Le Tour de France 2020

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

It all kicks off tomorrow and I reckon it’s as open as it’s been in many years due to a combination of COVID interrupting the season, injuries affecting riders’ preparation, and obvious contenders not being on the starting line.

There’s a good and concise assessment of the main GC favourites here https://inrng.com/2020/08/tour-de-france-2020-cont...

I’m going to stick my neck out and choose Pinot as my pick. It’s been a crazy year so far and I think that if a Frenchman is ever going to win again then the time is now.

[Leithen]

There seems to be some doubt that it might make it all the way to the end.

[mcelliott]

I absolutely love Pinot and it would be great to see him win but mentally he's very fragile, injury permitting Roglic for me.

[anonymous-user]

I can’t see beyond Roglic personally. Pinot will go very well and has Gaudu by his side but it won’t be enough. Roglic can put well over a minute on him in the TTand I can’t see Pinot getting that gap ahead of the final stage. Should be a cracker though, lots of attacking riders and with the likes of Landa and Alaphilippe pretty much free to go for stage wins and having stealthy GC aspirations, it should be the best race in years.

[shouldbworking]

Pinot doesn't know how to win. Look at the dauphine, it was his to win and he let his mind get the better of him.

Roglic all the way I think

[JuniorD]

Hope to see Sam Bennett showing Bora who the sprint boss by taking the win and the yellow jersey today!

[ArnageWRC]

Leithen said:

There seems to be some doubt that it might make it all the way to the end.

And typical of cycling, no rules/regs in case it need to be cancelled. Which means loads of 'grey areas'....or making it up as they see fit.

[spikeyhead]

Roglic must be favourite, however it'd be a brave man to bet against Bernal finding some form

[Johnny]

Complete carnage.

[johnpsanderson]

ArnageWRC said:

And typical of the charm of pro cycling, a flexible approach to dealing with complex situations.

FTFY

I’d rather have Gallic unpredictablity than a cycling equivalent to the Duckworth-Lewis method!

[lauda]

Total and utter carnage. They’re still crashing even though the race has been neutralised.

You have to wonder how many many injuries picked up today are going to hurt the teams later in the race. Not good for Ineos to have Sivakov and Amador down on the first stage.

[anonymous-user]

Fairy liquid on the road?

[frisbee]

The attacker who lost it and splatted into the B&B sign after the majority of the riders decided to neutralise the race for a bit was a bit of a plum.

[ReallyReallyGood]

Wasn’t a lot of social distancing going on in the crowds at the finish line!

[anonymous-user]

Connor Swift in 18th. Must have avoided most of the carnage and ridden well

[anonymous-user]

JPJPJP said:

Fairy liquid on the road?

Just heavy rain on months of dirt and grime I’d say, nothing that sinister. You could see drains overflowed on some bits which suggested it was just rain and nothing sinister

[anonymous-user]

pablo said:

Just heavy rain on months of dirt and grime I’d say, nothing that sinister. You could see drains overflowed on some bits which suggested it was just rain and nothing sinister

https://twitter.com/elmanillarcol/status/1299775147340165124

A soap sprayer in the publicity caravan

Resulting in this

https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/129975709...

[oddball1313]

Strong disply of his talent by julian alaphilippe today, looked a brutal stage as well

[mcelliott]

Liking the aggressive start to the tour, used to hate those long flat stages of the first week in previous races.

[BrotherMouzone]

oddball1313 said:

Strong disply of his talent by julian alaphilippe today, looked a brutal stage as well

Great finish. I’m rooting for him this year.