2015 Tour de France

[Bonus]

How many of the 21Tour de France teams sponsors products do people actually know?

Some are obvious, others - not so much!

 

Maybe it's more obvious to Europeans, being local and all.

[Gen]

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/07/29/MTN-pulls-out-of-Qhubeka

 

No mention of Dimension Data yet.

Nope.. still in talks last I saw.. all also depending on if they get world tour status I would think.

[Mntboy]

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/07/29/MTN-pulls-out-of-Qhubeka

 

No mention of Dimension Data yet.

Pauwels might be a bit unhappy to find out he's German and not Belgian. Ai toggie!

[Gen]

How many of the 21Tour de France teams sponsors products do people actually know?

Some are obvious, others - not so much!

 

Maybe it's more obvious to Europeans, being local and all.

 

 

if I didn't stream eurosport the one day, I would never had known that Bora is kitchenware 

[GaryvdM]

Some interesting things pointed out by the GCN show:
 
1. The time difference between Froome and Quintana in the mountain and medium mountain stages including time bonuses was 30sec in Quintana's advantage. So one way of looking at it was that the tour was won on the flat but windy stage 2 in Zeeland where Froome finished 1:28 ahead of Quintana.
 
2. Froome is the first person to win both the maillot jaune and the maillot à pois rouges since Eddy Merckx in 1970.

[Frosty]

if I didn't stream eurosport the one day, I would never had known that Bora is kitchenware

Here's their TDF kitchen...

[Frosty]

Love the humour in this video... the "Did you know bit"

[Wez-O]

Okay guys what a Tour! Give me a few days to recover and I'll post some photos from the Alpine stages including the insanity of Dutch corner 

[Frosty]

Cool infographic explaining the Tour

[Uni]

Haven't gone through all the pages to see if this has been posted...

 

['Dale]

Yes, yes, yes!!!

 

 

From cyclingnews.com

 

6. Sagan wins hearts if not stages

 

Peter Sagan featured in Cyclingnews’ conclusions piece from last year’s Tour de France and one year on, much of it rings equally true.

 

Sagan has once again dominated the points classification and showcased his extraordinary all-round prowess, yet has failed to come away with a stage victory. The classification was recalibrated to afford more weight to stage wins and Sagan’s victory margin over four-time stage winner André Greipel – 432 points to 366 – speaks volumes about his consistency and ability to mix it over all sorts of parcours. However, his five second places and 10 top-10s have confirmed him as the nearly man of the Tour.

 

What is more, perceptions of the Slovak seem to have shifted. When he took the 2012 Tour by storm, people thought it was the start of a reign of dominance. As the predicted big Classics wins failed to materialse and the Tour successes dried up, there was a feeling of frustration at potential not being fulfilled, at talent not getting the results it justified.

 

This July, though, we seem to have embraced Sagan for what he is, admittedly helped by his free-spirited endeavours and offbeat interviews, while his string of near misses have, in a way, added to the myth of the man.

 

Even Oleg Tinkov, whose dissatisfaction with his multimillion-euro acquisition has been well documented this year, ended up expressing his admiration for Sagan’s abilities over frustration at his perceived failures.

 

Yes, he did tweet “I ******* crashed my Bang&Olufsen TV set” after Sagan’s second place in Gap, but he also said: “he is by far, for me, the strongest rider in this Tour de France. I know that somebody in Britain thinks Christopher Froome is the strongest, but that's not true. It's Peter Sagan, and those who don't admit that don't know cycling."

 

In a way, he’s right. Sagan’s remarkable talents may not be adequately reflected in the record books of posterity but those who know cycling will not forget the way he lit up this Tour. (PF)

[deanbean]

Yes, yes, yes!!!

 

 

From cyclingnews.com

 

6. Sagan wins hearts if not stages

 

Peter Sagan featured in Cyclingnews’ conclusions piece from last year’s Tour de France and one year on, much of it rings equally true.

 

Sagan has once again dominated the points classification and showcased his extraordinary all-round prowess, yet has failed to come away with a stage victory. The classification was recalibrated to afford more weight to stage wins and Sagan’s victory margin over four-time stage winner André Greipel – 432 points to 366 – speaks volumes about his consistency and ability to mix it over all sorts of parcours. However, his five second places and 10 top-10s have confirmed him as the nearly man of the Tour.

 

What is more, perceptions of the Slovak seem to have shifted. When he took the 2012 Tour by storm, people thought it was the start of a reign of dominance. As the predicted big Classics wins failed to materialse and the Tour successes dried up, there was a feeling of frustration at potential not being fulfilled, at talent not getting the results it justified.

 

This July, though, we seem to have embraced Sagan for what he is, admittedly helped by his free-spirited endeavours and offbeat interviews, while his string of near misses have, in a way, added to the myth of the man.

 

Even Oleg Tinkov, whose dissatisfaction with his multimillion-euro acquisition has been well documented this year, ended up expressing his admiration for Sagan’s abilities over frustration at his perceived failures.

 

Yes, he did tweet “I ******* crashed my Bang&Olufsen TV set” after Sagan’s second place in Gap, but he also said: “he is by far, for me, the strongest rider in this Tour de France. I know that somebody in Britain thinks Christopher Froome is the strongest, but that's not true. It's Peter Sagan, and those who don't admit that don't know cycling."

 

In a way, he’s right. Sagan’s remarkable talents may not be adequately reflected in the record books of posterity but those who know cycling will not forget the way he lit up this Tour. (PF)

I didn't like him when he started. He seemed to full of himself, but his antics and strength on the bike have shown him to be a great rider, and a showman of note.

 

edit he's a character, and our sport needs that

[Pure Savage]

So I found out what Gen looks like. Thanks twitter

[Gen]

So I found out what Gen looks like. Thanks twitter

[emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]

 

Shees nothing is pvt anymore[emoji12]

[Thor Buttox]

So I found out what Gen looks like. Thanks twitter

If that yacht is in Klerksdorp lagoon, and Gen is short for Genuine, I am going to do what I should have done all this time...

 

Tinkoff-Saxo... Tinkoff-Saxo...!!! :)

[tombeej]

Jeez, I hope he doesn't walk on the beach with those tan lines. I thought the 'Euro' way was to roll the sleeves up in training and also to ride without gloves in training to minimise the tan lines on the arms (only tan lines on legs acceptable).

 

Living in KZN it's one thing I'm always trying to cancel out by sunning myself at the pool, etc - can't have cycling tan lines when you're at the beach!