Tour de France - This Friday!

[Pan2]

Okay, time to clip in, or out...fill those bidons, and get our merde together.....we roll out from Wonderful Copenhagen for the biggest push bike competition on the planet.
Not sure where velogames are actually up to, but nevertheless we go on Friday. Will set up the league later today. Time to consider options........and who we will curse with selections...will post the link shortly..

Morning Dr those painkillers are fun, are they not? Puritan admins - that horrible feeling that someone somewhere may be having fun at a game, so block!

Day 20 - 41 km TT. Rolling stage BUT there is a gentle kick up in the final kilometers so after 3 weeks of riding the Tour that could make a difference?

I have Spech the to clean and a shed to tidy up...

So tour de France femmes (Avec Zwift) starts Sunday, first stage is around Paris before the men turn up. But will not be shown on any free-to-air TV.

If you can afford it, the GCN Live app is brilliant, £40 for the year and access to almost all male and female pro races, inc mtb, CX and the Tour de femmes!

plus no advertisements.

Thanks Alexandra - I read that Le Col Wahoo are handing our passes too.
www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/le-col-wahoo-hand-out-10000-free-gcn-passes-for-fans-to-watch-tour-de-france-femmes-avec-zwift

We've got Eurosport so can watch it on there. But - I'm more disappointed that it still isn't going to have the reach of the man-race. Casual viewers who aren't going to seek out and sign up for slightly obscure sports channels, but who might catch it on ITV4 like you can with the chaps.

And that is another reason for me to hate TT!!!

Well done Cordelia!

Woohoo - I got a free pass for the TdF Femmes via the link that was posted earlier on here . Only applied today

Day 21 needs no intro, does it? But anyway...Versailles, Luxembourg Gdns, and what's more French than the Peloton speeding across the Louvre?

Femmes is prior and takes in the Eiffel Tower and of course Champs Elysees.

It seems an age since Copenhagen but then it feels like that every year esp for the riders! As in last year the finish line has been moved up the Champs 200 metres, which as we know means more of a slope to meet, and that alone could give Wout van Aert an advantage over pure sprinters.....

And.......is someone commencing a Femmes thread, or shall we just roll on from this one?

Lovely to see Lizzie join them earlier. I'm really new to following the cycling and I really liked her, especially on the NSC podcast.

Well that was two exciting sprints.
I hope my Femmes team are going to do better than my men's lot who were not doing great (apart from G, he did OK).

This is my best tour ever as a virtual Directeur Sportif! Chapeau Pan, that went to the line.

Well done Cordelia!

Maillot Jaune to Cordelia - I think we had 5-6 yellow jerseys over the 3 weeks which is a bit unusual .........and the Lantern Rouge to Collette. And a special mention to DA for finishing one place and 200 pts above a person to whom she is closely associated.... 20 teams was a world record for MN Mayhem, chapeaux to all of us!
It was an unconventional Tour, being the least 'controlled' by any particular team so there was a lot of actual racing going on wasn't there?

I am loving all the pics of jersey/stage winners with their kids (in recent years). Good advert for dads. Did anyone see van Aert's kid spinning the green bike pedals? Awwww...

Lorena Wiebes had a baby on the podium with her too, not hers though.

I saw that lljkk and realised the child would have been at the age where they may have been asking "This bike is all well and good but where is the cardboard box it came in? That's where the real action is."

Congratulations Cordelia on your win, and thank you Pan and Felicity for getting this going again - it's been great fun. I'm going to miss the dulcet tones of David Millar in the afternoons now.

@Olinguito If you have Spotify you can always listen to the Pod for a Millar fix? 😁

Good idea Dinner - I might just do that!

Post grand tour malaise is a real thing for sure.
I'm looking forward to the Vuelta now, though sulking a bit too. My PILs have a home in Spain and there has been a stage virtually passing their front door for the last 3 or 4 editions of the race. Unfortunately most of then have been after our schools go back, then there was the year we couldn't go because of covid. But this year it's an August date and I was planning to try to get a last minute flight out with DS. Except I've just realised it's on his GCSE results day and he wants to go with his friends to collect them. Grrrrr. Though if this AQA strike changes the results day.....🤔

Watch the Femmes (avec Zwift) race might take the edge off a bit.

There doesn't seem to be a goat emoji.

Crashes today I hear. Hope all are well. Highlights on Euros 9pm.

Crashes were quite horrific .

I was able to set up the GCN+ account as an app/channel on our BT Box so could watch on our TV.

Fantastic result for Vos today, horrific crashes but i must admit, for a flat sprint stage, i was surprised on the roads chosen.

GCN is great, love the live show,