Professional Cycling 2021 - A Belgian, a Dutchman and a Frenchman rides into a classic
06-01-2021
, 01:32 PM
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, 01:38 PM
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, 08:14 AM
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, 10:34 AM
06-08-2021
, 01:03 PM
06-22-2021
, 05:13 PM
Saturday summer officially begins when the 108th edition of the biggest cycling race in the world sets off in Brest in Brittany, France (should actually have started in Denmark, but due to Copenhagen hosting Euro Championships games, the Danish start has been postponed to next year).
The Tour de France is where legends are made, where the greatest champions of the sport rise and fall, three weeks of grueling racing awaits those (un)fortunate enough to have been selected for this strenuous task before most of them make it to Paris. In those 3 weeks, new, completely unpredictable stories will have been written and unfolded, riders will have won our hearts and our sympathy. This is part what makes cycling more than just a competition and more than a sport like so many others.
Last year we witnessed the impossible when Roglic, who had seemed in control for the entire race, lost the yellow jersey on the "final" (technically penultimate) test, a time trial where his compatriot Pogacar defied the capacity of human physical performance and crushed Roglic and everyone else and claimed the overall win for himself.
The Combatants
There are as always many different competitions in a Grand Tour: who will win the race, who will dominate the sprints, who will pull a Søren Kragh Andersen (who the hell is Vinokourov?) and cheat the sprinters out of a stage or two.
The Three Musketeers
We have the troublesome trio that the thread title is dedicated to all at the race, and with the first two days resembling spring classics terrain, it seems very likely that we could have one of these three guys in yellow.
I'm talking, of course, about Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and world champion Julian Alaphilippe. These three riders have been a treat for cycling over their meteoric rise over the last couple of years, where they have won a ridiculous amount of races.
They will all have good chances on the first two stages (assuming WvA is allowed to race for it).
The sprinters
The quick men of the bunch have always fascinated me. They spend >99% of the race doing nothing, but the whole team's success depends entirely on what happens in those final seconds of the stages.
Feels like there aren't too many super top tier sprinters who also have elite teams (sorry Cavendish), so we might see a lot of different riders win on the flats.
Among those that must be mentioned are:
Caleb Ewan, "The Pocket Rocket". Probably the quickest man in the peloton, but he's not very big and sometimes his team has let him down, so his position ends up being too bad to sprint it home. He's won 5 stages the past 2 years and won 2 at the Giro too, and he will look to add more victories to his already impressive palmares.
Arnaud Demare had a great season last year but didn't race the Tour. I used to think he was a little bit below the top sprinters, but last year he really showed that he is among the best.
Finally I want to highlight one of the greatest sprinters of all time who makes his return to the race where he has won an incredible 30 stages. Mark Cavendish, The Manx Missile, is back at the Tour. It's been 5 years since his last win in this race, and those years have not treated him well. He was out sick for a long while, and until his (quadruple) wins in Turkey this year, it had been more than 3 years since he had won any race. It's really great to see him again, the man breathes cycling, and I hope he has a successful Tour - it would be incredible if he could win a stage.
Other sprinters of note: Sagan, Pedersen, Bol, Merlier, Philipsen, Colbrelli and many others.
The Favorites
The defending champion Tadej Pogacar will be looking to repeat his sensational win last year. Last year he was a one man army, this year, on paper, his UAE team looks stronger, and if he can find the form of last year, he will be difficult to beat (mainly due to the fact that Mark Padun is not racing the Tour).
His biggest threat in my opinion will be Primoz Roglic. An incredible cyclist who just keeps on winning. However, the biggest title has eluded him, and he will be looking for payback after his soul crushing defeat last year.
This year he's not raced any races the past 2 months leading up to the Tour, and time will tell if this rather unusual form of preparation is going to prove beneficial. Alongside him there is a ridiculously stacked Jumbo-Visma team.
Finally we have this monstrosity (I was going to add the heads of the trio to a picture of a three-headed hydra, but I'm lazy, so you'll have to imagine it).
INEOS know better than anyone how to win a Grand Tour. They have dominated the world of cycling for a decade, winning most Tours, with 4 different winners, and also winning multiple Giros and Vueltas.
The captain going into the race will be Geraint Thomas, but if he has an offday, Richie Porte and Richard Carapaz are ready to take over, and super domestique Tao Geoghegan Hart also proved last year he has what it takes over three weeks. INEOS' strength lies in their insanely stacked squad and their usually impeccable strategy.
Honorable mention of Chris Froome, who seems like he won't come truly back after his devastating crash a couple of years ago, but frankly I'm not sure Froome could do anything anymore that would surprise me, including somehow rising at the Tour, although it seems extremely unlikely that he'll play a big part this year.
And that concludes this Tour preview as I'm tired of writing, but there are so many more facets of the race one could delve into, so many other riders that deserve a mention, but I'm sure we'll get a chance to talk about it all along the way.
The Tour de France is where legends are made, where the greatest champions of the sport rise and fall, three weeks of grueling racing awaits those (un)fortunate enough to have been selected for this strenuous task before most of them make it to Paris. In those 3 weeks, new, completely unpredictable stories will have been written and unfolded, riders will have won our hearts and our sympathy. This is part what makes cycling more than just a competition and more than a sport like so many others.
Last year we witnessed the impossible when Roglic, who had seemed in control for the entire race, lost the yellow jersey on the "final" (technically penultimate) test, a time trial where his compatriot Pogacar defied the capacity of human physical performance and crushed Roglic and everyone else and claimed the overall win for himself.
The Combatants
There are as always many different competitions in a Grand Tour: who will win the race, who will dominate the sprints, who will pull a Søren Kragh Andersen (who the hell is Vinokourov?) and cheat the sprinters out of a stage or two.
The Three Musketeers
We have the troublesome trio that the thread title is dedicated to all at the race, and with the first two days resembling spring classics terrain, it seems very likely that we could have one of these three guys in yellow.
I'm talking, of course, about Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and world champion Julian Alaphilippe. These three riders have been a treat for cycling over their meteoric rise over the last couple of years, where they have won a ridiculous amount of races.
They will all have good chances on the first two stages (assuming WvA is allowed to race for it).
The sprinters
The quick men of the bunch have always fascinated me. They spend >99% of the race doing nothing, but the whole team's success depends entirely on what happens in those final seconds of the stages.
Feels like there aren't too many super top tier sprinters who also have elite teams (sorry Cavendish), so we might see a lot of different riders win on the flats.
Among those that must be mentioned are:
Caleb Ewan, "The Pocket Rocket". Probably the quickest man in the peloton, but he's not very big and sometimes his team has let him down, so his position ends up being too bad to sprint it home. He's won 5 stages the past 2 years and won 2 at the Giro too, and he will look to add more victories to his already impressive palmares.
Arnaud Demare had a great season last year but didn't race the Tour. I used to think he was a little bit below the top sprinters, but last year he really showed that he is among the best.
Finally I want to highlight one of the greatest sprinters of all time who makes his return to the race where he has won an incredible 30 stages. Mark Cavendish, The Manx Missile, is back at the Tour. It's been 5 years since his last win in this race, and those years have not treated him well. He was out sick for a long while, and until his (quadruple) wins in Turkey this year, it had been more than 3 years since he had won any race. It's really great to see him again, the man breathes cycling, and I hope he has a successful Tour - it would be incredible if he could win a stage.
Other sprinters of note: Sagan, Pedersen, Bol, Merlier, Philipsen, Colbrelli and many others.
The Favorites
The defending champion Tadej Pogacar will be looking to repeat his sensational win last year. Last year he was a one man army, this year, on paper, his UAE team looks stronger, and if he can find the form of last year, he will be difficult to beat (mainly due to the fact that Mark Padun is not racing the Tour).
His biggest threat in my opinion will be Primoz Roglic. An incredible cyclist who just keeps on winning. However, the biggest title has eluded him, and he will be looking for payback after his soul crushing defeat last year.
This year he's not raced any races the past 2 months leading up to the Tour, and time will tell if this rather unusual form of preparation is going to prove beneficial. Alongside him there is a ridiculously stacked Jumbo-Visma team.
Finally we have this monstrosity (I was going to add the heads of the trio to a picture of a three-headed hydra, but I'm lazy, so you'll have to imagine it).
INEOS know better than anyone how to win a Grand Tour. They have dominated the world of cycling for a decade, winning most Tours, with 4 different winners, and also winning multiple Giros and Vueltas.
The captain going into the race will be Geraint Thomas, but if he has an offday, Richie Porte and Richard Carapaz are ready to take over, and super domestique Tao Geoghegan Hart also proved last year he has what it takes over three weeks. INEOS' strength lies in their insanely stacked squad and their usually impeccable strategy.
Honorable mention of Chris Froome, who seems like he won't come truly back after his devastating crash a couple of years ago, but frankly I'm not sure Froome could do anything anymore that would surprise me, including somehow rising at the Tour, although it seems extremely unlikely that he'll play a big part this year.
And that concludes this Tour preview as I'm tired of writing, but there are so many more facets of the race one could delve into, so many other riders that deserve a mention, but I'm sure we'll get a chance to talk about it all along the way.
06-22-2021
, 10:09 PM
06-25-2021
, 01:31 PM
06-26-2021
, 07:08 AM