[ritchiebaby]

Once again Le Tour is almost upon us, the race being held from 1 July to 24 July, this time also including the countries of Denmark, Belgium and Switzerland. And once again Le Tour Grand Depart is from a foreign (to Le Francais) country, leaving Copenhagen on Friday 1 July.

Probably the city's most famous statue, The Little Mermaid, is based on probably Hans Christian Andersen's most famous fairy tale - have you guessed the connection yet? - about a mermaid wanting to live on dry land. The original statue was donated by Carl Jacobsen, not completely crackers, as he was the founder of probably the best lager in the world. 

Probably the best websites to learn about the riders and stages are the usual suspects - https://www.letour.fr/en/ and https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling

My GC pick would be Richard Carapaz, with Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert and Alexey Lutsenko in contention. Normally Jonas Vingegaard, 2nd last year, would be worth a mention, but he will be "only" a domestique for Roglic.

My all-time favourite rider, Peter Sagan, is back in good form vying for the Green Jersey, with Sam Bennett, Michael Matthews, Caleb Ewan and Sonny Colbrelli all in with a shout. Last year's winner, Mark Cavendish, is not expected to be selected

The Polka Dot winner should be from Pogacar, Roglic, Egan Bernal, Wouter Poels and David Gaudu. Again Vingegaard will be hindered by his domestique duties.

More to come from me later in the week and hopefully more from you as well.

[themaclad]

Only one winner Pogacar

[ritchiebaby]

Good to see you on here, mac. Thanks to grandchildren, bowling and holidays, I'll not be posting on here a lot, so your input as last year will be very welcome.

[themaclad]

There's an author called Tim Moore who has ridden the Tour and the Giro. He rode the route of the 1914 Giro using a bike from the period, also just ridden the Vuelta not read that one yet, well worth a read

[ritchiebaby]

Copenhagen, Denmark, is the city where the first stage, a measly 13.2km Time Trial, takes place. Kasper Schmeichel and Helena Christensen are probably it's best-known citizens. With 4kms to go, the cyclists pass The Little Mermaid, then finish on H C Andersen Boulevard near Tivoli Gardens. It seems to be a very twisty, tight course with occasional long straights, which might suit Filippo Ganni and Wout van Aert.

Stage 2 is 202km from Roskilde to Nyborg, where one of the categorised climbs reaches the dizzying heights of 83m above sea level. The later part of this stage crosses from one island (Zealand - presumably the old one) to another (Funen), so hopefully there is an 18km bridge crossing complete with crosswinds to cause havoc. I'm sure the two bridges are toll-free for pedal-cycles, but there might be a hold-up with the support cars and TV motor-cycles. I'll be watching out for Mathieu van der Poel and Sam Bennett to catch out the more fancied riders.

Stage 3 from Vejle to Sonderborg is even more benign with a top height of 61m during a race of 182km. Vjele is the birthplace of Tony Rominger, who won the Vuelta thrice and the Giro once, finishing second in Le Tour, all in the 1990s. Sonderborg is the birthplace of Niels Christiansen, currently CEO of The Lego Group. Given Le Tour's propensity for a chance to organise a photo opportunity, I'm surprised to learn that Le Tour doesn't do a tour of Legoland, only approx 25 kms away from Vjele. If they didn't do well on Stage 2, I'll be backing van der Poel and Bennett again. And that completes the participation of the Danish nation.

An amazingly early rest day sees the entourage arrive in France, bypassing Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, for Stage 4 from Dunkerque to Calais on 5 July, possibly a welcome distraction for the happy campers waiting on an exciting boat trip across Pas de Calais.

[ritchiebaby]

UPDATE

I've found out that Sonny Colbrelli will not be competing for Bahrain Victorius, as he suffered a heart attack after a sprint race in March and has since had an implant inserted to regulate his heart beat. It probably means the end of his high-performance career.

Also Sam Bennett has surprisingly been omitted from the Bora-Hansgrohe team and Julian Alaphilippe has been left out of the Quick-Step team, as he is still not 100% fit after a crash in April. Egan Bernal of Ineos Grenadiers is also out with a long term injury, following his collision with a parked bus in January.

Fabio Jakobsen is preferred to Mark Cavendish for Quick-Step, but Cavendish is still listed as a reserve rider.

In my original post I mentioned Bennett and Colbrelli in my picks for the Green Jersey, so I'll add Dylan Groenewegen and Jakobsen. Bernal was one of my picks for the Polka Dot Jersey, so I'll add Ben O'Connor to my selections.

[ritchiebaby]

Le Tour kicks off this afternoon with the Copenhagen Time Trial, with the usual extensive coverage from Eurosport and ITV4. The Eurosport1 live broadcasts start at 2.30pm with highlights at 9pm and ITV4 starts at 2.45pm with highlights at 8pm. The timings vary throughout the race and usually start around lunchtime.

I'll be keeping a keen eye open for the performances of old-stagers Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome plus Dani Martinez, Aleksandr Vlasov and Wout van Aert, whose knee injury is apparently still bothering him, so might prove a weakness over the 3 weeks.

[themaclad]

Time trial in the rain

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Bissegger smelling tarmac twice

[themaclad]

Robbie McEwan
I don't want to curse Laporte, 5 seconds later down he goes
Van aert
Pog 1 and 2 at the moment

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Lampaert sneaks into the lead

[themaclad]

Lampaert taks yellow

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Yves Lampaert won stage one of the Tour de France as defending champion Tadej Pogacar took time out of his main rivals in the opening individual time trial in Copenhagen.

Lampaert rode superbly to negotiate the damp conditions and finish five seconds clear of fellow Belgian Wout van Aert.

Pogacar was a further two seconds back in third place, nine seconds ahead of Slovenian compatriot Primoz Roglic.

Britain's Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas finished 13th and 18th.

Fellow Ineos Grenadiers rider Tom Pidcock was sandwiched between the pair after taking advantage of the more favourable later conditions to roll over the line in 15th.