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

[Boehmand]

Gregaard with Polkadots as a Tour target: Confirmed.

 

[Netserk]

The road goes uphill and a Dane drops the rest. Get used to it.

 

[KZD]

Uno-X already honouring their invitation to the race.

 

[Boehmand]

Ineos pulling for Pidcock, Alpecin for MvdP, Jumbo for WvA and Soudal for Alaphilippe.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Those crowds.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Any reason why the peloton are keeping the break on such a strong leash already? There is not a dangerous rider in front and they only give them 1 1/2 minute so far?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Any reason why the peloton are keeping the break on such a strong leash already? There is not a dangerous rider in front and they only give them 1 1/2 minute so far?

Everyone is very, very nervous.

 

[hayneplane]

Laporte on the donkey work early stage just shows how deep Jumbo Visma are.

 

[carlosthedwarf]

Did someone at GCN not press the right button to send it to the online feed, or is there no pre-race Breakaway from the Cube?

The description includes a mention of the Breakaway. Saw a few people asking the GCN account on twitter about it too but nothing official yet. Very strange.

 

[Boehmand]

Any reason why the peloton are keeping the break on such a strong leash already? There is not a dangerous rider in front and they only give them 1 1/2 minute so far?

Because they want the stage win and the yellow jersey... and because it's narrow roads, up and down, left and right, all day, so you don't want to give a break 5 minutes, especially because of how the last 80 K is, where many Doms won't be able to contribute to the chase..

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

Any reason why the peloton are keeping the break on such a strong leash already? There is not a dangerous rider in front and they only give them 1 1/2 minute so far?

It’s day one, the peloton are on pins and needles.

 

[Red Rick]

I wonder if Jumbo had both Van Aert and VIngegaard do a max effort in training on Cote de Pike to see how their chances stack up.

 

[Boehmand]

I wonder if Jumbo had both Van Aert and VIngegaard do a max effort in training on Cote de Pike to see how their chances stack up.

I think Van Aert is riding for the stage win, and with Pogacar announcing beforehand he would use stage 1 as a test, Vingegaard knows he'll have to go full gas up the last climb.

 

[awavey]

The description includes a mention of the Breakaway. Saw a few people asking the GCN account on twitter about it too but nothing official yet. Very strange.

probably just a technical issue, maybe the cube wasnt working

 

[RobertCrawley]

I think Van Aert is riding for the stage win, and with Pogacar announcing beforehand he would use stage 1 as a test, Vingegaard knows he'll have to go full gas up the last climb.

Yep, Jumbo might give WVA the green light. They need to keep the man happy.

 

[topcat]

20 pages already and they’ve only done 30 kms. It must be one of the greatest stages ever. It’s far too nice a day here to be indoors so I’m going to take the cotton wool out of my ears and put it into my mouth. I have nothing to contribute but that’s unlikely to stop me.

 

[Rob5091]

Jumbo keeping it fast to pressure Pog - see how he feels. This is going to be repeated tomorrow and kept up until the mountains.

 

[Rob5091]

I wonder if Jumbo had both Van Aert and VIngegaard do a max effort in training on Cote de Pike to see how their chances stack up.

More like to see how Pogacar reacts. Or maybe a re-run of Paris-Nice stage 1.

 

[gregrowlerson]

20 pages already and they’ve only done 30 kms. It must be one of the greatest stages ever. It’s far too nice a day here to be indoors so I’m going to take the cotton wool out of my ears and put it into my mouth. I have nothing to contribute but that’s unlikely to stop me.

You'll sneak away on the penultimate climb mate and take this stage.

 

[titan31]

Laporte on the donkey work early stage just shows how deep Jumbo Visma are.

Ya, surprised it wasn't Van Hooydonck. Laporte should be the guy to break things later in the stage

 

[Ricco']

Sagan already drinking...

 

[awavey]

yay I was right Carlton just confirmed the breakaway had technical issues this morning.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I wonder if Jumbo had both Van Aert and VIngegaard do a max effort in training on Cote de Pike to see how their chances stack up.

It becomes a different effort if Vivero is done at speed though.

 

[Red Rick]

The Tour de France kinda forgot about the Iron Fleet

 

[Tim Cahill]

Omar Fraile mentions so far: 3