UKC

Tour de France starts on Saturday 5th July finishing in Paris on Sunday 27th July.

ITV4 has live coverage (YAY!) for the last time (BOO!) and highlights in the evening.

Hopefully more interesting than a ceremonial procession of Pogacar to victory.

The final stage into Paris should be good, the inclusion of Montmartre in the Olympics was spectacular so they're doing that.

They do 4 laps of the traditional loop then finish with 3 laps that include the climb (small twisty roads?) to and descent from Montmartre.

Sounds like catching anybody off the front will be more fraught than normal. The sprinters won't be happy.

Sorry, no spoliers and feel free to add your spoilers below.

PS a real spoiler on the mood...
There was a recent disturbing German documentary "Geheimsache Doping: Im Windschatten" (Secret Doping: in the slipstream).

An anonymous whistleblower said there's undetected EPO microdosing to boost oxygen transport and Aicar use to boost energy stored in muscles. Apparently there are 200 molecular variations of Aicar but only 4 of them are banned.

English summary:
https://www.sportschau.de/doping/aicar-and-extraterrestrials-ard-documentar...

Original German documentary, you'll need a German IP address.
https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/geheimsache-doping-im-windschatten/geheim...
   

Fingers crossed. I've lost a lot of interest in the last few years. It's impressive but it's not exciting.

Thanks, bittersweet farewell to terrestrial coverage! I feel like I’ve grown old with Gary Imlach, from floppy haired sidekick to masterful dry wit anchor. New behind the scenes thing series 3 has just landed on Netflix.

I really do like the ITV4 team, I'll miss them.

I dunno, there should be a pretty good ding-dong between the podium finishers from last year. And it'd be nice if G manages to find an opportunity for a last flourish on an appropriate stage now he's not being marked for GC

Last few yeats have been the most exciting.  Not often have we had two so well matched oponents snd teams.

6 and 7 minute margins suggest they haven't been well matched for the last two years. Last year Vingegaard was well off the pace and Pogacar beat him easily. The year before, Pogacar collapsed and Vingegaard romped in. The only thing that kept me watching last year was Cavendish.

Fun and games today. Always great to see some proper flatlands racing!

The summit sprint on the cobbles was something else. Surely the guy should have been relegated?

Must have missed that!

Three cheers for side winds!

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/theres-no-way-were-not-going-to-be-the...

"Ned Boulting, David Millar and Lizzie Deignan launch plans for free audio and video Tour de France coverage."

Not sure what this means. They watch the race and we watch them do that rather than listen to them commentate as we watch the race? 

Not sure there was fault there, looked like he just hit a cobble wrong.

Vingegaard looks sharp so fingers crossed for a proper battle.

He was at fault for chopping across the other guy twice in the sprint and not riding according to the conditions. 

Kaden Groves somehow skipping that crash at 4km, mostly on his front wheel …then leading out the win. Wow.

I'd be interested to know how one can sprint full out while still riding according to the conditions!

The swerve while they were still climbing might be considered sanctionable, the fall at the line was just a racing incident.

Well getting your weight a bit further back would help, which is possible while standing, not throwing the bike for the line and simply being a better bike handler. The other guy stayed upright.
 

As an extreme example, my sprint at the end of a muddy cx race would look very different to one on tarmac at the end of a crit. He just got the red mist and lost all sense and control and looked a total pillock. 

Now there is a bike handler!

I saw the incident on telly, but I haven't heard how the commissaires judged it (which is the only important thing.)

Expletive!

Jasper Philipsen out with a broken collar bone.

It looked, from ITV4 coverage, like just bad luck.

I think the DS described it along the lines of "It shouldn't happen, but nobody to blame".

I found myself unexpectedly tense watching today's last few kms - I'm not sure if I subconsciously care more than I think or if it's just a reaction to Ned getting all excited

It must be a bit frustrating, for Oscar Onley, that his reward for such an impressive ride, is to be repeatedly referred to as "English"

Im not sure any of the UK presenters called him English ? Anyway so far the stand out Scottish and UK rider.

Jacopo Guarnieri did, but he's from Vizzolo Predabissi.

Is that it, just a procession now?

At least wait for Pog to take 4 mins on the first mountain stage before giving up 😂

It’s week 1….plenty of twists and turns to come!

I’m savouring this tour….given that we don’t know about how we can watch it next year!

I couldn't possibly mention use of a VPN to watch SBS Australia.

We'll just spend the next two weeks trying to convince ourselves otherwise!

A great long range attack by a rider not named Pogacar!

Big GC reshuffle, probably of little significance.

I wonder if Ben will have a much quieter day today, or is he going to become one of those who can recover amazingly swiftly: That was an amazingly early escape from the peloton, and the breakaway group.

Van de Poel - said aim was to get colleague jonas rickaert on a TdF podium - combativity. Shows you the prestige of the event,  so much hard work for something low in the overall rank of tdf awards but a career highlight that few in the peleton will achieve.

Also good leadership by van de poel to assist those who assist him.

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/it-started-with-a-small-joke-jonas-rick...

I do like the irreverance "breaking news, tdf race leader does not have time to shave" and irrelevance "a great day for chateau shopping" of the ITV4 team.

No comments this evening ? I didn't expect the maillot jaune to change & good to see Yates win another stage.

It was a good hard stage. I got the feeling that Pogacar wasn't too bothered about relinquishing yellow - but that's to take nothing away from Healey's brilliant effort.

Yeeeep, gets to avoid the rest day press requirements! Pretty mad to see a team just giving away the lead still though, some confidence. 

A great stage for fans in Ireland and the UK.

Healy had to do all the work as everyone else knew he'd do the work if they left it to him. He'll fight to keep the jersey on Wednesday's flat sprint stage but Thursday is a mountain GC stage which means fireworks 😀!

Nice (smart, canny) win for Yates, but I'm not sure which 😕

It was deffo Simon. Or Adam. 

I like to think that Pog eased up a bit to redress the injustice of Ben Healy doing all the work but missing out on the stage win, but presumably it was just to offload the hasslesome duties of being in yellow on the rest day

A genuine LOL.

The commentator said S for viSma and A for uAe. I need that.

I think UAE will be a bit concerned there.  Visma got two strong riders away in the break and still had Kuss and Jorgensen to launch repeated attacks which Pogacer ended up having to close down himself.

There was certainly an air of inevitability in the overall result after they'd towed Simon Yates to the foot of the last climb, but great result for him and a fantastic ride from Ben Healey.

Wednesday - sprint stage then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday are mountain stages. Sounds unbelievably tough, and exciting.

Friday - 10km individual time trial ascending to an airport, that crazy vertical one?

Tuesday - Mont Ventoux.

I was amused when, in yesterday's press conference, the boss of Healy's team was asked about the possibility of Healy ending the race with a top 5 finish, he replied "Why not? If you're going to dream, dream big."

"Dream big." Oh dear ...

Brilliant stage today!

Hell of a chase by van de Poel.

Vingegarrd leading Healy in yellow to chase group off front of peleton.

Pogacar crashes 😞, sounded subdued afterwards in audio clip released by team.

My Tour de France guide says it is 13.5Km up to Hautacam (finish) at an average gradient of 7.8%. That must be close to hell to keep up the pace on.

Pogacar will be sensible, and by the time he gets to the start of the rise up to the first category climb of Col du Soulor, his bruises will have settled and he will be able to be reasonably placed, even though he has a team which is much reduced.

Well that looks decisive. 

Which year do you think Pogačar will overtake Cavendish's 35 stages?

There are another 4 stages with HC finishes - reckon he'll win a couple of those although he could probably win all 4.

At 4 a year he'll overtake Cavendish in 2028 or 29.

Given that there are feasibly 5 stages left this year he could take if he wants (TT, Superbagnares, Ventoux, Col del la Loze, La Plagne) I'd say pretty soon. The latter 2 are very break friendly, but I can realistically see him getting the first 3 on that list. 

Did you see the interview when Pog said he was joking with his team mate about attacking from the bottom, but his teammmate didn’t realise it was a joke and it was too loud for Pog to tell him to stop.

There can’t be many decisive points in sporting history which occurred because of a misplaced gag.

I did, and I don't believe it for a second. Tactics in this sport are incredibly micromanaged. 

He's good enough to make that credible. Incredible really.

Yeah, you're not getting within 28 seconds of Riis's time up the Hautacam on the account of misunderstanding. If we see a sub 47min Ventoux on Tuesday I wonder what is left to say then.

Realistically it seems likely that the Yellow's decided already, which is a bit of a shame for the excitement of watching, but the jockeying for the other podium places should still allow for interest

Today's time cut could be problematic for the sprinters?

It will have been based on how they perceived Visma were doing at that point.  Sniffing a point of weakness.

I'm going to guess coming into the Tour UEA know Vingegaard is nowhere near 6.9 w/kg from his performance at the Dauphiné. 

they have increased the cutoff from 25% to 33% for this timetrial - hopefully that will be enough to see them all through.

You're right and time cut extended from 33% to 40% of fastest time. 

I think the criticism of the last minute nature of the change, by Van Aert and others, can be, to some degree, countered by the organisation claiming, they were taking into acoount how much better than everyone else Pogi was likely to be  because of yesterday's performance. Not sure how much of a surprise that was though. Can't see how Girmay high fiving fans on the "runway" when outside the original time limit will have impressed the organisers or his fellow sprinters.

If you’re given a time cap you might as well use all of it! The groupetto have got better and better at this over the years and this is just the individual version 

Time to start a UKC rumour.

Is it true Cavendish sends his personal thanks to every stage winner not named Pogacar?

A nice gesture by Evenepoel giving his bottle to a kid as he abandoned.

A nice moment amidst a sad incident.  Remco looks to be in a world of suffering.  Let's hope they find the issue sooner rather than later.

Vingegaard certainly not giving up, great to watch.

Pogacar not held back by lack of speed tufts.

Pogačar apparently sub 55 minutes on Ventoux today, with Vingegaard presumably only 2 seconds slower. Previous record on the Bedoin route was set by Iban Mayo, in 2004. When he was presumably doping with EPO (later tested positive for this). On a stage that was a Time Trial. Pantani and Armstrong in their doping prime were over 58 mins. 
 

And having watched the highlights, Pog didn’t even really look under strain, except for one Vingegaard attack in the lower forested section. I had the impression that he could have attacked well before he did and taken even more time off the record.
 

I’m really struggling to keep faith that I’m just watching generational talents benefiting from advances in equipment and nutrition; the improvement is just too big. Reading that article about EPO microdosing and Aicar added to that sinking feeling.
 

Anyone able to help me out and throw a line I can cling to to help me keep believing what I’m watching is real…? 

I know, I have that feeling too, even the interviews with saying others deserve to win feels like strands of Lance with some of his more recent comments. And the way he is so good at some many different aspects which seemingly until now didn’t match too well. Fingers crossed… 

I don't know how long you've been following cycling but I feel like I've heard most of the camouflage stories before, or at least variations on them.

Looking at Strava the recent top 7 times on Ventoux were all set yesterday, beating times from what appears to be the last tour in 2021 which went there.
Could have been a favourable wind giving improvements in times since its multiple people.

Rather than being in a TT Visma had their super domestiques pulling and dropping off so Pog and Jonas not actually in the wind for that long. Still seems ‘exceptional’ though…

Anyone know how significant that is at 23kph? Not sure how reliable comparing times is due to that and wind direction etc. Wasn't Pog slower in the Pyrenees than (doped) times from the mid 90's. 

Everyone seems to accept Pog and Jonas are (and have been for a few years) a level above everyone else. If they are doping,i is the logical conclusion that the only way that a 22 year old  Onley can be just behind, is that he has started doping early?

Second fastest time up Hautacam ever, 28 secs behind  Riis’ record, and the rest of the top 10 very juicy. Not sure how much actual racing went on the other climbs, didn’t get to see those stages.

Great performance from Onley, exciting into see more British talent come through. Admittedly I have only seen the highlights but they would make it seem the him being “just” behind is a bit of a stretch. I know in the standings he is but seems he is racing is a different race. Pog won his first tour at 21 bI think! I’m sure it will all come out in the wash but with the history it’s hard to complete trust and believe in blind faith

Is it possible that it's taken 30 years of improvements in training and equipment are equal to those of doping?

Is it  similar to women's middle distance records now being challenged,  for the first time since the 80's? The likes of Hodgkinson and Mu might be taking "supplements" but not to the extend of those record holders 

If there is still a problem with doping in cycling, which I accept is very possible, I would be very surprised if it's just Pog and Jonas getting away with it.

Yes, agree with that. 

A great F@uck Trump placard by the roadside today.

Yes, he took the 2004 record by 1m10s. What's also interesting is that he rode the last 500m to the summit at 32.2kmh. 90% of people there are happy if they can keep the pedals turning

E

Not sure how to read that- reassuring, people are always claiming that, but nothing ever comes of it- or dispiriting, doping never went away, it just got clever about covering its tracks…?

The latter!

Fabulous performance by him, and his team today.

Only 4 seconds behind today, so he's getting closer.

The maturity to do that, worked very much in his favour today.

Be interesting to see what Red Bull-BH tactic is tomorrow. Onley is in a nasty sandwich. Will Roglic help Lipowitz keep third or will he sense blood and try and jump two places to the podium? Will the German be called back to help the Slovenian?

With the benefit of hindsight, the only beneficiary of their tactics today ended up being Onley.

True, but a far tastier one than this morning, when he himself said he was focusing more on keeping 4th place than challenging for the podium. Going from being 2 minutes, and gradually getting further behind, to only being 20 secs behind must be massively encouraging.

Didn't he try that today, by going in the break, and then when Lipowitz was on his own, not dropping back?

After today, will he ignore them if he is?

Great stage, Vingegaard attacked early but he has to be hyper aggressive to have any chance of beating Pogacar.

Fantastic result for O'Connor.

Bit late but heads up for SBS (Australia) coverage. Commentary is properly good. Packed with information, insightful, with commentators who get genuinely excited (no verbal diarrhoea trying to avoid awkward pauses).

How are you accessing that?

NordVPN

Good to see Roglic feature in the race over the last few days, but it went pear shaped today.
What was he doing?

A good day for youngsters, even though it was Lipowitz rather than Onley.

We dared to dream, but the German was strong and smart today. We go again! 

Looks like that will be next years best option!!

Thanks.

Do you use that purely to get access to geographically-limited material? (I've never investigated such matters, but I would definitely like to get access to the Tour and similar stuff.) And, what does it cost?

I started travelling a lot (work) about 15 years ago and was amazed at how short-changed the UK was in what we paid and got on streaming services (expensive subscription, much less quality content). Second reason was trying to watch sport when abroad (6 nations etc) wasn’t possible (I’m British, have TV licence, watch the adverts so doesn’t feel nefarious). For a while a VPN got me access to everything. However TV streaming has become much more difficult to access and a lot of them are able to tell you’re using VPN ( BBC particularly good at this and I can’t access The Lions’ games this time).

I tried various free versions with intermediate success. NordVPN is ~£38 a year. Very easy to use and success is good.

Definitely want a VPN for that!

Is it my Onley adoration talking or does Lipowitz remind anyone else of a Bond Villain?

Well it's the 27th, and doping or not, we're where we expected to be with individuals' standings.

 A good inspirational unexpected for me is that we found that we have a good Scot/Brit in Monsieur Onley. I hope that this is just the start for him.

Just curious, but has anyone here found the time to go to the high passes and actually climb up them on a bike. I've been to Courcheval, but for skiing. 

About the hardest road biking I've done was in the Dales and Lake District. The local challenge for me was Holme Moss, which very occasionally we did.    

Many years ago I did the Puy de Dome (early start to sneak on the private road) coming down off road on the mountain bike.  Also did Col de la Croix Morand (up and down by road) which featured in this years tour.  They weren't too bad, I just took it slowly, plodding up in a low gear.

Drove over the Col d'Aspin days before this years tour, there was more than 20 bikes for every car on the road, it's certainly popular, not sure I'd want to ride up it these days.

In order to get to the start of the mountain time trial in Loudenvielle, (roads in were closed the night before) we parked on the nearby Val Louron mountain and walked down, it was certainly a long steep walk back up, might well have struggled on a bike

I’ve done Ventoux which was hard as we had headwind and the Col du Tourmalet from both sides which was amazing but really scary on the downhills!! Definitely worth making a trip over to ride on some of the passes…

I've cycled most of the local TdF climbs (the  road up to our village is a category 3 climb) although none are 'HC'. In general they aren't too bad & there are steeper climbs in the UK (but much shorter) - drop into a low gear & just keep pedalling for up to an hour. But I don't think I've done more than a single Cat 1 climb in a day and I haven't cycled fast for 3 or 4 hours before starting. I suspect with a bike with appropriate gearing, most reasonably fit cyclists could do most, maybe all, of these climbs, but they would take a lot longer (in my case about 3 times longer) than the TdF riders

I may be genuinely upset when ITV4 TdF coverage ends, it's a link back much younger me as I've been watching for 30 or 35 years.

Likewise. I remember watching LeMond win on the Champs Elysees.

Likewise. I remember watching the TV coverage when LeMond won on the Champs Elysses.

WOW! 

Terrifying to watch them cornering on cobbles and smooth tarmac in torrential rain.

Fantastic to see yellow jersey on the attack and crossing the line in a race rather than with a team entourage.

Also brilliant to see van Aert drop Pogacar.

Thanks ITV4 great coverage.

Couldn’t agree more….i remember the first tour on tv and it was a revelation to me to be able to watch it rather than just reading about it in Cycling Weekly! I feel very nostalgic and actually emotional (maybe the Belgium beers) thinking no more coverage in the way we’ve had it for decades…!!

100% agree!!

And what a superb Belgium style of riding by Wout!! 

Glad nobody fell on the cobbles and tight corners in the rain, even if there were a few near misses. What an exciting finish of the etape, though! Van Aert's final escape at Montmarte was really great. My but was clenched all the way to the finish, just wishing him not to wipe out.

And yesterday's finish was pretty phenomenal as well.

What I am angry a bit that my national public broadcaster doesn't have the rights to Tour de France Femmes. Still better than the UK situation I guess, since ours retains the rights to the Tour de France itself, but it's still a VPN for the Femmes...

Lots of people on here will have, there is one poster who runs a cycling business at the foot of Ventoux. I've done most of the big cols in the Alps and all but about two in the Pyrenees. I love riding up big hills and am in gobsmacked awe at the speed that the pro riders can ride them at, day after day and three or four in a single stage.

There is nothing in the Alps or Pyrenees that compares with the Yorkshire Dales. The Col du Pre is pretty steep but from memory only gets to about 11 or 12%. Hautacam and the Tres Cime/Auronzo road are subjectively the hardest I've done but they don't go anywhere near the gradients you get in the Dales, the Lakes or the North York Moors, (I've never ridden in the NY Moors). It's more about distance, the Tourmalet is about 20km from either side and you don't get much in the way of rests. Also, some of the Alpine cols are nudging 3000m so unless you're acclimatised you really feel the elevation.

Feeling very emotional at the end of it. Brilliant team.

Also ending - 19 years of competing in the Tour for Geraint Thomas

Yes that too. He's had such a career and a great character to boot. If you haven't the '...according to G' books are worth a read. One has got his mum's Welsh cakes recipe in it.

Where are you watching the women's race?

Thanks.

Agree they are different beasts. Always thought I would love to see the peloton go round the Fred whitton, roads just too narrow I guess. 
some of the Spanish ones though! I did the Angrilu last year, it’s hideous. A massive wall of 22% for 600m hits you 10km in after several other shorter sections of 25% (more akin to our stuff). Fair to say I was inappropriately geared!! 

Another year, another tour. Thanks for the memories Gary and team, can’t quite believe it’s coming to an end after decades of this stuff. Hope the suggested Millar and co coverage comes to something. Geraint, pherwf. Thanks for the company on these threads fellow bike nuts. 

It was such a fantastic stage today I can't be sad about the end of ITV4 coverage. They went out on an incredible high.

True, for the main passes that tend to be a fairly steady 7/8%, unfortunately some are quite busy with traffic.

I have stood in the rain  the Tour of Brittan went up Honister and later when Wiggins did a mickey take of Froome, by running up the last few metres if the Struggle. Whinlatter was the finish for a couple of stages one year.

Doesn't sound too different to the Zoncolan, but if you are prepared to search out the numerous smaller (and quieter) roads you can attempt things like the Scanuppia, although I resorted to using a mountain bike on this.

Never really found that in France. Most of the main roads are in the valleys so it’s only tourist and local traffic on the cols and continental drivers are respectful of cyclists. Granted the Bonnette was busy with motorcycles and supercars but aside from the noise it was ok. I wasn’t quite so taken with the Dolomites, most of the mountain roads are also the main roads so in addition to all the bikes and cars there’s also local workie vans and delivery vehicles. Never had an issue with close passes but I remember getting fed up with the constant noise on the Gardena, and being unable to overtake motorhomes on the way down because of oncoming traffic.

I have a dream of a grand depart in Inverness taking in the Applecross loop.

I have cycled the Glandon, and Madeleine , both nice climbs. Top of the Glandon is a saddle to the Croix De Fer. I personally prefer climbing the Croix De Fer side and descending the Glandon, - if you go, do both (on different days

St Jean Du Maurienne is a good base for the ones above , you can easily do Galibier, Telegraph, Lacets de Montvernier and D'iseran as well.

Personally think easier than the Lake District. Not as steep and longer (so you can get into a rhythm) and the descents are less sketchy. Road surface tends to be better quality.

if you want Lake District steepness and Alpine length - then I give you the Mortirolo. The hardest climb I have ever done (not sure if there is an equivalent TdF climb) but as GT climbs go (it's Italian so often stars in the Giro) it was a very tough day in the saddle. I was on 34/34 ratio and was out of the saddle pulling up on my hoods with all my disappearing strength halfway up - as my wahoo kept "pausing" because of how slow I was going haha

Edit - Just realised the Zoncolan is steeper than Mortirolo

This is the day I remember best:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cycling/33102950

Thomas riding in support of Frome. Time and again, Frome was attacked by breakaways, and Thomas couldn't match the speed. But time after time, he ground his way back to the front, never giving up. Such heart. So pleased for him when he got his win.

My favourites are multiple jerseys working together.

Froome in yellow, Sagan in green and Thomas in a breakaway.

Wiggins in yellow leading Cavendish in rainbow jersey onto Champs-Élysées.

My all time favourite - van Aert in green acting as mountain super domestique for Vingegaard - the green jersey holder is not supposed to be able to do that.

I’ve been watching the TV coverage since the days of Indurain and co.  It was this coverage and a good mate that effectively got me into road cycling, having previously been in to BMX.  It’s really sad to see the end of the ITV coverage.  It’s been wonderful.

I’ve been lucky enough to ride Alpe D’Huez and the Galibier, and without the inspiration of The Tour on TV, I doubt I ever would have.

I personally found many climbs in the UK to be much harder, notably Hardnott Pass, Trooper Lane, Mytholm Steeps and so on.  I’d love to do the hard climbs in Italy and Spain.

Apologies, I've been out with Covid for the last few days (after 5 years of never catching it, imagine that!) and totally missed your question.

I guess my reply won't help you much now that the Femmes is finished (with an absolutely "phe‑no‑me‑nal!" finish by Ferrand‑Prevot in Maillot jaune!!!), but you might still be able to catch up on all of the étapes as France TV does seem to have all the previous stages including the final one on replay.

I watched it live on France TV 2 via a VPN. As I said, they do have the full replays of the previous étapes available online, at least for now (for how long, I have no idea).

As for the VPN, I used Chrome with a PlanetVPN extension. I only use Chrome for experimental stuff, so I don't really care if any extension tries to hijack my browsing data or whatever. And Planet VPN had a free French server that just worked. It definitely wouldn't be my 1st choice when looking for a really privacy‑conscious VPN, but again, I didn't care about privacy there since my Chrome doesn't really save any of my browsing.

You do need to register with France TV to watch it, but just add a Paris zip‑code and use a disposable email account.

Back to cycling from tech talk, I actually found the Femmes much more interesting and rewarding than the men's race. Not only were the last few stages totally brutal climbs, the more level playing field made for some really interesting developments in the GC rankings (from almost 1st to 13th and similar).

One doesn't really see such rapid changes in the men's race, it being almost all Pogačar or Vingegaard nowadays (van Aert's miraculous escape and finish notwithstanding, if even more impressive after his serious injury last year).

The Femmes were quite a bit more interesting as the various places and Maillots changed all the time. And the last two étapes were pretty great, two great riders finishing the climb alone with quite a sizeable gap. Plus a finish and GC in jaune, what more could have Ferrande‑Prevot wish for! Her being quite a bit older than most of her competitors, I'd just say again that it was indeed "phe‑no‑me‑nal!"

Thanks, and get well soon!

It slightly amuses me that people moan about Pogacer but dote about previous greats like Merckx and Cavendish, to name two.

Enjoy witnessing possibly the greatest cyclist in our life time plying his craft. I am.

.> Enjoy witnessing possibly the greatest cyclist in our life time plying his craft. I am.

I was slightly disappointed that he didn't do one of his blistering attacks on one of the two final mountain stages but apparently he was getting a bit tired after all that cycling.

It appears that he is actually human.

I know that there has been discussion of whether he is totally devoted to his sport, and does nothing else, but plan and do horrible unendurable practice off-season (which most of us could not remotely adhere to for any length of time, but he does); or whether there is some new medicinal/physiological way of secretly helping him. In other words some people think that he has got some way of being helped that is not available to others. I am not saying that that it is the case, but it might explain some of the less ecstatic comments.

The other thing is that as British people, we often want the underdog to win through, so less support for the brilliant riders, and more for the less likely to succeed.

We can, but close competition is more exciting.

Merckx - before my time, no idea.

In the 15 tours he started, Cavendish had loads of close completion, at times Sagan was dominant,  maybe others too. Except for perhaps five years when he won 4, 5 or 6 sprints there were ten years when he may not have been the best sprinter.