Tour de France 2026

[milky4130]

[SwissVan]

2 hours ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

It's pretty clear that Visma want to make every stage as hard as possible in the hope that Taddy will fatigue more than Jonas over time. Even Taddy questioned their motive yesterday.

 

 

At last a reason to not like him (TP)

Normally he is Mr niceguyhardnottolike 

[peepeekaitjie]

[RobynE 🚵‍♀️]

TdF 1962 with 947 vibes 😂

[Guest Mike Dewing]

Le Tour inspired illustration I’ve been working on the last few days.. 🤘🏻😃👍🏻

[Jaco Steyn]

The average speeds that these pro cyclists are achieving is blowing my mind. Yesterday's stage was 197 km which was won in a time of 04:05:39, which equates to an average speed of 48.12 km/h. The first hour was raced at an incredible 53.9 km/h!

Today probably will also be a very fast stage seeing that it is a quite flat route. And, this makes for another awesome sprint finish.

[Eugene Oppelt]

Legs are beginning to fall off; big high speed crashes on straight roads far too common. Rest day only on Tuesday. Eish!

[DieselnDust]

11 hours ago, Eugene Oppelt said:

Legs are beginning to fall off; big high speed crashes on straight roads far too common. Rest day only on Tuesday. Eish!

And need for

gesring restriction and wider bars receives wide spread criticism 

[tinmug]

... makes one think of football players clutching ankles (with the exception of Remco who appears to be made of something different).

Tough sport this.

[NC_lurker]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

And need for

gesring restriction and wider bars receives wide spread criticism 

I'm really not convinced that gearing restrictions would have a major impact. By limiting gearing you'll be incentivizing higher cadence. Higher cadence (at extreme levels) can lead to reduced control/increased movement on the bike.

On a different note I struggle to understand why when the concussion protocol was brought in it wasn't linked to allowing riders to be motor paced back to the bunch. If you want riders to honestly answer medical questions you need to remove the need for them to be back on the bike ASAP. If a rider knows they can be assisted (motor paced) back if they've waited for the race Dr to check them out, then it'll remove anxiety and improve the interaction.

[J Wakefield]

Gearing has no effect - been proven by the clever people involved last 3 weeks 

[NC_lurker]

40 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Gearing has no effect - been proven by the clever people involved last 3 weeks 

John, out of interest that you know of, has there been any discussion around allowing riders to be assisted back to the group after medical evaluation?

[shaper]

6 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

And need for

gesring restriction and wider bars receives wide spread criticism 

https://escapecollective.com/riders-union-president-hansen-admits-handlebar-rule-error/

[DieselnDust]

20 hours ago, shaper said:

https://escapecollective.com/riders-union-president-hansen-admits-handlebar-rule-error/

the 32cm width measurement error in that it was intended to be CtC is not a big change.

 

I'd be interested in discussing what would improve safety while not losing the essence of the tour. Removal of road furniture for a peloton that comes through within a matter of seconds isn't practical. 

They've tried reducing the number of teams, reducing the number of riders in a team now trialing gearings restrictions and what to enforce wider bars. All we see are the criticism of the proposed rules with no other solutions appearing on offer. 

Edited July 14, 2025 by DieselnDust

[J Wakefield]

5 hours ago, NC_lurker said:

John, out of interest that you know of, has there been any discussion around allowing riders to be assisted back to the group after medical evaluation?

You mean like behind cars etc? There is "assistance" but not allowed but it happens for a point then you can be barraged or told to stop. its like a unwritten rule 

[NC_lurker]

1 minute ago, J Wakefield said:

You mean like behind cars etc? There is "assistance" but not allowed but it happens for a point then you can be barraged or told to stop. its like a unwritten rule 

Thanks for the response 👍🏼

Yup, talking about being motor paced behind a team car. I'm suggesting that instead of it being subjectively allowed/disallowed by the commissaries instead they make a rule that states you can be motor paced by a team car back to the bunch/cars if you've required by the race Dr to undergo a concussion test or other attention.