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Highlights of Stage 20 of the Tour de France
Today was the last opportunity for Nairo Quintana (Movistar) to try and drop Chris Froome (Team Sky) and take over the yellow jersey. 160 riders kined up at the start of the short stage in Modane, with Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) attacking from the gun. He was soon joined by Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale-Garmin) Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis). Their...
When Fausto Coppi Won on Alpe d’Huez (VIDEO)
Today's stage of the Tour de France will finish on the iconic climb of Alpe d'Huez. It is one of the most used climbs in the race, but it wasn't until 1952 that the Tour first included it. A consortium of businesses who had opened hotels at the ski resort at the summit invited the Tour organisers to visit...
Tour de France Stage 20 Details
The penultimate stage of the Tour from Modane to Alpe d'Huez was originally supposed to cover a different route. However, due to a landslide, the race will cross the Col de la Croix de Fer again, instead of the Col du Galibier. It's a very short stage at just 110kms, but that doesn't mean that significant time gaps can't be...
Tour de France Stage 19 Details
Today's nineteenth stage from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire - Les Sybelles starts off with a climb, the Category one climb of Col du Chaussy. For any riders really suffering, it could be a long day. If they're dropped on this first climb, then they could struggle to make the time cut. We can probably expect to see a large group...
“There are plenty of ways to cheat” – Antoine Vayer on Off the Ball
Antoine Vayer has appeared on the Off the Ball radio show where he has discussed Chris Froome's performance in the Tour de France, a possibility change in mentality in the peloton and also how Lance Armstrong could possibly be used to help clean up the sport through his knowledge of how to beat the system. The Frenchman is a...
Peter Sagan inspired by The Wolf of Wall Street
It has to be said that Peter Sagan is making a big impact on this year's Tour de France. The green jersey wearer has been on the attack on numerous stages, and has come second in a remarkable five stages. His most recent second-placed finish was at Gap, and at the end of that sixteenth stage, Sagan was seen...
Drone Footage of Lacets de Montvernier
The climb of Lacets de Montevernier will feature in today's eighteenth stage of the Tour de France from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Amazingly, it's the first time that the climb has featured in the Tour. The climb is made up of eighteen hairpins and is spectacular. It's only 3.3km long but has an average gradient of 7.8%, with a maximum...
Tour de France Stage 18 Details
The second of the Alpine stages of the Tour de France sees the riders take in seven categorised climbs along the route from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Amongst the climbs to be negotiated is the Hors Categorie Col du Glandon. There are going to be a lot of tired legs in the Tour at this stage, and there will be absolutely...
“I went on until I was completely empty until I literally had nothing left” Sam Bennett
Sam Bennett withdrew from the Tour de France and he later revealed that he had been hampered due to his illness, but that he was pleased with how far he had gotten. He said on the team's website: "It was never going to be an easy task, even if I was at full health. I think the lack of preparation...
Highlights of Stage 17 of the Tour de France
Today's 17th stage of the Tour de France from Dignes-les-Bains to Pra Loup was action-packed. There were withdrawals, attacks by the big names and crashes. The first big story from the day was the withdrawal from the race of Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) who had been sitting in third place overall. At the front of the race, Simon Geschke...
Sam Bennett drops out of the Tour de France
Sam Bennett, who had been sitting in Lanterne Rouge position in the Tour de France, has unfortunately had to abandon the race today. His Bora-Argon 18 team posted the news a short time ago. He's not the only rider who has dropped out, as Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) has also been forced to abandon, with race radio reporting...
Dimension Data Statistics from the halfway point of the Tour
Dimension Data collect between 1.5 million and 2.5 million data records during each stage. With all that information to hand they have produced this great infographic from the first eleven stages of the Tour. The info includes distanced traveled, average speed of the riders on each stage, highest average speed by a stage winner and much more. Scroll...
“How has this guy transformed into one of the greatest riders of all time?” Paul Kimmage on Chris Froome
Paul Kimmage has spoken on the Off the Ball radio show about the questions that surround Team Sky and Tour de France race leader Chris Froome. In the interview, he's asked about the data which has been released about Chris Froome's performance on the stage to Plateau de Beille. While he doesn't specifically discuss the data as he acknowledges...
Tour de France Stage 17 Details
The Tour enters the Alps today for the first of four mountainous stages. Today's stage from Digne-les-Bains to Pra Loup is possibly the easiest of the four though. Along the way, the riders will face five categorised climbs: Km 40.0 - Col des Lèques 6 kilometre-long climb at 5.3% - category 3 Km 67.0 - Col de Toutes Aures 6.1 kilometre-long...
“There’s still a long way to go in this Tour and we’ll give everything to win” Nairo Quintana
Nairo Quintana, who sits in second place on GC in the Tour, has discussed his performance so far in the race and his ambitions for the remaining few days. At a rest day press conference, he said: "Finishing runner-up wouldn't be a failure for me, rather a huge honour, but there's still a long way to go in this Tour...
BMC Racing – Before and After the Cobbles
Dutch photographers Jeroen Halverstad and Nina Geurds of Plan78 Fotographie came up with the idea for an interesting project recently. They decided to take photographs of the BMC team before and after the recent stage in the Tour de France over the cobbled sectors in Northern France. They describe how the idea came about below: Modern cycling has experienced some...