2023 Tour de France

Testing the waters to see if there are any other cycling fans around these parts!

Here's hoping Pogacar is in top form to make it competitive, because Vingegaard definitely looks like it after watching him in the Dauphine.

Stage overview

Stage 1 preview

Contenders and betting odds

How to watch (TLDR for Americans: Peacock)

If you're new to the sport (as I was a couple years ago) these are some helpful videos to get you up to speed. But even if you're unfamiliar, it's worth the watch for the hours of helicopter shots of the French (and Spanish) countryside and Mads Pedersons ridiculous bike.

 

Yeah I've followed the last few years, mainly because of the great daily highlight videos put on Youtube, allowing me to really get up to speed with the different top riders and mechanics of how the race works.

 

Good stuff, thanks for sharing. I'm only a few years in as well and I'm definitely still learning all of the nuances.

 

Seems like Lance Armstrong has a podcast (which they put the video version on Youtube) recap for every stage

 

Thanks for starting this thread! I haven't watched today's stage yet, but I love that Neilson Powless seems to be having a blast. Him fist bumping and hyping everyone up as he comes over the top has been super charming.

I race Cyclocross and MTB, so I'm always cheering for Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, and Tom Pidcock

If you want a crash course on the Tour, Netflix has a Drive-to-Survive style series on last year's tour that's pretty good.

 

That's awesome you do those sports; I see competitions/races on Youtube from time to time and they always look intense, yet really fun. Great event to watch during the Olympics too.

Funny how Pogacar almost never goes for stage victories, yet consistently remains in the top 3; just an interesting observation of how this racing works.

I think I heard of that series before, but never got around to it; reviews look amazing, so I should try to give it a shot soon.

 

I've been thinking about getting into cyclocross! One of these days I'll swap my tires out and give it a go.

Powless has definitely been a highlight for me as well. Not sure if you've watched yesterday's stage yet or not, but your boy MVDP definitely had an impact.

 

Yesterday seemed like a weird stage. Finishing on the racetrack was a great idea, but all the crashes in the last 3k kind of took the wind out of the sails for me. None of the teams could seem to get their lead out sorted in time to make it a competitive stage finish. Happy that Jasper is racking up the wins (he plays a pretty big role in the Netflix series), he seems super strong this year.

 

I feel like MVDP's relegation here doesn't really much act as much of a deterrent against moves like that. Jasper still got the stage which was obviously the goal of the team. I'm sure he's fine with losing some points and a small fine.

Looking forward to watching today's stage. Yesterday's definitely wasn't the most entertaining.

 

Vingegaard crushed Pogacar today

 

Man, I hate to see Fabio Jakobsen struggle so much after his crash in Stage 4. Glad he finished yesterday within the time limit. That dude is made of tougher stuff.

 

So happy to see Tadej in good form. Not necessarily rooting one way or the other, but the race is better off when he and Jonas can trade blows.

 

Hell of a stage yesterday!

 

Yeah that final climb looked absolutely brutal; even Pogacar was grinning really hard on the final part of the climb.