Tour de France 2023 ***spoilers*** Warning in OP

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795870#Comment_120795870

Thats it. It's probably the amount they could fit.

Overnighting from Belgium to France is a lot easier than the trips Ineos used do to get their drugs.

dastardly00

Delighted for Cofidis to finally get a stage win after a 15 year drought.

I'd say WvA is not happy with Jonas

at1withmyself

I have no idea why Jonas would be expected to work, he is there to win the overall yellow. Wout will get his stages later so no need to panic, it's 3 weeks long.

Delighted that pidcock and Buchman attacked and made jumbo work otherwise I don't think lefay would have got his win. Delighted for him, was a courageous attack.

Overall 2 great and exciting days racing.

TheBlaaMan

Cav enjoying his last tour.....

https://twitter.com/AstanaQazTeam/status/1675251504318480390?t=PjBV8RvjA89Kkd_z6eq9FA&s=19

retalivity

MVDP nowhere again today, really disappointing showing from him the last 2 days

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120796475#Comment_120796475

In general the classics riders have missed a huge chance for a stage and a few days in yellow.

Also fair play to Adam Yates for making the most of his stint and going full yellow.

That new "green" jersey is shocking though. Very hard to pick out in the bunch.

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120796499#Comment_120796499

I like the new green jersey as a standalone, its a beautiful colour, but not as "the Green jersey" for the TDF.

eeeee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793902#Comment_120793902

Yup! With all the nicknaming abilities.

My personal fave for today was "Eddie Bosson Hagan" 😄

Squidgy Black

Calmejane, one of the Wanty riders posted a video of his front wheel full of thumbtacks after the stage, says he wasn’t the only one who suffered punctures because of it, horrible stuff

https://twitter.com/l_calmejane/status/1675549208974176257?s=46&t=EzAvU7O51qn7Pk6HLURULw

happytramp

No way should Jonas have been chasing... He won the tour last year by conserving energy while POG f#+ked around and got found out.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120796771#Comment_120796771

I know cycling doesn't really register in the banlieue but I'de say tension is pretty high as the Tour moves into France this year.

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797195#Comment_120797195

They’ll be on edge for sure, especially coming up to stage 5 in Pau, they’ve been fine so far and Bayonne will be quite, but mates over there say it’s been kicking off a fair bit in Pau

cunavalos

The commisaires have set a bit of a precedent relegating Skjelmosse and Bettiol for irregular sprinting today. It doesn't effect either of them or the outcome of the stage but sets the threshold for proper sprint stages later.

They both went for a small gap that really wasn't there and caused Carlos Rodriguez to take evasive action.

eagle eye

Stage 3

A lumpy start to the stage but pretty flat then. This is a sprinters stage.

There'll be a breakaway but it'll be small, no way the sprint trains let a big break go.

Phillipsen has a great team around him and is rightly favourite. Jakobsen and Caleb Ewan are very serious contenders and let's not forget Pedersen even though he hasn't a great sprint team with him. Groenewegen is another.

I like Phillipsen's team too much to see anybody else winning this.

CantGetNoSleep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120770370#Comment_120770370

On my French Eurosport subscription, there seems to be an hour or so highlights show at 22.30 every day, but I can only access it live, it can't be replayed on demand (I can't watch yesterday's stage now for example unless I watch the full thing). No problem with live streaming the race itself (multi audio version in English) but I'd like a longer highlights show at any time I wanted for the interesting days that I miss.

G1032

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797822#Comment_120797822

Ouch. None of that with the GCN app. Can get long or short highlights. Even when joining a live race you get to choose whether to watch live or go back to the start of coverage.

Brian?

Bayonne ham. Delicious.

I think Cavendish has a real chance today, if he gets over the cat 3 with the bunch. But I’d say Alpecin-keep your hair, will set a ferocious pace to try to drop him.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120797900#Comment_120797900

He will be in the top 10 if there are no major incidents but I don't see him winning unless there are issues with the main sprint teams. This said, last time I said he wouldn't do anything I ended up eating my casquette when he won the green jersey

retalivity

If Cav is anywhere near the top 5 today I'll be shocked

dahat

Alpecin & Inty to hammer over the climbs to get rid of Cav and Dylan G today. Ok expecting a huge last man turn from MDVP to set up Philipsen.

Squidgy Black

Seen on Twitter, didn’t notice it on the tv but Bora gone back to their regular jersey instead of their Tour edition, apparently because the colour scheme is too close to the new points jersey

De Bhál

gonna be a massive Cav love-in today. Hope he wins it, just to get it out of the way with less emphasis on him for the rest of the tour

mewso

What is this cringe on the breakaway?

De Bhál

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120798719#Comment_120798719

the team bus talk thing...it is bad alright, very bad

mewso

Anyway I'll try and be positive rather than go the ABC (anyone but cav) route. What a day if Girmay could do it.

Macy0161

I think it could be lumpy enough that they can make it hard enough that it's the classics sprinters rather than the pure sprinters. Climbing isn't finished with the categorised climbs.

lawrencesummers

With 7 points up for grabs in the first 100km and a rest day for him tomo powless will surely try and get away early.

retalivity

Why is Powless wearing red shorts, could they not find any polka-dot ones?

Mefistofelino

Because he's a man of taste and distinction?

breezy1985

If your gonna go for polka dots then you really should fekin go for polka dots.