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Category Archives: 2016 Tour de France

Another One, Come and Gone!

24 Jul

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Luckily for France, the one and only French stage win of this year’s Tour finally came on the third-to-last day, as young Romain Bardet climbed to victory on stage 19.  Even luckier for France, this significant time gain pushed the 25-year-old Frenchman up into second place overall.  As it turns out two days later, as a record 174 of the starting 198 riders crossed the final finish line of stage 21, and while Peter firmly retained the green jersey for his fifth consecutive year, France saw one of their own on the podium in Paris, right behind now three-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome. Another one, come and gone. C’est Le Tour, encore!

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Posted by on July 24, 2016 in 2016 Tour de France, Current Events

 

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A Little Closer to Paris.

20 Jul
Stage 11- Two for Peter
Stage 16- Three for Peter

The second rest day down, the final difficult days toward Paris underway, and the numbers continue to climb. The man in green who hadn’t won a Tour de France stage since 2013 has now won three, thanks to stage 11 and stage 16.  The “missile” has more than solidified his second-place overall TDF stage victory record, hitting his 29th on stage 6, and then his 30th on stage 14, for a total of four stage wins in this year’s Tour.

Stage 6 – Cav’s 3rd for 29.
Stage 14 – Cav’s 4th for 30.

In a three-week race that did not see its first withdrawal until stage 8, a relatively few 19 of the starting 198 riders have now abandoned, among them Alberto Contador, Thibaut Pinot, and– not surprisingly considering the upcoming Rio Olympic Games, Mark Cavendish himself.

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No Tour would be complete without at least one surprise mishap– what might be called a catastrophe if not simply a ridiculous turn of events.  Luckily for Chris Froome, after a suddenly halting motorcycle caused him and others to crash on the climb toward the famous Mont Ventoux in stage 12, he maintained his overall lead and stayed in yellow, after an apparent panic run and much official deliberation no less.  Now days past this unfortunate moment, Froome seems to remain non-threatened– as his time gap widens and Le Tour gets a little closer to Paris.

 
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Posted by on July 20, 2016 in 2016 Tour de France, Current Events

 

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Off to Memorable Starts…

04 Jul

tdf1_c

The day after stage 1 puts yellow on the back of Mark Cavendish, a brilliant stage 2 finish transfers that yellow onto Peter Sagan.  For the former this marks his 27th career TDF stage win, while the latter finally enjoys his first such TDF victory du jour since 2013. Plus, both have now worn le maillot jaune for their first times in any Tour de France!

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Then comes stage 3, and a second, photo-finish win for Cavendish! This brings him to 28 total TDF stage wins, surpassed only by the legendary Eddy Merckx.  Meanwhile, Sagan gets to enjoy yellow for at least another day across relatively flat central France.

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Altogether, my two favorites are off to memorable starts.  Three down, 18 to go.  Vive Le Tour!  And Happy 4th of July to the mere five competing Americans!

 

 
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Posted by on July 4, 2016 in 2016 Tour de France, Current Events

 

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Here They Go Again.

01 Jul
2016tdf_map_route

The 103rd Tour de France is about to roll, tomorrow in fact, starting in France this time!  Here they go again, while there I’m not again.  One of these years…

 
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Posted by on July 1, 2016 in 2016 Tour de France, Current Events

 

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