Psst! Get your drug testing kit here! TdF 2018. The MN Peloton rides out.

[DoctorTwo]

It's the time of year that millions of us marvel at the athleticism of 168 cyclists and admit that we wouldn't do that without industrial amounts of illicit pharmaceuticals.

I’m here! Lycra’ed up and ready for some real sport 😄

Signing in

Whoop whoop.
I'm prepped and ready.

Is anyone going to watch any of it in person? We're off to the final in Paris this year.

I'm so excited as I will be in Annecy for 10 days around the tour so will be able to watch both the Tuesday and the Wednesday stages. Need to investigate a good spot - will be on bikes but I'm no mountain climber so need to reccy first. First time at TdF although I have been to Roubaix and Tour of Flanders before

Looking forward to it

Checking in tho’ you lot sound a lot more hardcore in your spectating!

I’m not an avid follower but do enjoy TDF, La Vuelta & the Giro mountain stages.

@Member check the other thread and pick a team. You will turn that not avid to near addiction pretty quickly!

Hello, please can I join you? I’m new to mumsnet, but a fairly keen cycling fan.

Ps. Please could I ask advice from anyone who has been to watch the tour before? We’re in France at the moment and are considering going to watch the team time trial on Monday- but is it really difficult to get to and from the course? Would it be a nightmare with a baby and a car?

@ToftheB I've been to a couple of normal stages.
Have a look on the TdF website it will give you the routes and the approx timings.
The caravan is fun - they throw Haribo and biros at you.
If you just want to watch a bit of the time trial you should be fine to park somewhere (take the French approach of parking anywhere - or try a supermarket) and walk to the route.
If you stay to the end it gets packed away really quickly and the roads reopen.

We spent a whole day 25m from the finish with deck chairs and a picnic lunch.

I'll check in. What drama already! I can't wait. I was looking forward to creating a fantasy team on velogames so I'm bummed that they've been shut down. Not sure I want to go with the 'official' tdf fantasy league out of principle.

I highly recommend (shock horror) Lance Armstrong's podcast which deconstructs each stage and is released shortly after each stage. It used to be called Stages but has been rebranded to The Move.

Also, I've just started listening to The Cycling Podcast and the latest episode has a really week informed discussion on the Froome, Salbutamol debacle.

Bummer - the very first time I was getting my act together to submit a fantasy team and the Velogames TdF gets pulled

I love the cycling podcast - they release a podcast every evening during the grand tours and they’re just the right level of informative and funny.

Sorry just saw that typo - they have a really well informed discussion

Donning my lycra.....ooh it stretches a bit!

Thanks Dr for the thread.

Hi all!

Really not getting into it so far this year. Combination of no Velogames and a whole load of sprint stages in a row (where the only interesting bit seems to be the last 2 minutes).

Am hoping for a bit more excitement when they get to some mountains.

Yeah, sadly the first day was interesting with all the crashes mixing up the race but since then all the sprint stages have made it too boring.

The sprint stages are only fun when Cav is in with a shout. Sad to see he's not in the mix this year.

The pavé today could be interesting. Maybe G will build more of a lead over the other GC contenders.

Mountains soon!

today's stage should be more eventful!

I'm enjoying it. Pavé today! Poor Martin looked shredded last night. Craddock raising thousands for the velodrome. Froomy keeping low profile & the rise of many fresh sprinter faces. Sagan usual antics. Good fun.

Poor Cav, I think he's had his day. I hope he can get one more stage win and wouldn't be surprised if he calls it a day soon.

I won't be able to watch it today which is gutting! It should be really good. I've never really believed that Sky were really giving G joint leadership. Today should show us where their tactics truly lie. G would normally be the classics/cobbles pro, helping out Froome and protecting him. If he's really out for himself i'd be excited for what he could achieve. A middle way I wondered about would be maybe one of the other domestiques helping them both? I dunno. There's going to have to be split loyalties somewhere!

IStillMissBlockbuster Agree about Cav, there are too many other riders out there now who are faster.

I suspect Sky will support both G and Froome, so long as they both have a chance, but if it comes down to a choice then G will be sacrificed and he will know this.

I’ve enjoyed it so far - the first week is always a bit slow, but most days have had some GC intrigue of some sort and it’s good to see the next generation of younger sprinters on the top of their game. Although, I agree it’s sad to see Cav struggling.

Excited about today, I just hope there’s drama without anyone crashing badly or getting injured.

Today is going to be interesting.

Dan Martin is one tough guy - but then most racing cyclists are (remember Contador cycling for 10km with a broken leg - and the memes contrasting that with footballers writhing in agony after a mere touch or even non touch )

The cobbles will be a nightmare for Craddock too