Tour de France

Belgian champion Tim Wellens left the rest of tour behind to win his first Tour de France victory on Stage 15, becoming the 113th rider in history to claim stage wins at all three Grand Tours. Tadej Pogacar retained the yellow jersey ahead of today’s rest day.

These days I constantly find myself trying to summon the enthusiasm to watch the Tour....and failing miserably. It smells more like the 90s with every passing year.

(18-07-2025 09:32 )Charlemagne Wrote:  Pogacar had crashed in the last stage, but had recovered to own this one. He rode away from everyone up the last mounting ain to Hautacam t

Funny you should mention Hautacam. Here's the top 19 fastest Men up that hillock.

Now, I'm not one to cast aspersions but....*rubs chin*

For those who don't get it, Pogacar's time is 2nd only to Bjarne Riis, who was basically Boots the Chemist on 2 wheels. The rest of the list (excluding Vingeggard) were all either proven or very strongly suspected to be dopers.

It's back again in the saddle for today's mountain stage (16) from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux and length of 171.5km.

Tour de France stage 16 result.
Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre fought off Ben Healy to win this stage which ended t the top of Mont Ventoux. Giving another victory to the Soudal-Quickstep team.

Tadej Pogačar takes more seconds over Jonas Vingegaard in GC battle.

In stage 17 we go back to a flat course which should bring the sprinters back into play.
It's 160.4km from Bollène to Valence

Breakaways forced a lot of the sprint teams to use up their sprint support team to pull the lead back. So it was a reduced bunch for the sprint and Jonathan Milan proves too strong for rest.

This must be the stage which wins the green jersey for him.

Today's mountain stage (18) is a171.5km course from Vif to Courchevel Col de la Loze

Australian Ben O'Connor of the Jayco-AlUla team joined the break of the day and then attacked before the 26.5km climb to the finish, giving him the time to hold off the GC group.

Stage 19 The Tour put out this statement
"The discovery of an outbreak of contagious nodular dermatitis affecting cattle in a herd located specifically in the Col des Saisies has necessitated the culling of the animals. In light of the distress experienced by the affected farmers and in order to preserve the smooth running of the race, it has been decided, in agreement with the relevant authorities, to modify the route of Stage 19 (Albertville–La Plagne) and to avoid the ascent to the col des Saisies.

The ceremonial start will take place as planned at the exit of Albertville. After a 7 km parade, riders will head towards the D925, where the official start will be given. The race will then rejoin the original route shortly before Beaufort (at km 52.4 on the original schedule).

Due to this change, which notably bypasses the Col des Saisies, the stage will now cover a total distance of 95 km instead of the originally planned 129,9 km".