Tour de France 2025 **spoilers**

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635535#Comment_123635535

They had great sprinters in the 80's. Daniel Willems, Rudy Matthjys and Jele Nydjam come to mind. Spellings of those last two surnames could be a bit off.

Sean Kelly was a great sprinter too.

Girly Gal

Amazing ride by Ben today, great that he got rewarded with Yellow, a wonderful achievement. Was worried Vingegaard was going to attack near the end which would have forced Pog to respond and likely hold onto yellow. I had thought either Roche or Kelly wore Yellow after Roche winning In 87, almost 40 years ago, the first time I can remember watching the TdeF.

Strange watching Visma doing their best to keep Pog in yellow and Pog doing his best to lose the Jersey! It's clear that Visma are way stronger than UAE, Pog is basically going to be on his own against 3/4 Visma riders on most of the climbs, a bit like his first tour win! Visma also seem to be prepared to win at all costs, close the gaps to breakaways with the sole purpose to keep Pog in yellow for the extra media demands that takes, obstructing Pog in the feed zone, all "marginal gains" hoping to wear Pog down. Still not convinced by Vingegaard's form, think his ITT is a huge concern, and an indication he's not as strong as everyone seems to thnk he is. Time will tell. Let's enjoy Ben in Yellow for the next few days!

dastardly00

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635535#Comment_123635535

Mario Cipollini, Erik Zabel, and Alessandro Petacchi all say hello 👋

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635821#Comment_123635821

Sean Kelly is exactly my point. Kelly is way way more like VdP or Pedersen than he is Cipo, Cavendish or anyone called a sprinter now.

MSR being won by pure sprinters is actually the less likely outcome. It's just much more likely than other races

CrowdedHouse

Another good one for posterity 😊

https://twitter.com/procycletrumps/status/1944862996389580979

EagererBeaver

Those would be three sprinters who all really hit their peak in the mid 90s or later, so not sure that contradicts the point breezy was making.

Not fully sure I agree, but I get the point he's making. Kelly was a very, very different rider to someone like Cipo, whereas Cipo isn't all *that* different to someone like Milan today. Introduction of lead out trains changed everything.

Morris Garren

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635307#Comment_123635307

RVV is about 260-270km usually; cant see Milan or Merlier winning this, even though it's 100km shorter. And I was comparing the climbs, not the actual races.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635897#Comment_123635897

Are you saying the three I mentioned were 90's sprinter?

Willems was around when I was 10 years old, Matthjys when I was 15 or so. The only one that would have went into the 90s was Nydjam and he was top class in the late 80's.

I'm 56 now for reference.

dastardly00

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635921#Comment_123635921

I'd say he was referring to the three sprinters I mentioned (Cipo, Zabel, and Petacchi)

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635921#Comment_123635921

Never heard of any of them. What of note did they win ?

In the context of this conversation they didn't win Milan San Remo.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635951#Comment_123635951

I only quoted and responded to you as regards your claim that there were no sprinters back then.

I wasn't discussing stage 11.

As regards the stage I don't think there's any chance we'll see sprint trains at the end of the stage and that MVDP has a great chance of winning it so long as he gets in an earlier breakaway. If it comes down to near the finish he could very well have to worry about Girmay and Groves.

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636097#Comment_123636097

Mvdp getting chased down by his own teammate would be poor form!

eastie17

sorry if this is an ignorant question but did Ben declare for Ireland because his grandparents were Irish and he has an affiliation or was it because it might be easier for Olympic selection etc?

EagererBeaver

Don't know about the specifics of his decision but he's been racing for Ireland from long before everyone realised "holy **** this guy's a really world class cyclist"

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636172#Comment_123636172

Both, he talks about it in an article with Velo. Sadly you still see some people bring it up but he declared for Ireland, has heritage and overall is a really decent person who represents us well. He admits declaring for Ireland would give more opportunities but that's just honesty, he has worn the tricolour well and it's a pity that social media always has one guy in the top 3 comments posting about it as if it's a thing, because it's not.

breezy1985

Also spent his underage career with McQuaids Trinity team so there is a big Irish hand in the nurturing of his talent too.

ionadnapóca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635770#Comment_123635770

Delighted. Thanks for sharing that.

TG4 to the 'FTA' rescue yet again. Galánta ar fad!

https://www.tg4.ie/en/information/press/press-releases/2025-2/urc-rugby-2025/

Cycling, Cricket, Golf, Rugby, all these minority sports (relatively) going behind paywalls are taking the 'quick buck' to the determent of the actual sport they will claim "they are growing".

They don't care of course.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jul/09/cycling-tour-de-france-itv-terrestrial-tv-coverage-ending-cricket-test-the-spin#:~:text=I%20hear%20that%20this%20is,from%20jelly%20shoe%20to%20Birkenstock.

I pay my tv license. I will NOT pay for PPV. Ever.

If we don't buy - They cant sell.

btw… I paid boards as a 'chapeau' for the time (5,000 hrs?😯) I've spent on here over the years. They deserve it as a small token of gratitude and the chance to keep boards alive and in a sense 'grow the game'!

Large bottle small glass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123636512#Comment_123636512

Rugby is in interesting one. I was living in Limerick city, when rugby went professional but for a few years the All Ireland League was the big thing.

The buzz around the city when Shannon, Young Munster and Garryowen, along with Cork Con were vying for the title was something else.

Everyone knew someone on one of the teams, everyone spoke about rugby in shops, pubs taxis etc.

All invested locals packed into tight grounds for competitive games is close to the best sport I've seen live; and I was a blown in with no skin in the game.

The arrival of elite teams in the provinces killed all that, it all went PPV and the makeup of supporters changed completely.

The best thing about sports is participation; organisations should always prioritize that over the elite level. FTA is going to lead to more inspired kids to pick up a hurley, bicycle, rugby and hopefully keep playing as long as they can like the odd 50 year fool like myself.

To go more wildly off topic the irishness or otherwise of someone from the Irish diaspora is endlessly interesting to me. I've three siblings with kids born outside Ireland, two married to non Irish, two siblings with USA passports and hundreds of USA cousins who all originated from the same modest Irish cottage as my own father and his descendants.

I've two nephews with an Irish dad, Columbian mother, born in Italy but with American citizenship.

People can be simultaneously two three or more nationalities. I've seen too many American cousins get genuinely emotional when they visit the house their half starved descendant took the boat from to think otherwise.

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123635535#Comment_123635535

Mark Cavendish won it.

beggars_bush

TG4 providing the service RTE should be doing

Across so many sports

Macy0161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123637563#Comment_123637563

Well it is also a public service broadcaster, funded by the State and advertising.

beggars_bush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123637620#Comment_123637620

Without the giant inflated salaries and D4 family connections

RTE isn't fit for purpose

Anyway, great to see the cycling getting good coverage.

Pity the Ras couldn't get a highlights program onto tg4

Dodge

it’s not an advantage to be Irish ahead of British in cycling. With a British WT team and others at the lower levels, it’s actually a disadvantage. There’s no way Sky/INEOS sign half the British riders they have if they weren’t British and they’re also way better funded than Irish cyclists

Healy, like Dan Martin before him, wasn’t the type of rider they wanted to support so he switched as a junior. Thankfully

harringtonp

What way do you think EF will play it with Healy guys

• Ignore the jersey after tomorrow's flattish stage and lose both it and plenty of time on the first pyrenean stage (back to stage hunting as quick as possible)
• Ask Healy to bury himself to hold it as long as possible on the mountain roads before blowing
• Really target the white jersey (1:30 on Evenpoel)
• Focus on targeting as high as possible GC finish in a more conservative and measured fashion (i.e. not even attempt to hang with the top 2 but watch the riders further down)
• Target the KOM jersey

De Bhál

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123637878#Comment_123637878

I'd imagine EF will urge him to hold the yellow jersey for as long as is possible

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123637878#Comment_123637878

Number 2 & 4 I would guess. Don't see him beating Evanepoel unless he crashes, and the KOM jersey will probably be won by Pog. Stagehunting, I'd say Powless & Baudin want a crack at a few stages now.

Healy could go in the break again tomorrow for the stage/more time, or even on Thursday to get a headstart.

Would UAE/Visma or anyone else chase him if he did?

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123638001#Comment_123638001

I don't think anyone is letting the yellow jersey get in a breakaway just on a point of principle.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123638001#Comment_123638001

No chance he's allowed in the break. Whatever about the GC leader's team honouring the yellow jersey, it would be beyond insulting for the rest of the GC teams to disregard the yellow jersey disappearing up the road.

But more realistically, it's the riders fighting for top 5, top 10 on GC who will be making sure he's kept in check. No break with him in it will survive, so realistically (even though it's completely unrealistic), the only way Healy gets in a break is if he does a MVdP and heads up the road on his own or with a team mate.

But just not gonna happen for all sorts of reasons. I'd say he'll hold position until things start to fracture up front when, if he has the legs, he might look to make the most of the situation and ride his own race to see how it plays out. Even if he fades from there straightaway he'll have done his job.

The interesting thing will be to see if he can marry his stage hunting instinct with the opportunity to hold onto a top 10 position.

Dodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123638032#Comment_123638032

van der Poel did it. The only two riders who care about GC now are Pog and Jonas and they’re only concerned about their teams.

My guess is they’ll ride to keep it on Wednesday and hope he stays as long as he can with the big boys on Thursday. After that they’ll re-evaluate and see where he is on GC and in the KOM

He’s no threat to the main two so he’ll still have his freedom later in the race. It’s already a successful tour for him and team so they’re in bonus territory

at1withmyself

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123638556#Comment_123638556

Greg Van Avermaet also done it, as you say I don't think there is anything wrong with a non GC rider in yellow going for the break.

Edit: Although in Ben's case I agree with @Paddigol and think he is too much of a threat to be let go.