Tour de France 2020 general thread (SPOILERS GALORE)

cunavalos

I think Pogacar is an excellent each way bet especially with all the question marks over the other contenders and his form was improving throughout the Dauphine.

Rider test results are a cause for concern, this week alone there has been 3 false positives where riders and teams have been forced to miss races only to be subsequently declared Covid Free with a follow up test.

Remember they have a two positive tests and your whole team is out policy in force too. I'd hate to see the tour won or lost like that.

breezy1985

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Remember they have a two positive tests and your whole team is out policy in force too. I'd hate to see the tour won or lost like that.

It's better than the days of having to wait after each race to see if the rider had a different kind of positive test

Tim76

Deleted User wrote: »

Remember they have a two positive tests and your whole team is out policy in force too. I'd hate to see the tour won or lost like that.

Over the course of 3 weeks it could be a serious problem.

Tim76

cunavalos wrote: »

I think Pogacar is an excellent each way bet especially with all the question marks over the other contenders and his form was improving throughout the Dauphine.

Went with Carapaz myself. Any cracks at all in Bernal (who hasn't looked great tbf) and Carapaz will be ruthless enough to take full advantage and lead the charge for Ineos.

Followed my heart for the sprinters and put a couple of euro on Sam. Debatable if he will still be in the race come Paris though given the parcour. Head is saying Van Aert.

Considering Bardet for the KOM but haven't made a final decision yet.

Any other predictions out there for yellow, green & dots?

Was thinking about the green, heres how the points will be distributed per stage, one being the most 6 being the least.

Here's a guide for the 21 stages. https://cyclingtips.com/2020/08/your-guide-to-the-2020-tour-de-france-route-jerseys-time-cuts-and-more/

Macy0161

Tim76 wrote: »

Over the course of 3 weeks it could be a serious problem.

Particularly given the numbers of false positives (which according to an interview with Larry Warbasse on The Cycling Podcast are actually less common that false negatives!)

breezy1985

Tim76 wrote: »

Went with Carapaz myself. Any cracks at all in Bernal (who hasn't looked great tbf) and Carapaz will be ruthless enough to take full advantage and lead the charge for Ineos.

Followed my heart for the sprinters and put a couple of euro on Sam. Debatable if he will still be in the race come Paris though given the parcour. Head is saying Van Aert.

Considering Bardet for the KOM but haven't made a final decision yet.

Any other predictions out there for yellow, green & dots?

Sam seems like a smart rider and if he does go for green he won't let Sagan shoot off alone hoovering up the intermediate points. Van Aert is another man who would be well able to survive in a break for the hilly intermediates too.

Day 1 has a good chance of crosswinds so hopefully the DQ team will give Sam an advantage there and he can take Yellow for a day. It's been a while since we have had a geansaí buí

retalivity

velo.2010 wrote: »

Imagine Pinot is in yellow going into the final week and covid is on the rise again. The right thing to do is cancel the race, but would organisers pull the plug on the first French victory in donkeys years?

Surely they would finish the race there and then with the final positions as is, and Pinot wins! They even have a precedent from last year on ending stages early for safety concerns.

CramCycle

retalivity wrote: »

Surely they would finish the race there and then with the final positions as is, and Pinot wins! They even have a precedent from last year on ending stages early for safety concerns.

That would have been my reading of it too.

breezy1985

retalivity wrote: »

Surely they would finish the race there and then with the final positions as is, and Pinot wins! They even have a precedent from last year on ending stages early for safety concerns.

Yep whoever wears yellow when it stops would win. It has happened in smaller races this year. It's gonna make for crazy racing as no one is gonna wanna let a rival or breakaway guy have. Single stage in yellow

CramCycle

breezy1985 wrote: »

Yep whoever wears yellow when it stops would win. It has happened in smaller races this year. It's gonna make for crazy racing as no one is gonna wanna let a rival or breakaway guy have. Single stage in yellow

Turning pro racing into club league racing, this will be good. You won't see many waiting on a fallen yellow jersey now.

Macy0161

breezy1985 wrote: »

Yep whoever wears yellow when it stops would win. It has happened in smaller races this year. It's gonna make for crazy racing as no one is gonna wanna let a rival or breakaway guy have. Single stage in yellow

You'd wonder if this is the TJV thinking - sending Roglic in great form for the first half (assuming it's a bit of bluff with the "injuries"), and Dumoulin building for the second half.

Multiple leaders looks the way to go - Roglic and Bernal up the road, Dumoulin and Carapaz just sit in on whoever is forced to chase...

MPFGLB

I am hoping for Pinot, Quintana and Landa in that order

Not a fan of the trains or the ketone boys ...


But I have sneaky feeling about Carapaz

breezy1985

MPFGLB wrote: »

I am hoping for Pinot, Quintana and Landa in that order

Not a fan of the trains or the ketone boys ...


But I have sneaky feeling about Carapaz

Carapaz on paper is a second level GC man and nowhere near good enough to win the Tour but seeing as this is the team that can click fingers and win the Tour with an average Welsh classics rider any thing is possible.

As for your hopes well Tibo and Nairo would be perfect

retalivity

Id love to see Pinot win but he has that uncanny french knack of having a disaster befall him when he is going well.
Crash, injury, illness, caught behind in crosswinds, descents, feeding incorrectly etc. This year i'l go with something ridiculous like a bee sting.

Gamma1

Yes I too would like to see Pinot win. He was unlucky with injury last yr. He is also showing good form this yr. Roglic is the one to beat though as his current form is phenomenal. I would love to have seen Remco Evandepuil there as he is potentially the next Eddy Merck. He is slowly recovering from that awful accident in Italy. Finally, I would like to Sam Bennett win a stage - but will be tough against DeMarre who is flying.

dastardly00

Gamma1 wrote: »

Yes I too would like to see Pinot win. He was unlucky with injury last yr. He is also showing good form this yr. Roglic is the one to beat though as his current form is phenomenal. I would love to have seen Remco Evandepuil there as he is potentially the next Eddy Merck. He is slowly recovering from that awful accident in Italy. Finally, I would like to Sam Bennett win a stage - but will be tough against DeMarre who is flying.

Arnaud Demare hasn't been selected for TdF

dastardly00

Just in case you missed the launch of the Ineos Grenadiers... :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y985FlVAG9A

Daroxtar

Aqua blue jerseys?

Gamma1

dastardly00 wrote: »

Arnaud Demare hasn't been selected for TdF

Thank you - I assumed he was a dead cert - a serious omission by FDJ as they don't win much.

De Bhál

working from home and TDF on the TV

Yes.

dastardly00

Gamma1 wrote: »

Thank you - I assumed he was a dead cert - a serious omission by FDJ as they don't win much.

Very serious omission indeed. If he was included he could very well take the yellow jersey on Stage 1. He could take some of the pressure off Pinot too

Macy0161

Pinot tops my wish list, but after that I've always liked Dumolin. Actually, I like TJV - "ketone boys" is very simplistic of the way they've built their structures and training methods over the last few years imo. There's a great Cycling Podcast special from last year called "chasing sky" about it.

Watched the (very non-preview in the end) GCN World of Cycling this morning - they discussed Demare and made the same point as @dastardly00 of being able to take pressure of Pinot. Choose to watch the Spanish Nationals earlier in the week, but the French nationals looked some race at the end.

Gamma1

Saw the French championships last week-end as I have Equipe channel. Yes DeMarre cleaned up with Brian Coquillard and then Alaphillippe.

mr spuckler

De Bhál wrote: »

working from home and TDF on the TV

Yes.

TV wall mounting bracket arrived today. TV from the spare room is going to be hung in the home office for the coming months

Tim76

mr spuckler wrote: »

TV wall mounting bracket arrived today. TV from the spare room is going to be hung in the home office for the coming months

Will be adding a 3rd screen (iPad) to my home office set up. Must remember to kill the sound before any Teams calls - hopefully people will have the decency not to call me during any bunch sprints!

Tim76

retalivity wrote: »

Id love to see Pinot win but he has that uncanny french knack of having a disaster befall him when he is going well.
Crash, injury, illness, caught behind in crosswinds, descents, feeding incorrectly etc. This year i'l go with something ridiculous like a bee sting.

Or something less ridiculous like coronavirus.

Really hope the race goes the distance.

Macy0161

Tim76 wrote: »

Will be adding a 3rd screen (iPad) to my home office set up. Must remember to kill the sound before any Teams calls - hopefully people will have the decency not to call me during any bunch sprints!

Home 'puter into the second monitor for the win! Never thought I'd be thankful for HP insisting on Display Port, thus leaving HDMI input free.

breezy1985

Tim76 wrote: »

Or something less ridiculous like coronavirus.

Really hope the race goes the distance.

Or he does win but only after JV and Ineos are kicked out for covid and the Ineos fans cry about it for the next 10 yes like with Nibali