bet you €20 that Dan finishes in the top 5.
If I win you pay to my charity, if you win I'll pay to your charity.

I've just had two glasses of wine with dinner.

Edit:I've looked at the odds on Paddy Power. Dan is 50/1 to win

I originally said for him not to podium, but **** it, I'm in. 20 quid it is.

Eamonnator

Angliru wrote: »

I originally said for him not to podium, but **** it, I'm in. 20 quid it is.

O.K.

F***.
I was hoping, you'd forget.
It'll keep me interested.

Angliru

Eamonnator wrote: »

O.K.

F***.
I was hoping, you'd forget.
It'll keep me interested.

Haha. Okay, let's say he gets top 3 I'll double my donation to 40.

Eamonnator

Angliru wrote: »

Haha. Okay, let's say he gets top 3 I'll double my donation to 40.

Fair play.

jimbobaloobob

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Does anyone know if there’s a highlights show on anywhere other than Eurosport?

TG4 also have highlights around 8:50 pm in English.

jimbobaloobob

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

TG4 also have highlights around 8:50 pm in English.

Love watching these every year with the ozzy lads. They usually pick up the stuff Kirby misses.

Melodeon

Mark Cavendish goes for ride with young fan ‘to cheer us both up’ after Tour de France omission

No result reported on who crossed the line first...

Harry Palmr

Just a headsup for people without Pay TV - S4C are showing the Tour in HD.

Inquitus

Lotto Jumbo will probably hold Yellow until PdBF now, excellent TTT

CramCycle

Might be an idea to keep stage comments either to their thread or until after midnight, even if in spoiler tags.

Eamonnator

Angliru wrote: »

I originally said for him not to podium, but **** it, I'm in. 20 quid it is.

I think, you can pick your charity now.