HeyItsSara

Just about everything else is cancelled - are we sure that Le Tour is still going on?

diphthong

smaller stage races and one-day events have restarted without major issues that i’m aware of. in today’s climate, the end of august is an eternity. fingers crossed. the dauphiné (the race that usually covers some of the same routes/climbs as le tour) starts on august 12th and will be a good, weeklong trial run to work out any last-minute kinks.

ZHVelo

Vuelta a Burgos and Tour de Occatanie have taken place so...

Also the second wave is not really coming, here for example yes it has gone up again, but nowhere to the levels of the first one.

I guess at worst it will be a very clinical tour - limited press who have to wear masks, team personnel who have to wear masks and no large fan congregations along the road allowed. At the end of the day, even that, with TV money, is still better than no racing at all.

Iride01 

Let's hope it's a go. The Vuelta a España too, those Spaniard police don't mess around if a spectator gets in the way. My jaw dropped when I saw a motorcycle cop leading the pack stiff arm a guy in the road and he went rolling into the ditch. Not really sure how I feel about that. But it got the job done.

OBoile

Europe is in a much better spot than the USA, so things are generally opening up. Pro cycling, in particular, started up again at the start of August.
Having said that, cases in France over the last few days have been trending up. August 29 is a long way away, and the end of the Tour even longer. So I wouldn't count on it happening or, if it starts, on it finishing.

ZHVelo

As I said, they can always ban spectators and force all support staff to wear masks.

If you really want, it is possible. And still better than no racing at all.

OBoile

If the French gov't bans sporting events again it will not be possible no matter how much people want it.
I'm not saying I think that will happen, but I wouldn't bet anything significant against it either.

Gonzobuster

At the moment, the TdF is still expected to take place.

ZHVelo

Calling it - Roglic will win it.

He was playing with Bernal and he has such a strong team. He has 3 super domestiques. He is a far superior TT guy that Bernal and he he has higher kick at the end to take bonus segments.

Doge

When is the roster freeze? I'm wondering if they toss Evenpoel in there.

OBoile

Roglic seems like the guy to beat at this point IMO.

ZHVelo

Yea, although the bookies still have Bernal as a slight favorite for the TdF.

While for the Criterium de Dauphine Roglic is absolute favorite. Makes no sense, why do they think Roglic is going to win Dauphine but not the Tour. The Tour is even more in his favor, given it has a ITT and TTT, and he has proven he can win a 3 week GT already, so....

fietsbob

https://www.letour.fr/en/

diphthong

[QUOTE=ZHVelo;21634715]Yea, although the bookies still have Bernal as a slight favorite for the TdF.

While for the Criterium de Dauphine Roglic is absolute favorite. Makes no sense, why do they think Roglic is going to win Dauphine but not the Tour. The Tour is even more in his favor, given it has a ITT and TTT, and he has proven he can win a 3 week GT already, so....[/QUOTE]

roglic or bernal could absolutely win the dauphine but the tendency in the tdf warm-up races has been not to show all your cards for the big boys and to concentrate
more on the little things/teamwork that will pay off for the tdf. to that end, i can see thomas or pogacar or dumou or sivakov or soler or porte (or about 20 other riders...damn
race is stacked!) winning the dauphine. roglic and bernal (and quintana, etc) will want to finish in the top ten every day but i don't think any of them are super keen
to go deep into the red winning a stage/holding onto a jersey/winning the overall but who knows? this year has thrown a monkey wrench into things and it may end
up being a grab as much as you can classics-style vs the usual being patient and biding your time gt-style since race(s) could be cancelled at any moment.

one4smoke

[QUOTE=ooga-booga;21636260]THAT is a damn good point!

diphthong

so for a favorite (team) to win the tdf, they may let their 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th guy "off the leash" so a sivakov or a krusjin or barguil or higuera or formolo or wout may be allowed to go wild after the first or second stage
to see how teams respond as well as how said rider performs under pressure for a few days. then again, there's a dqs with alaphilippe looking to absolutely crush/win everything and an aru or landa looking to stay relevant.
gonna be a fascinating dauphiné this year.

ZHVelo

But that is my point, Roglic is the massive favorite for Dauphine, but not TdF - if anything, he is more likely not to win Dauphine than TdF exactly because of what you said.

On the other hand, he wanted to win all 3 Tour de l'Ain stages, and only narrowly didn't. Who is to say he won't be as ambitious now. They will want to practice their teamplay against more opponents now (Bora and Buchmann are in it, Pinot is in it, Pogacar is in it now).

diphthong

there are a few others in contention for the podium but yah...i see buchmann as a dark horse podium contender and with pogacar, the sky is the limit.
i don't see pinot on the podium of the tdf anymore. top ten-yes. too much young talent in the last two years has emerged.

whom am i to argue with professional oddsmakers? roglic could take the dauphiné as a rough draft and be content with letting kuss or kruijsin or dumou
or wout or gesink enjoy their moment in the sun. put the team through the paces. send the occasional guy on a flyer/breakaway. shut down breakaways.
pace roglic along the climbs on the toughest day or two. set the pace here and there. go through the checklist and then let one or two of the guys have at it.
roglic could be all about crushing the dauphiné but i feel he and the team showed enough recently to just fine-tune things for the tdf and other potential gt's/races
vs going cannibal and wanting everything all the time. hell...team jv could send wout on a flyer all five stages and the other teams would have to respect and counter
that move. imagine how wout off the front of a rolling transitional/medium mountain/big mountain stage would play out late august through mid-september in the tdf.

we'll find out soon enough if ineos was sandbagging...i think team jv did it right by going hard before the dauphiné and forcing team ineos to have to show more-or not-before the tdf.
as to which strategy is the ultimate victor...