Yes, the ultimate stroke of luck though came a couple of years ago when the SKY leader Chris Froome had to retire from the race. His number two at the time, Geraint Thomas, was then able to take on the roll as team leader, and went on to win it!!
Tour de France 2021
- Thread starter esoxlucius
- Start date
I am late to the game this year but I watched today and yesterday. Yesterday (stage 11) was cool as it went through a bunch of towns and villages that I had visited in 2019, during that crazy heat wave . L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue , Gourdes and Mt. Ventoux are really cool , beautiful places with some brutal, subhuman climbing.
EDIT.... I've watched stages 10, 11, and 12.
EDIT.... I've watched stages 10, 11, and 12.
I thought all the english were watching the Euro 2020/21 and drinking pints while singing 3 lions repeatedly?
You must be the only one watching the cycling!
You must be the only one watching the cycling!
I have been watching football and have become more interested in it as the tournament has progressed. England are in Sunday's final against a very strong Italian side who are on a thirty odd game unbeaten run.
I find it very difficult to get overly excited regarding the international football scene, I guess I'm not that patriotic, that has always been the case. Club football on the other hand, I am very passionate and vocal when watching my team, Manchester United, who I have followed since 1976.
If England beat Italy on Sunday, great, but I won't be partying, and if they lose, I certainly won't feel depressed about it either.
I have been getting up at 5am to watch all the england games, a bit of loyalty to all my family over there and its good to see how excited all the english are about the possibility of "it coming home"
I really enjoyed last weekends game as all my wifes family are ukranian and to see them crash and burn was very amusing.
The italian community here is really into it too, there were a few arrests the other day for some of them setting flares off in the middle of the city, its funny how people get so involved in a sport tournament that we arent even participating in on the other side of the world. Its all good fun really, theres even the mcgregor UFC fight this weekend and an aussie in the wimblleton womens final so lots of sport if thats your thing.
I used to like watching the tour de france in my single days, for some reason late at night they would show aerial/drone footage of the race and beautiful scenery with classical or chilled techno playing and have cooking segments for the different villages they passed through. It was pretty strange as there was no commentary and you really had no idea about what was going on in the race but it was a chilled out way to pass an hour before bed.
As much as this tournament disinterests me personally I can't deny that it has been a fantastic and very welcome distraction to the whole covid thing. So from that perspective alone Englands, so far, successful run has been great for the nation, it's give the vast majority a much needed boost.
When I was younger the cycling coverage on TV was sparse. We didn't have the amount of channels we have now and on the rare occasions it was on, like you said, it was on at stupid o'clock. It wasn't until the emergence of a cocky American in the peloton, who went by the name of Lance Armstrong, that I became really interested in watching the sport on TV. His attitude, his ability, his recovery from cancer all played a part in me becoming attached to this guy, I loved him.
And then of course, over the years, everything unravelled, and his super human ability on the bike was exposed. But I still love him, a legend of the sport, but of course, to most, for all the wrong reasons, lol.
When I was younger the cycling coverage on TV was sparse. We didn't have the amount of channels we have now and on the rare occasions it was on, like you said, it was on at stupid o'clock. It wasn't until the emergence of a cocky American in the peloton, who went by the name of Lance Armstrong, that I became really interested in watching the sport on TV. His attitude, his ability, his recovery from cancer all played a part in me becoming attached to this guy, I loved him.
And then of course, over the years, everything unravelled, and his super human ability on the bike was exposed. But I still love him, a legend of the sport, but of course, to most, for all the wrong reasons, lol.
Congratulations to Mark Cavendish for equalling the great Eddy Merckx record of 34 stage wins in the tour de France. There are still some sprint finishes to go yet in this year's tour, most notably the last stage in Paris, so there's a strong possibility he'll even surpass the great mans long standing record.
Congratulations to Tadej Pogacar, the 22 year old Slovenian has won his 2nd Tour de France and he has only entered it twice! Great great things to come from this young man. I predict, due to his very young age, that he will surpass the five titles each held by previous TDF legends, Anquetil, Indurain, Hinault and the great Eddy Merckx.
Sadly though, Mark Cavendish, drawn on 34 Tour de France victories with Eddy Merckx, couldn't win his record breaking 35 in today's final stage. Instead victory went to the Belgian, Wout van Aert.
Sadly though, Mark Cavendish, drawn on 34 Tour de France victories with Eddy Merckx, couldn't win his record breaking 35 in today's final stage. Instead victory went to the Belgian, Wout van Aert.
How much a Tour de France bike costs depends a lot on the technology, innovation, materials, and components of the bike. These bike makers use electronic gears, this type of gear is more reliable and the battery only needs to be changed infrequently, often accompanied by some serious horsepower and a classic 53/39T chainset. In addition, the cassette was moved to the 11-speed group. Today's Tour de France bikes also have a chain catcher for backup in case the chain falls off the chain.
