The last time Richard Carapaz had a chance to win a Tour Stage, he threw it to his teammate Kwiatkowski. Now he finally takes his first TdF Stage Win. Superb ride.
Lotte Kopecky’s sprint for bonus seconds on Blockhaus was INSANE! She’s 1(!) second away from winning her first ever grand tour.
(Even though there’s no major distinction between the grand tours and other WWT one week races as far as I know)
So I was gonna use yesterday's rest day in the TdF to watch the women's Giro and catch up on anime. I underestimated how much energy the TdF would consume. However, a fucking hurricane blew out power and like a million tree branches. I'm alright, and power is now restored, but damn. That sucked.
The Giro d'Italia Women (formerly the Giro Donne) started today, and without Demi Vollering, this race is wide open. Women's grand tours are not 3 weeks. I like 1-week races, but they're really not the same. Competition level just isn't as strong. Is it good that we don't get more of them?
The gravel stage™️...looks just like a spring classic. If the peleton just wants a transition stage, they should be fine as long as no one punctures on the last segment.
Nooo, Mads Pederson abandoned 😭 Good luck in the Olympics Mads.
On that note, this tour has the least dropouts in the first week since 2016, another olympic year. Olympic years create wacky tour moments because riders with nothing to play for (and even riders who do) will just pack up and leave.
ITTs are not great tv. Even the best ITTs of all time (1989 and 2020 Tours de France) still only deliver about 20 minutes of drama. But they're too important to do away with. So why do I watch? I think for the ratings. It's not the worst background noise either.
3 different winners from 3 different sprints means that teams with a sprinter will work together on flat stages. In 2021 and 2023 one guy was winning all the sprints and no one wanted to help that guy's team so we got a bunch of breakaway wins. Congrats to Groenewegen. Can't wait for Saturday.
a lot of nerds on twitter will say on a day like this, that only the last ~10KM of racing is worth watching. Not me. I'm watching every kilometer of this slow-ass procession. Who knows, maybe some rouleur will have a bike change.
The first 8(!) riders beat the previous climbing record on the Galibier. The climb was electric, the descent was awesome, this stage was incredible. Back to the sprints (probably) tomorrow. Also likely watching Rinkai! Ep. 2 today.
So I've been an Intermarché fan for about 3 years. I love Meintjes, I love Zimmerman, I love Mihkels, and most notably...
BENIAM GIRMAY! FIRST BLACK WINNER IN THE TOUR DE FRANCE! LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO!
a lot of nerds on twitter will say on a day like this, that only the last ~10KM of racing is worth watching. Not me. I'm watching every kilometer of this slow-ass procession. Who knows, maybe some rouleur will have a bike change.
anyway, the nerds on birdapp think there'll be a GC duel at the end of today, but the profile is screaming climby-sprinty stage. I'm expecting a sprint between Biniam, Mads, and Magnus. Just to name a few.
Fun fact: the European broadcast of the entire Giro d'Italia was available in America through MAX. It gave me my first real watch of the Giro ever. So why don't they have the Tour?
Not only is the American broadcast mid, but over the last decade it's switched platforms ~7 times.
Oh it's a TRACK anime. Well there goes most of my pre-existing knowledge. The first episode is doesn't help with its vague bike racing dialogue.
I knew about the single gear and no brakes, but do track cyclists really not use clipless pedals? Also These lines are totally wrong.
Kinda funny that the first French leader of The Tour de France in a decade (not named Julian Alaphilippe) occurs in Italy. Also all the sprinters finished within the time limit so there's hope for a record breaking sprint tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm gonna eat lunch and then check out Rinkai!
