2013 Le Tour De France

[pels]

Starts Saturday night on SBS.
Froome & Contador are the 2 massive Favourites.
But as the Giro showed anything can and probably will happen.

Porte I reckon is a big chance to finish in the top 3.
Evans will be a mystery,has he got another 3 weeks of racing in him after the Giro?
Let the fun begin for the riders

21 stages will cover a total distance of 3,479 kilometres will have the following profiles:
7 flat stages
5 hilly stages
6 mountain stages with 4 summit finishes
2 individual time trial stages
1 team time trial stage
2 rest days

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/preview
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2013/us/

[Banker]

Anyone know if the SBS SagWagon podcast will be on this year?

@Mop Up

[Sploosh]

Starts on SBS at 9:30 tonight, but does anyone know what time the actual race starts? I'm hoping soon after 9:30, rather than an hour or more of prelude etc...

Then again, last year for whatever reason the coverage always started with the race already underway...

[pels]

Well that was a cluster F*ck, Greenedge bus got stuck under the finishing banner and it was chaos in the last 10km with the finish line being moved to the 3km line and then back to the original finish line when the bus got out of the way.
What an absolute farce. Why would you let a bus come down the finish line so close to the end of the race and not ensure the bus could 100% fit through...
Crashes everywhere took out the major sprinters except for Kittel who got a free win.
Contador went down as well in the crash.

[MightyEagles]

Starts on SBS at 9:30 tonight, but does anyone know what time the actual race starts? I'm hoping soon after 9:30, rather than an hour or more of prelude etc...

Then again, last year for whatever reason the coverage always started with the race already underway...

I don't know why that always happens, maybe it starts after 9.30 in the eastern states.

[Grahaml]

Starts on SBS at 9:30 tonight, but does anyone know what time the actual race starts? I'm hoping soon after 9:30, rather than an hour or more of prelude etc...

Then again, last year for whatever reason the coverage always started with the race already underway...

I don't know why that always happens, maybe it starts after 9.30 in the eastern states.

When the tour was first broadcast they only showed the last hour or so from midnight. As interest grows they start it earlier and earlier but I still don't think you'll see many stage starts except for the shorter stages. Perhaps a few years time it'll be popular enough they start from the gun.

Early days so not normally anything of note besides crashes to really talk about, but there are a few little things going on. Froome attacked today, which I don't understand in the slightest. He was never going to gain time, so why try it? Last time I remember an attack that early from a race favourite was Valverde then he blew up after the first week. Perhaps Froome is feeling too good right now. I also think that favourites who find themselves closest to the front on normal stages are looking the goods and Cadel Evans was the first real contender to finish today. Great signs IMHO and I think unlike most years the Giro ride will be exactly what he needed.

Looking ahead to tomorrow's stage and I expect more of the same from today. The sprinters will be wiped, the all rounders who can sprint will try to stick with the climbers who will launch attacks up the last climb. It's a tricky enough climb that if BMC or Sky launch a platform for either their leaders or all rounders we might see someone with GC claims lose some time if they're not right or get caught out.

I'm going to tip Sagan to win the stage. He'll be filthy they mistimed their run and couldn't get the stage so they won't make that mistake.

[Jase]

Normal service has been resumed in the Jase household... Get ready to watch the stage, fall asleep about 11:00pm and wake up as they are showing the presentations...

Every stage, everyyear...

[Trader]

After the action of stage 1, last night was relatively boring.

A close incident with the dog with about 3kms to go could have been interesting, but other than that the only excitement was right at the end with the rabbit surviving by 1 second, good to see.

[am Bays]

GERRO!!!

Kudos to Clarke for almost pinching the polka dot jersey.

But first stage win for the Greenedge boys in Le Tour.

[bulldog2004]

Simon Gerrans gives Australias Orica Green Edge the stage 3 victory.

[dedja]

by a bee's appendage!

[pels]

Excellent win by Gerrans beating Sagan in a sprint just.
Enjoyable stage to watch

[am Bays]

by a bee's appendage foreskin!

Edited for accuracy

[dedja]

Unless the bee was Jewish ...

[Grahaml]

What a great finish last night. They had their #1 sprinter in that bunch so I wonder whether it was a last minute switch or the plan all along. I'm sure Sagan got caught napping because not only did he just lose his team mate as they passed him but I think he was looking for Impey to be following Gerrans. If that was the plan all the time, just sheer brilliance. That small gap he left made all the difference in the end. Sagan will be furious. Twice in a row now a miscalculation has cost him the stage. With Cavendish likely to dominate the really flat stages opportunities on these stages he can stick with the GC riders will be gone before he knows it.

Was also great to see Evans near the front at all times and his team even showing themselves willing to get to the front despite not being the defending champions and not having the overall lead. Very early stages, but they've done absolutely everything right so far.

Tonight's team time trial will be very interesting.

[bulldog2004]

Awesome stuff. Orica Green Edge win the team time trial and Simon Gerrans has the yellow jersey.

[mickey]

Fell asleep in the recliner before Green Edge even hit the road last night

Fantastic waking up to hear that tonight will be a yellowgerro night

[am Bays]

Normal service has been resumed in the Jase household... Get ready to watch the stage, fall asleep about 11:00pm and wake up as they are showing the presentations...

Every stage, everyyear...

^
This, last night. Missed OGE's entire ride.

[MightyEagles]

I saw the last k.

[whufc]

How long can gerrans hold onto the yellow guernsey, could he try and pinch a bit of time on these smaller/medium stages