[themaclad]

Froome left out of Ineos squad

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Thomas also not picked by Ineos

[ritchiebaby]

Everything is on here, Blue Baggie.
https://www.letour.fr/en/news/2020/tour-...er/1283443

All being well, I should be on this thread with a daily update from 29 August, including all the latest statistics. Any change in regulations and treatment of the results will be reviewed every 3 weeks, based on the available evidence and a fair bit of common sense (sadly lacking elsewhere in the UK).

Forget my plans for a daily update - bowling is back on up here and there's a lot of summer to catch up on (weather permitting).

[themaclad]

I'll do me best, apart from three Saturday's cricket will see probably a shed load also looks like will be working from home in the very non too distant future and will be totally concentrating on work!!!!!

[themaclad]

Just catching up on it although know the result

Rather a chaotic day for those old enough to remember Monty Python's Bycycle sketch which was peppered with the phrase fell off near Taunton, well that happened today, lots of falling off in not great wet conditions personal view it was such fun

Anyway here's the Beebs report

Alexander Kristoff timed his sprint finish to perfection to win the opening stage of the Tour de France in Nice.

After a large group crashed inside the final 3km, Norwegian Kristoff, 33, surged home in a sprint also involving Ireland's Sam Bennett, who was fourth.

Rain made the roads treacherous and led to several crashes, with Pavel Sivakov of Team Ineos twice coming off.

Ineos' defending champion Egan Bernal largely avoided the trouble and finished safely in the peloton.

Colombia's Nairo Quintana crashed, while Astana's decision to up the pace on the final descent from Levens saw Miguel Angel Lopez slide into a road sign and prompted some stern exchanges towards the team from other riders in the peloton.

France's Julian Alaphilippe was also caught in a crash, while compatriot Thibaut Pinot - one of the race favourites - fell heavily towards the end and rolled over the line with a ripped jersey.

On Sunday the riders face a 186km mountainous second stage, with two climbs above 1,500m.

'Definitely a change in yellow jersey on stage two' - Adam Yates' stage guide
Stage one as it happened
Stage one result
1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor/UAE-Team Emirates) 3hrs 46mins 23seconds

2. Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek-Segafredo) Same time

3. Cees Bol (Ned/Sunweb)

4. Sam Bennett (Ire/Deceuninck-Quick Step)

5. Peter Sagan (Slo/Bora-Hansgrohe)

6. Elia Viviani (Ita/Cofidis)

7. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita/NTT)

8. Bryan Coquard (Fra/B&B)

9. Anthony Turgis (Fra/Total Direct Energie)

10. Jasper Stuyen (Bel/Trek-Segafredo)

[themaclad]

Fully expect the race to be cancelled with the result to stand as the French entertainer Alaphillipe wins stage and gets yellow, the sprint to the line saw him messing around with his hat, shoes etc , before just about beating Hirshi with Adam Yates in third.
As for the stage not as many fell off even though the course had corners even Grace Kelly would have said no too, the three man break away at the end nearly cocked up as the main bunch nearly caught them, this was a great stage.
Allez les Blues

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Julian Alaphilippe won stage two of the Tour de France in a sprint finish to claim the yellow jersey in Nice.

The Frenchman held off Marc Hirschi to edge home by half a wheel after leaving Britain's Adam Yates behind in a final dart for the line.

He leads Yates, who finished third, by four seconds in the overall standings.

It was a fifth stage victory at the Tour for the 28-year-old, after the riders faced a 186km mountainous second stage, with two climbs above 1,500m.

Stage two result
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 4hrs 55mins 27secs

2. Marc Hirschi (Swi/Team Sunweb) same time

3. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +1sec

4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel/CCC Team) +2secs

5. Sergio Higuita (Col/EF Pro Cycling ) same time

6. Bauke Mollema (Ned/Trek-Segafredo)

7. Alexey Lutsenko (KazAstana Pro Team)

8. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates)

9. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger/BORA-hansgrohe)

10. Alberto Bettiol (Ita/EF Pro Cycling)

General classification after stage two
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 8hrs 41mins 35secs

2. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +4secs

3. Marc Hirschi (Swi/Team Sunweb) +7secs

4. Sergio Higuita (Col/EF Pro Cycling) +17secs

5. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) same time

6. Esteban Chaves (Col/Mitchelton-Scott)

7. Davide Formolo (Ita/UAE Team Emirates)

8. Egan Bernal (Col/INEOS Grenadiers)

9. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/INEOS Grenadiers)

10. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Jumbo-Visma)

[ritchiebaby]

My personal thanks to themaclad for taking over the thread reports.

I usually attempt a few predictions on the eventual winners, so here goes again.
YELLOW - Primoz Roglic (who should be at his best by the time we get to the real mountains later)
GREEN - Peter Sagan (in a really tight race this year)
TEAM - Jumbo-Visma (a lot of talent for all conditions)

So far I've only seen the last km of today's stage and I doubt if I'll see much of the live transmissions.

[themaclad]

Bit of an attritional stage the Peleton couldn't be arsed until the end when Caleb Ewan won the sprint from Sam Bennett, KOM was between Perez and Comnefrey, Perez won the first two with ease but suffered a puncture on the third shoulder charged the team car as you do and broke his collar bone and is now out of the tour. The star of the day was Jerome Cousin who peddled on his own at the front for the best part of 140 kilometres before bowing to the inevitable about 15 kms from the end.
Scenery was nice though France is a beautiful country lots of hill top villages were no doubt the French equivalent of Duellng Banjo's is played although planners had some odd choices plonking some churchies apparently at the top of 80,000 foot mountains.
Finally the commentators made a long stage bareable with some irrelevent conversations, top of the lot Karlton Kirby he's not PC and probably not everyones cup of tea, liked the comment on Saturday when he basically did the entire day on his wn, "The Director must be going to the Harbour in Nice keeps showing it obviously on a promise"

[themaclad]

Caleb Ewan produced a dazzling sprint finish to win stage three of the Tour de France as Julian Alaphilippe held on to the yellow jersey.

The Australian Lotto Soudal rider timed his sprint perfectly into a strong headwind in Sisteron to squeeze past Peter Sagan and snatch victory from Irishman Sam Bennett.

It is his fourth Tour stage win after three victories on his debut last year.

"The guys did a great job keeping me at the front," said Ewan.

"This is the biggest race in the world and I'm so happy to get another win and prove last year wasn't a fluke. I hope to keep coming back and keep winning."

Ewan displayed excellent bike handling skills to navigate a chaotic finish, and avoid the headwind that penalised his rivals, until the last moment.

The 26-year-old narrowly avoided Sagan's back wheel and the right-hand side barrier to get onto Bennett's wheel before he kicked clear with tremendous speed at 50m to go.

"I was a bit too far forward in the final kilometre so I dropped back and gave myself a bit of a rest," he added.

"Coming from behind is a bit of a risk but I got through past the barrier and had the speed in the end."

Adam Yates' Tour de France stage-by-stage guide
European champion Giacomo Nizzolo finished third, with France's Hugo Hofstetter taking fourth.

Former three-time world champion Sagan faded to finish fifth but picked up enough points to replace stage one winner Alexander Kristoff in the green points jersey, which the Slovakian is aiming to win for a record-extending eighth time.

It was a high-speed finish after a largely sedate day, with France's Jerome Cousin spending 110km off the front alone before he was swept up by the peloton with 16km to go.

Cousin had been in a breakaway with compatriots Benoit Cosnefroy and Anthony Perez, who were battling for king of the mountains points.

Perez had taken the virtual lead off Cosnefroy in that classification but was then forced to abandon the race with a broken collarbone after he punctured on a descent and crashed into his Cofidis team car.

Alaphilippe avoided trouble to retain the race lead, with Britain's Adam Yates still second at four seconds back, while defending champion Egan Bernal has moved up two places to sixth overall.





Stage three result
1. Caleb Ewan (Aus/Lotto Soudal) 5hrs 17mins 42secs

2. Sam Bennett (Ire/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) same time

3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita/NTT Pro)

4. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra/Israel Start-up Nation)

5. Peter Sagan (Svk/Bora-Hansgrohe)

6. Edward Theuns (Bel/Trek-Segafredo)

7. Cees Bol (Ned/Team Sunweb)

8. Matteo Trentin (Ita/CCC Team)

9. Bryan Coquard (Fra/B&B Hotels - Vital Concept)

10. Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita/Total Direct Energie)

General classification after stage three
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 13hrs 59mins 17secs

2. Adam Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +4secs

3. Marc Hirschi (Swi/Team Sunweb) +7secs

4. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +17secs

5. Davide Formolo (Ita/UAE Team Emirates) Same time

6. Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers)

7. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Jumbo-Visma)

8. Sergio Higuita (Col/EF Pro Cycling)

9. Guillaume Martin (Fra/Cofidis)

10. Esteban Chaves (Col/Mitchelton-Scott)

[ritchiebaby]

That's the kind of stage I like - an all-action finale to a generally boring race. Sagan has edged in front in the race for the Green Jersey, but there's a host of close challengers right behind him, namely Ewan, Kristoff, Bennett, Cocquard, Trentin and don't forget Alaphillipe. For some reason Viviani has been quiet, but he's always a danger.

[themaclad]

They did say in commentary Viviani was unable to do any training in lock down due to the strict Italian quarentine rules he wasn't allowed even to go on his balcony