Etape is good fun but it has become too big in recent years.

And in that stage too a French rider in yellow abandoned with severe knee pain. Stephan Heulot iirc.

I'm devastated.

It's the firt time since i've been following the Tour that i really believed a French could win.

The last couple of days turned what was my favourite Tour into the worst one ever.

At this point, it seems like everyone and their mother can win it except the French.

That said, of all the other leaders, I'm glad Bernal won as he is an entertaining rider. He is having a fantastic season and should win more Grand Tours in the future.

This jumbo visma team is basically Rabobank (more than the fact they are their direct heirs). The difference is Rabobank was always very heavily Dutch and with 1/2 foreign recruits at most per grand tour. The Dutch didnt have enough uphill support in the past (ironic looking at the current state with poels Dumoulin Kruiswijk and to lesser extent Mollema). Jumbo visma now stick with the Dutch influence but add a lot more foreign umph. This has allowed them to provide more structure to their grand tours. They have basically taken the sky model of UK spine and quality reinforcements.

Very excited about Dumoulin moving to Jumbo... They will probably lose one of Roglic or Kruiswijk as a result. Roglic would be my guess.

Shout out to De Plus, Kruiswijks donestique. Future GC rider. TT ability, climbing ability, durable.

de Plus turned himself inside out on the final climb. Was a proper 10/10 on the grim-o-meter.

Right year, wrong stage. Heulot abandoned on stage 6 to Aix les Bains.
Riis won the 46 k stage to Sestriere (with some help!).

Just a few years older than me then.

I agree. It reminds me of S8 Game of Thrones.

and, unlike me, he would be quite right

Well we were treated to a great race this year. Just a shame that the last 2 stages were fut short and that Pinot dropped out. The final could have been phénoménal.


Well done Bernal! Immense rider un the making.

Great TDF, thoroughly enjoyable, I always liked AP, but he’s an even classier ride than I previously thought, just a great around rider and human being. Irrespective of the two shortened stages, the outcome would have been exactly the same, Bernal first and Thomas runner up. Roll on 2020.

I don't think the last 2 stages changed any outcome, other than us missing out on better racing for the last 2 days. If Pinot can ever complete a tour he could be a real threat. Alaphilippe made the tour exciting by holding on to yellow far longer than anybody expected.

A relative rides with Bernal and says he's a lovely fellow.

Thanks.

Aix les Bains was the stage. It was cold and damp that day. Indurain bonked, and then got penalised for taking a drink from his support car.

Yeah, Riis's power at sestriere was something else. We now know why of course.

It will be interesting to monitor the health of these guys as they get older to see if there are any side effects.

Don't despair. I think French cycling is going to make the break through in the next couple of years.

Where's Pierre Rolland these days?

Vital Concept (exactly) was 6th in the Tour of Aragon this year.

Anyone know the story with the finish in 1979 when Jooep Zoetemelk attacked Hinault on the final day? They raced it out with the peleton about 2mins behind... Jooep claimed that it was still the done thing back then and him and Hinault are good buddies nowadays.

Amazing views of the peloton on the Champs-Elysées at sunset.

Yes indeed. Thanks to all the guys who emptied their tanks for my Superbru points. I’m humbled

And thanks to Puma too. Good man

Well played man, got me with Nibali on stage 20.

Love the evening stage into Paris. It's a fitting end to a wonderful televisual spectacle. Chapeau to Bernal & G. A worthy new champion and a very credible defence.

Thanks. I thought you would do it (being in yellow for much of the tour) but as soon as they shortened stage 20 I thought Nibbles would be the man. Great tour

Well I was wrong about Caleb Ewen. 3 stage wins and making through in time in the mountains was a fantastic effort. Probably shows he really should have started last year. Seemed to have the final power surged the others lacked. Guess that means he’s the number 1 sprinter around now.

So another Tour comes to a finish, and this PR thread enters its final few posts - for another year.

A genuine thank you to all the main knowledgeable posters who enrich this race for me. Cycling is becoming more and more one of my favourite sports. I just need to make sure my interest doesn't peak during July and then fade over the other 11 months. Hopefully there is a Vuelta thread in the coming weeks. Cheers mes amis.

Ineos will be ridiculously strong next year. They will boast four GT winners in their roster (Froome, Thomas, Bernal and Carapaz) and I really think they could win all 3 GT's next year.
And as mentioned earlier, the likeliest team to challenge them would be Jumbo.

I'm not sure that's the conclusion i take home from the tour - I think the standard of their domestiques has dropped quite a bit from previous years - so whilst they obviously will have those 4 riders you mentioned - i'm not sure they will enter every grand tour with the strongest team as they've done in the past.

Also next year - Froome will be 35, Geraint will be 34... I see the acquisition of Carapaz & Bernal as Ineos getting in their ducks in a row ahead of time.

Like you said- Jumbo (with the addition of Dumoulin) & Movistar (with everything behind Landa) will also be v. strong next year

Here, here!

*waves order paper*

Granted that their train didnt do so well in this tour, but they've got some super youngsters coming through for them though. In the past 18 months I've been watching guys like Tao Geoghegan Hart, Eddie Dunbar, Ivan Sosa and Pavel Sivakov emerge.

They can send these two teams to the Giro and Tour next year and would probably win both races:

Giro
Bernal
Thomas
Poels
Sosa
Moscon
Rosa
De La Cruz
Rowe


Tour
Froome
Carapaz
Kwiatkowski
Sivakov
Ellisonde
Geoghegan Hart
Dunbar
Van Baarle

Impressive result for the little man!

What a waste of Carapaz. Unless they keep him as leader for La Vuelta.

Jumbo with Kruiswijk, Dumoulin, Roglic... going to have some fire power too.

Moscon is an interesting one because he is a controversial character but they still backed him for the Tour and he didn't produce much.

I can't help but think that trying to support green and yellow jerseys will be their downfall.

Riders strike in the 80s as well.

Yeah. I think the best thing would be for them to enter their sprinters only in the flatter classics and in one-week stage races. Then go full GC for the grand tours.
But I suppose this might mean that they don't attract top sprinters.

But imagine them putting all their eggs in one basket and fielding this team in the Tour next year:

Dumoulin
Kruiswijk
Roglic
Bennet
De Plus
Tolhoek
Martin
Van Aert

Does that have the pulling power to overcome a full strength Ineos train? With Froome back as GC guy, the rest of the team will be able to protect him nicely and his capability to attack is superb.

The TT power in that pack is insane.
Good climbers with none being excellent. Priority will always be given in the Tour to a Dutch rider. A lot will depend on the route.

If we are being honest - as a race both the Vuelta AND Giro are better.

I mean day after day if Ineos ride like Sky; on the front, at pace, not just on the TT's. I also wonder what Kruiswikj thinks to Dumulin being the GC guy, being as he just got a podium spot.

Kruijswijk is not good enough to win the tour - a podium is his ceiling. He could probably win the Giro (he nearly did) if he switched focus. He's also 33 next year so unlikely to improve

Dumoulin's ceiling is much higher & he's probably capable to win the tour with a strong team

It will be fascinating to see how the TDF planners try to help the French riders for the next few years. They've tried lots of time trails but that favoured the strong men like Wiggins, Thomas, Froome and Dumoulin. They tried loads of climbs but that favoured the Columbians. What next?