The Tour de France, by far, is my favorite annual sporting event. Beyond the excitement of watching the actual race (which, yes, I realize cycling is a bit of an acquired taste), part of the enjoyment comes from seeing the various personalities and racing styles unfold, the crowd reactions, and the simple backdrop of France itself, one of the world's most gorgeous countries. All the while, narrated (at least in the US), by Phil Liggett, one of the best announcers in sports.
This year, we've had a bit of a rough start. Stage I was marred by probably the worst act of fan negligence I have ever seen in a professional cycling race:
I can't find the clip, but another equally brutal crash later on in the same stage also took out most of the peleton. Previous multiple Tour de France winner Chris Froome of the UK barely limped back to finish the stage, and one of the outside favorites to win, Switzerland's Mark Hirshci, was all but eliminated from competition after getting tossed into the shrubbery.
But France's Julian Alaphilippe, the current world champion, demonstrated why he's one of the world's most popular cyclists:
Stage 2 saw Dutch cyclist Matthew van der Poel put in an effort for the ages to take the stage win and the yellow jersey:
And stage 3 yesterday was just... ugly. Everything that could go wrong for the several of the contenders did.
First, former winner Geraint Thomas from the UK crashed hard on what should have been a relaxing stretch of pavement. He likely separated his shoulder, but miraculously, he still managed to finish the stage. He lost time, but not an insurmountable amount.
Then, last year's runner-up and the winner of the Vuelta a Espana, Slovenia's Primož Roglič took a tough spill. He finished too finished the stage, but lost enough time that he is effectively now out of contention for the yellow jersey:
As if this wasn't enough, a few minutes later, several riders hit the deck on a fast curve(at 1:38 on the linked video):
No contenders went down on this crash, but last year's winner, the remarkable young Slovenian Tadej Pogačar was forced to slow down to avoid the fallen, which ended up costing him crucial time against his main rivals.
And finally (merciful God, make is stop!), on the stage's final sprint, Caleb "The Pocket Rocket" Ewan from Australia clipped the wheels of perennial green jersey winner Peter Sagan. Both went down, but whereas Sagan was able to quickly get up and finish the stage, Ewan is out of the Tour with a fractured collar bone:
So, some of the pre-race favorites are essentially out of realistic competition already. I haven't watched today's stage, yet but because it's a sprint stage, unless someone else went down or crashed out, the overall general classification probably hasn't changed much. Mathew van der Poel currently wears yellow, although he isn't expected to keep it once the Tour enters the Alps next week. With Roglič and Thomas both banged up and losing time, Chris Froome not in peak condition, and Pogačar in a bit of a hole, this looks like a huge opportunity for France's beloved Alaphillippe and Ecuador's Richard Carapaz, both of whom avoided yesterday's crashes and maintained or improved their overall race positions.
From the US, we once again don't really have any contenders this year. Now that Roglič is essentially out of realistic competition, this might free up his teammate Sepp Kuss to take some chances for a stage victory, but I have a feeling America will likely continue our post-Armstrong drought.
Any other fans out there with an intersecting Disney- Tour de France interest?
This year, we've had a bit of a rough start. Stage I was marred by probably the worst act of fan negligence I have ever seen in a professional cycling race:
I can't find the clip, but another equally brutal crash later on in the same stage also took out most of the peleton. Previous multiple Tour de France winner Chris Froome of the UK barely limped back to finish the stage, and one of the outside favorites to win, Switzerland's Mark Hirshci, was all but eliminated from competition after getting tossed into the shrubbery.
But France's Julian Alaphilippe, the current world champion, demonstrated why he's one of the world's most popular cyclists:
Stage 2 saw Dutch cyclist Matthew van der Poel put in an effort for the ages to take the stage win and the yellow jersey:
And stage 3 yesterday was just... ugly. Everything that could go wrong for the several of the contenders did.
First, former winner Geraint Thomas from the UK crashed hard on what should have been a relaxing stretch of pavement. He likely separated his shoulder, but miraculously, he still managed to finish the stage. He lost time, but not an insurmountable amount.
Then, last year's runner-up and the winner of the Vuelta a Espana, Slovenia's Primož Roglič took a tough spill. He finished too finished the stage, but lost enough time that he is effectively now out of contention for the yellow jersey:
As if this wasn't enough, a few minutes later, several riders hit the deck on a fast curve(at 1:38 on the linked video):
No contenders went down on this crash, but last year's winner, the remarkable young Slovenian Tadej Pogačar was forced to slow down to avoid the fallen, which ended up costing him crucial time against his main rivals.
And finally (merciful God, make is stop!), on the stage's final sprint, Caleb "The Pocket Rocket" Ewan from Australia clipped the wheels of perennial green jersey winner Peter Sagan. Both went down, but whereas Sagan was able to quickly get up and finish the stage, Ewan is out of the Tour with a fractured collar bone:
So, some of the pre-race favorites are essentially out of realistic competition already. I haven't watched today's stage, yet but because it's a sprint stage, unless someone else went down or crashed out, the overall general classification probably hasn't changed much. Mathew van der Poel currently wears yellow, although he isn't expected to keep it once the Tour enters the Alps next week. With Roglič and Thomas both banged up and losing time, Chris Froome not in peak condition, and Pogačar in a bit of a hole, this looks like a huge opportunity for France's beloved Alaphillippe and Ecuador's Richard Carapaz, both of whom avoided yesterday's crashes and maintained or improved their overall race positions.
From the US, we once again don't really have any contenders this year. Now that Roglič is essentially out of realistic competition, this might free up his teammate Sepp Kuss to take some chances for a stage victory, but I have a feeling America will likely continue our post-Armstrong drought.
Any other fans out there with an intersecting Disney- Tour de France interest?
Last edited:
But I don't remember who won. It was fun to watch.
