Tour de France Tour de France 2020

[Lequack]

I can’t tell who any of them are.

It's the "Totor à vélo " sculpture.

Source (Google translated):

Nice: hommage aux victimes de l’attentat du 14 juillet 2016 et manifestations artistiques ce 25 août à l'occasion du départ du Tour de France - Destimed

Du 27 au 31 août prochains, la Ville de Nice accueillera le Grand Départ du Tour de France 2020, devenant ainsi la capitale mondiale du cyclisme. A quelques

destimed.fr

...
From August 27 to 31, the City of Nice will host the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2020, thus becoming the cycling capital of the world. A few days before this great event, three important moments are scheduled for Tuesday, August 25 in the presence of Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice, President of the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis, Deputy President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region and Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France.
...
Then, at 10:15 am, the “Totor à Vélo” sculpture will be unveiled, as well as the new developments around the cycle path in the presence of the artist Bolongaro. Stéphane Bolongaro, alias "Totor" from the name of his last and already very famous creation is a Nice artist who made a career following the example of two geniuses from the Nice school: Arman and Sosno. It was in 2015 that Totor the dog was born. As part of the Grand Départ, he made a polyester sculpture of Totor on a bicycle. This is visible from the road as well as from the cycle path.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

which team will be the 3rd force in GC?
Bora? EF? UAE? Astana?

 

[bob.a.feet]

which team will be the 3rd force in GC?
Bora? EF? UAE? Astana?

Cofidis.

 

[pink_jersey]

which team will be the 3rd force in GC?
Bora? EF? UAE? Astana?

It really depends who is the best leader from those teams.
I really rate Bahrein team for TdF. Astana I don't. And I also don't rate Lopez. Fulgsang-Vlasov combo would've been much better.
I would say that one of Bahrein, FdJ and Bora. EF is really strong with Uran, Higuita and Dani Martinez but I don't rate them over Pinot, Landa or Buchmann(if fit).

 

[CyclistAbi]

Tour de France 2020: The contenders

Our final form ranking ahead of the race start

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[topcat]

which team will be the 3rd force in GC?
Bora? EF? UAE? Astana?

Arkea

 

[yaco]

First time that Mitchelton Scott team for the TDF features no Aussie riders, though there are two New Zealanders.

 

[Ranagazoo]

which team will be the 3rd force in GC?
Bora? EF? UAE? Astana?

In terms of climbing I'd say Bahrain. But if I were any of those teams I wouldn't bother trying to make mountain trains and pace the team leader, Ineos and Jumbo will be doing all that. Other teams should look at getting as many men into breaks as possible

 

[Jungle Cycle]

which team will be the 3rd force in GC?
Bora? EF? UAE? Astana?

i'll go with Bora..
Felix + Muhlberger are solid and a really good Kamna will be there at the pointy end for Buchmann..

 

[Leinster]

In terms of climbing I'd say Bahrain. But if I were any of those teams I wouldn't bother trying to make mountain trains and pace the team leader, Ineos and Jumbo will be doing all that. Other teams should look at getting as many men into breaks as possible

Yeah, Arkea, Bahrain and UAE should be sending guys up the road early, and then hoping Nairo/Landa/Pogacar can get separation and bridge across.

 

[Tonton]

A case can e made for FdJ: Gaudu was last year's best dom, finished 13th. Madouas led the team at Il giro, finished 13th. Molard got a top-15 (14th) as Tibo's dom at La '18 Vuelta. Reichenbach, as a dom was 14 that the '16 Tour, 15th at the '17 Giro and 17th at last year's Tour. Four doms with top-15 GT credentials, that's some depth...

 

[RedheadDane]

Gaudu was last year's best dom, finished 13th.

And by that he won the best young rider competition for the riders not named Egan Bernal.
Unfortunately no such competition actually exists, so he got nothing to show for it.

 

[DNP-Old]

That's not how being the best dom works. Following this trajectory, Consonni is the greatest lead out man in the history of the sport.

 

[Tonton]

That's not how being the best dom works. Following this trajectory, Consonni is the greatest lead out man in the history of the sport.

If you refer to my post, that's not what I implied. Gaudu was the best dom at last year's Tour, I think that a fair statement. As a leader, not being Pinot's launching pad and losing time, he could have done even better in the GC. He still ended up in the top-15. Unless gifted breakaway time chuck(s), one has to be really good to finish 13th in the Tour. FdJ has four guys at this 2nd tier GC riders level to help Pinot.

 

[Oldermanish]

I can’t tell who any of them are.

Fifth person from left is a well-fed Sammy Hagar.

 

[BlueRoads]

If you refer to my post, that's not what I implied. Gaudu was the best dom at last year's Tour, I think that a fair statement. As a leader, not being Pinot's launching pad and losing time, he could have done even better in the GC. He still ended up in the top-15. Unless gifted breakaway time chuck(s), one has to be really good to finish 13th in the Tour. FdJ has four guys at this 2nd tier GC riders level to help Pinot.

Gaudu was very good, but I'm very unsure about his level right now. And other teams have great helpers, too. Bilbao, Caruso, Poels does not sound too bad, for instance.

 

[Escarabajo]

So only teams with no official selections are FDJ and Movistar. Why the wait? especially for Movistar!

 

[Koronin]

So only teams with no official selections are FDJ and Movistar. Why the wait? especially for Movistar!

With Movistar no idea. Today on Twitter, they said we'll have to wait at least until tomorrow for their official line up. It's between 10 riders for 8 spots.

 

[tobydawq]

The likelihood of the Tour finishing in a meaningful way just increased massively as L'Équipe reports that the "two positives and out" rule is scrapped. It did sound very stiff.

What the new regulations will be are not clear as of yet. But it seems like there will be made a distinction between riders and staff. To me it does seem like a very difficult issue to regulate.

 

[Red Rick]

The likelihood of the Tour finishing in a meaningful way just increased massively as L'Équipe reports that the "two positives and out" rule is scrapped. It did sound very stiff.

What the new regulations will be are not clear as of yet. But it seems like there will be made a distinction between riders and staff. To me it does seem like a very difficult issue to regulate.

I'd hope a positive would just mean immediate isolation while awaiting a 2nd test.

 

[Red Rick]

And I've finally come to the most exciting part of the 2020 Tour.



Will Alejandro Valverde finally lose time on purpose to hunt stages?

 

[tobydawq]

No.

Now, let's wait for Koronin to wake up and write exactly the same

 

[Ranagazoo]

Per procyclingstats:
Valverde
Mas
Soler
Cataldo
Verona
Erviti
Oliveira
Rojas

Surprised at Soler, he was awful at the Dauphine.

 

[virenque216]

Going back to my post about the weather being a factor. Later in the Tour and also definitely Giro. Already looking at stage 1 finish in Nice there might be rain at the back end of the stage. Then Sunday look a big mess. Thunderstorms possible between Turini and Colmaine and 60kmh gust down towards stage 2 finish. Also on top of Col de Turini temperature will be cold as northerly winds sweep across Italy and France. Northern Alpine slope will be seeing snow around 2000m. Stage 2 will be very interesting

One factor that can be a part in this years Tour and Giro can be the weather. Doing Alps in the middle of September can be a lot different then middle of July. There potentially can be a lot more rain this year then we are use to during July editions. There have been so many falls already as the schedule is hyperactive and out of sync plus usual Tour de France crash drama. I would say the probability of weather related crashed and drama is so much higher this year. Now this is still nothing compared to doing Passo Stelvio on the 22nd of October! I have seen many autumns where snow appeared regularly over 2000m in the northern Italy by the end of September. I run my own amateur weather page with few hundred followers that specializes in long range forecasting and I would say if Giro manages to end without any weather related problems it would be a miracle. This autumn is a La Nina and hyperactive Atlantic hurricane season that doesn't favor long Indian summer like conditions in Europe, which could mean frequent snow specially during last week of Giro. Carnage awaits

 

[RedheadDane]

Just realised something.
In this article it's mentioned that Ben Hermans would not be going to the Tour, yet he's been presented as one of the ISUN riders.
Guess they managed to convince him that it would be fine.