Tour de France 2024

[Duane_Bosch]

I watched highlights of the Singapore TDF Criterium.

Erm. Yeah.... 

 

Local rider and a few others in the break. Which gets reeled in with 3 laps to go

Cav wins the sprint category

The TDF yellow jersey somehow wins a criterium

Froome 2nd and Nibali 3rd.

 

Honestly tho. Who cares? I'd love to see those legends in a exhibition race around a criterium in CT. Sport is entertainment and that was entertaining. 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Duane_Bosch

['Dale]

Not enough time trial miles? Long-term athletic development? Both?

Edited November 30, 2022 by 'Dale

[Jewbacca]

11 minutes ago, 'Dale said:

Not enough time trial miles? Long-term athletic development? Both?

After the way 2022 panned out for him, who am I to question the methods of the madman that is Pat?

I'm happy to sit back and watch this unfold while appreciating the talent and massive development investment Patrick has made in this guy.

Luckily Tadej has 'a few' good years left. I'm sure they will overlap at some point

[babse]

so Pog vs Jonas again...

[NickGM]

6 minutes ago, babse said:

so Pog vs Jonas again...

It didn't make for a bad tour in 2022.

['Dale]

34 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

After the way 2022 panned out for him, who am I to question the methods of the madman that is Pat?

I'm happy to sit back and watch this unfold while appreciating the talent and massive development investment Patrick has made in this guy.

Luckily Tadej has 'a few' good years left. I'm sure they will overlap at some point

It's lekka intriguing, hey

[lechatnoir]

46 minutes ago, 'Dale said:

Not enough time trial miles? Long-term athletic development? Both?

I'm not sure this is going to make for the 'funnest' watch, but at least it's still the prettiest GT - it has that... what's Italian for je ne sais quoi (OK, Google says it's non so cosa)

[J Wakefield]

QS don't have a Tour winning team (yet) I believe that Remco can with all things being equal, win the Tour but it's not just man alone. The Tour is the Tour, it's different, it's nothing like any of the other Grand Tours. It's not just the GC rider, you need a complete team with you. 

I see 2 scenarios playing out in 2023 for Remco and QS going into 2024 onwards:

1: 
Good:  
QS go on a buying spree and buy a Tour winning team that can support Remco. 

Bad:
Buying a Tour winning team means this detracts from their Classics - QS is a Belgium team that has been fully and completely focused with great success on the Classics. Personally I am not sure Pat will go this route. I actually can't see this happening in full. 

2: 
Good & Bad:
QS don't go on the buying spree and if Remo's goals are now to win more GT's and The Tour, Ineos buys out Remo's contract. Pat lets go of 1 rider and banks a significant amount of money and hires another big name to move over with change to spare.

Ineos are under a lot of pressure to win the Tour again, the ramblings and talk are there when you speak to people and they have a Tour winning support team but not a GC winner. 

This is probably the best played out if ambitions and support differ in the QS camp. 

[edgarblount]

Sir Jim Ratcliffe first needs to buy Manchester United thank you very much! No money left for Remco sorry.

[DieselnDust]

Sir Jim has a yacht race to win first. Sir Ben still has a butt over that embarassment

['Dale]

Meanwhile, on a related note. How surreal. (Sigh)

['Dale]

Change

[Thomo]

6 minutes ago, 'Dale said:

Change

Wow.! That's tantamount to CTCT being held in Paarl.

[splat]

14 hours ago, 'Dale said:

Change

And, I see that this final stage will be a Time Trial

 

[NC_lurker]

15 hours ago, 'Dale said:

Change

Perhaps the move is to avoid a clash with the Olympics. Back to the traditional Paris finish in 2025 hopefully.

[Jewbacca]

16 minutes ago, NC_lurker said:

Perhaps the move is to avoid a clash with the Olympics. Back to the traditional Paris finish in 2025 hopefully.

That's exactly it.

Official statement is that it will move to avoid a clash with the Olympics scheduled to start very soon afterwards.

Having been a part of both the TDF and various Olympics at the planning, organising, construction and deconstruction phases I can tell you it is the right decision. 

I am not privy to the 2024 plans for the temporary venues, but access control, accreditation and construction for the Olympics happens weeks, nay, months in advance.

Cross pollination of contractors, kit, staff etc would be very very tricky.