Tour de France 2023 Tour de France, Stage 1: Bilbao - Bilbao, 182 km (Spain, Saturday, July 1)

Page 14 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Oct 4, 2020
1,828
1,996
8,680
A prologue spreads the field out a little, at least just enough to put the yellow jersey out of reach for most riders in the following sprint stages. And when I was a kid watching the TdF, there was always a prologue.

The start in Basque Country seems pretty similar to the Bretagne start 2 years ago. I mean there are always going to be crashes but some race designs increase the likelihood.

I believe that's the case this year.
When the new Thierry Marie comes along ASO will have a prolog every year.
 
Aug 28, 2021
1,597
2,068
6,680
Yeah, I felt the same, immediately…

Could it have political reasons? But I‘d guess Bahrain doesn‘t have problems with the UK…

They cannot be serious, letting Wright wear such a jersey. This clearly is the Dutch flag, and doesn‘t have anything to do with GB‘s flag…

Normally now the UCI should intervene, because otherwise now there are two riders wearing Dutch champion‘s colours, van Baarle and Wright…

Also the arms show Dutch colours on Wright‘s jersey. They cannot be serious - this cannot be true…
 
Jun 30, 2022
7,454
10,879
17,180
Yeah, I felt the same, immediately…

Could it have political reasons? But I‘d guess Bahrain doesn‘t have problems with the UK…

They cannot be serious, letting Wright wear such a jersey. This clearly is the Dutch flag, and doesn‘t have anything to do with GB‘s flag…

Normally now the UCI should intervene, because otherwise now there are two riders wearing Dutch champion‘s colours, van Baarle and Wright…

Also the arms show Dutch colours on Wright‘s jersey. They cannot be serious - this cannot be true…
What I find interesting is that this is a direct variation of their TdF jersey, not their normal everyday jersey, going by the colour scheme. It looks like they have too much money and time and have designed a jersey variant for no real reason.
 
Jul 1, 2015
6,140
5,427
23,180
It's called fashion!

Fzz3RTMWIBMFe9m
That's a San Fermin scarf. It's part of the typical Pamplonese attire during the San Fermin festivities celebrated between the 6th and the 14th of July. The yellow colour is a nod to the Tour, as the San Fermin scarf can be of any colour as long as it is red.
 
Jul 10, 2014
15,011
26,027
28,180
No number 13 in the race? Are the organisers being ridiculous (read: superstitious) or are they annoyed by numbers being put upside down (read: riders being ridiculous)?

Does that make rider 14 de-facto the 13th rider? Just like Americans having hotels and skyscrapers without the thirteenth floor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Aug 29, 2011
3,768
2,142
16,680
Statistically there is no real correlation between winning the first stage and winning the GC so I don't think we'll be able to conclude much after this stage.
 
Aug 6, 2010
6,884
6,216
23,180
'Yeah err I'm super happy to be there and err yeah will give it my best shot' - every interview.

If I had even a modicum of ability I'd be talking all sorts of mess in these interviews, someone needs to emulate all the trash talk going on during the Ashes tests at the moment.

Problem is as soon as someone deviates from the given script they get piled on for being 'arrogant'.

I miss Remco.
 
Feb 25, 2010
198
120
9,030
Yeah, I felt the same, immediately…

Could it have political reasons? But I‘d guess Bahrain doesn‘t have problems with the UK…

They cannot be serious, letting Wright wear such a jersey. This clearly is the Dutch flag, and doesn‘t have anything to do with GB‘s flag…

Normally now the UCI should intervene, because otherwise now there are two riders wearing Dutch champion‘s colours, van Baarle and Wright…

Also the arms show Dutch colours on Wright‘s jersey. They cannot be serious - this cannot be true…
The British jersey always looks like this. So that you never forget, here is a picture of Adam Blythe:tongueclosed:
Adam-Blythe-British-champion-Aqua-Blue-Sport-Matt-Brammeier-Lars-Petter-Nordhaug-pic-Aqua-Blue-Sport-1.jpg
 
Sep 12, 2022
9,016
10,289
17,180
My 2 cents for this stage:
  • Jumbo will take it slow. There are 3 weeks of racing, I don't think they'll try to make a coup on a terrain which is very likely to result in a win for Pogacar.
  • Pogacar might also take it slow because he doesn't want to make the same mistake he made last year. He knows he can easily win this stage if he goes all out, but he might be more cautious to save energy for mountain terrain on which Vingegaard might be better.
  • Due to this, we might see a small group with even WVA and MVDP in it.
  • Unless Alaphilippe destroys them all