Tour de France, July 2, Stage 1: Mont-Saint-Michel/Sainte-Marie-du-Mont *SPOILERS*

Melodeon

Date: Saturday 2nd July
Type: Flat
Distance: 188Km
Start/Finish: Mont-Saint-Michel / Utah Beach Sainte-Marie-du-Mont


Stage Map:



Stage Profile:



Finale:



Preview (© http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk):

The Cotentin Peninsula is surrounded by sea, which draws in the breezes, and there is little inland to stop them. Wind, especially crosswinds, will be a factor on the stage, because crosswinds can cause splits in the peloton, especially if one team uses them to make things difficult.

The riders leave Mont-Saint-Michel, and the 100 sheep grazing in the salt marshes that have been painted yellow, green or with red polka-dots to celebrate the Tour, and head inland.

The riders join the coast again close to Coutances, and will have the sea on their left shoulders all the way along north to Carteret. There they do a big right turn to cross the peninsula to the coast on the other side at Quinéville. Then they head south for the finish.

It should be a fairly uncomplicated stage, unless the wind is very strong. That might make the coastal stretches tricky, particularly close to the finish.

There are few hills today. The early part is mostly flat, but the peninsula crossing is more undulating. And there are two short but quite steep climbs with about 30 kilometres to go. After them it’s a long straight run to the finish.

Stage starts don't get much more dramatic than this, at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Le Mont-Saint-Michel!

Keep an eye out for the coloured sheep.


The stage ends at (or near) Utah beach, the westernmost of the D-Day landing beaches:



The weather could have a major bearing on the stage, with sunshine & rain forecast for the afternoon, along with strong westerly winds:



LIVE TV:
TG4 - 11.15am
Eurosport 1 - 11.15am
ITV4 - 11.00am

HIGHLIGHTS:
TG4 - 8.45pm
Eurosport 1 - 6.00pm, 8.00pm
ITV4 - 7.00pm

LE TOUR BY LEMONDE:
Eurosport 1 - 11.30pm

harringtonp

ITV4 Live 11:00-16:30 Highlights 19:00-20:00

neris

Is the tennis season over??

gordongekko

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh it's here baby.

Melodeon

neris wrote: »

Is the tennis season over??

No, they're still bashing away.
Eurosport are only showing highlights of Wimbledon this year though, so live coverage won't interfere with going over to the Tour.

dastardly00

I know the stage will be pretty dull until the inevitable sprint finish... but I'm still really looking forward to it

on_the_nickel

dastardly00 wrote: »

I know the stage will be pretty dull until the inevitable sprint finish... but I'm still really looking forward to it

I dunno, those are some strong winds. Some teams will be looking to catch rivals out, could be a cracker.

Lusk_Doyle

on_the_nickel wrote: »

I dunno, those are some strong winds. Some teams will be looking to catch rivals out, could be a cracker.

Deffo. Hammerfest. Tinkoff to be all in the split with some Movistar lads and a few sprinters and Sky battling to get back.

neris

ednwireland

need to go and strip my freehub for tomorrow as my new wheels are till in gatwick, thanks bike24

retalivity

Groenewegen ew @33/1...lets see what the hype is about, and cant let the germans win on utah beach! Carlton will have a canary...

Jesus ashley, yellow trousers...

pajor

I feel like the TDF has sorta crept up on me. Been so preoccupied with the Euros really. But I'm not complaining.

And I'll say this just once at the very beginning. Hooray for Dutch TV where there's no ads and no English Eurosport commentators that shall not be named!

magicbastarder

you'd think they'd have picked the somme as the end point, rather than utah beach.

Boscoirl

Itv is all ads, they must be at Utah beach by now

dastardly00

pajor wrote: »

And I'll say this just once at the very beginning. Hooray for Dutch TV where there's no ads and no English Eurosport commentators that shall not be named!

I presume you can understand Dutch though? :P

pajor

dastardly00 wrote: »

I presume you can understand Dutch though? :P

Good enough. We switched TV provider last December, but the one before allowed to switch between Dutch and English for Eurosport. Still didn't watch it. Don't like the Dutch commentators on Eurosport though either. There's 2 guys, one Dutch and one Belgian. They also just talk shíte. My gf likes watching TDF too, so the TV will stay on NOS.

isitraining

dastardly00 wrote: »

I know the stage will be pretty dull until the inevitable sprint finish... but I'm still really looking forward to it

There are KOM points early on so a good bit to keep us occupied! Fingers crossed for the Tickler again!

Darkglasses

Has the commentary just changed from Carlton to Declan?

Also, love that new Alpecin ad

isitraining

Darkglasses wrote: »

Has the commentary just changed from Carlton to Declan?

Also, love that new Alpecin ad

All back to normal. Declan must have replaced Jonathan HB on chateau description duty.

So, which highlights coverage is better, ITV4 or Eurosport?

DominoDub

Those Live on Bike Cam shots are great , but scare the heck out of me ..how the hell can one react at all to a crash ahead

Boscoirl

ronoc wrote: »

So, which highlights coverage is better, ITV4 or Eurosport?

Not sure what Eurosport is like but ITV is a bit of cycling to break up the ads

DominoDub

Anyone else lost Eurosport feed on Virgin Media :eek:

Back now just to see Contador with road rash !

velo.2010

Game over for Contador already? I hope not.

Boscoirl

He is back in the peloton, changing his shoes at 40kmph

Darkglasses

A Tinkoff domestique had Contactor's sweaty insole in his mouth. All in a day's work I suppose.

JK.BMC

The Tour Doctor looks like a sax player from a 70s disco band.
And he patched up Contactor with the dexterity of a fish

DominoDub

Contador maybe ok ..putting on that extra black top today may have helped protect to some degree,

dastardly00

Contador is lucky in that the race route is relatively easy until next Wednesday's stage. That isn't too bad either, Friday's stage is the first major one for the GC. How he recovers and heals in the next few days is going to be crucial.

dastardly00

5km to go!
Come on Sam!

spock.

Cav takes it!