Friday’s time trial from Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome could prove crucial but two huge mountain stages before then may be pivotal for Chris Froome and coThe gaps in the Tour are small but nothing has yet been seen on the scale of the four monstrous climbs that await on Wednesday and Thursday, all over 2,000m in altitude and, in the case of the Croix de Fer and Galibier, of a length we haven’t seen in the race so far. Chris Froome and his team have only to watch the rest, while grabbing what time they can close to the finish, because on paper the Briton is the strongest time triallist so can bank on gaining time on Saturday in Marseille. Thus,...
Remembering the British rider who died on the climb 50 years ago would show the Tour can accept both sides of its past without condoningAs one cycles up Mont Ventoux, the 2,110m high “Giant of Provence”, impressions pile on another like the limestone boulders that make up the summit of the “bald mountain”: the heat, the gradient, the views; the lack of hairpins on what is largely a straight road up a mountainside, the moonscape after leaving the treeline; the sweat in one’s face, the ache in legs and feet and backside – and the energy gel wrappers.Looking at the road as one tries to keep turning the pedals, one passes the wrappers one by one – at a rough...
Even by the standards of modern public life continuing to be Team Sky chief takes some front and there is something mesmeric about his total lack of regretDoes Sir Dave Brailsford intentionally model the tone of his public utterances on Nigel Farage speeches to the European parliament? That is certainly the effect he achieves. The Team Sky principal has had what most would regard as an “awkward” year, yet does not appear to have moderated his public persona one iota. Rather, he seems to have amplified it. Perhaps Sir Dave applies his famous “marginal gains” philosophy even to the business of being bumptious. Perhaps he is simply never satisfied, always finding new ways to be just that little bit more...
The Tour has lost its two biggest personalities in one crash but even if Sagan did not mean to fell Mark Cavendish, sprinters have raced on the edge for too longPeter Sagan’s exclusion from the Tour de France for putting Mark Cavendish into the barriers close to the finish line at Vittel was the highest profile disqualification from the Tour de France since the entire Festina team were sent home in 1998 amidst one of the biggest doping scandals in the history of cycling.Given Sagan’s profile and the fact he was likely to take the overall green jersey for a record sixth consecutive year, it was a huge decision and one which merits the intense debate around it. Related: Mark...
In unveiling a new type of cycling skin suit at the start of the Tour, Team Sky are both within the rules and, more crucially, making their rivals uncomfortableTeam Sky are no strangers to controversy but the turbulence around their use of the Vortex skin suit, with its panels that enhance airflow past the arms and shoulders, is something they should embrace. There should be no hesitation in criticising Sky when it comes to jiffy bags and triamcinolone but in this particular area, they appear to be in the right and they are doing precisely what they – and all teams that have the resources and backing to so do – should be doing: pushing the boundaries of what is...