re: 2021 Pro Cycling Thread-Julian Alaphilippe is Your World Champ Again!

Bought a GCN+ subscription.
Going to lay on the couch and watch a few of their bikepacking videos.

Been looking forward to their Cairngorms trip.

Same.
I originally bought it to watch the Giro but kept it because their content is so well made.

2nd-page prevention bump.

On July 20th, 1969 while Buzz and Neil were stepping down onto the Moon, Édouard Louis Joseph Merckx had just finished winning his first TdF. Back then it was not unusual to have an ITT on the same day as another stage of the tour. There were two stages that day with the second being a 37km ITT that Eddie won to cap off his 17 minute 54 second victory in the Tour.



While Eddie might look a little spent in the picture if you look closely he had just changed into the big ring and the shift is about 70% complete.

Has anyone here ever been to a stage before? I wonder what is the best stage to attend.

I would reccomend a mountain stage and individual TT later in the race when it really matters.

I've been twice. First was 2010 near finish of a flat stage 2 in Spa, Belgium. The race passed by so quickly it was almost over in a blink of an eye. Glad to have seen Armstrong's last TdF. The spectacle and atmosphere were great but it was like waiting hours for a Mardi Gras parade followed by a few brief mins of bike race.

Last year I drove down to catch next to last stage near summit of La Blanche Des Belles Filles. That was a much more better experience. It was a climb and individual TT so each rider passed solo and at a slower pace as they fought up the summit. I thought the race was all but decided but Pog had a historic performance and took yellow. Plus, COVID restrictions had just been lifted so it was awesome to just be outdoors with a crowd and everyone was in a jubilant mood. There were virtually no Americans up there that day due to travel restrictions, remote location, and waning interest. I had positive interactions w/ Europeans when they saw the US flag (not so much the case in 2010). Before the caravan came through I ran up the entire climb to check out the finish and scout a good spot to watch all day. I was carrying carrying a folding chair and backpack full of refreshments with the flag attached. I probably looked like a crazy person trying to run the entire way. Much to my surprise, the crowd was supportive with many Allez Allez! And several U.S.A. chants along the way. It was better than any race I've run. Best was the actual race lasted hours instead of minutes and just happened to be the day of an all time great performance. Just wish I had brought paint instead of chalk maybe tigerdroppings.com would have be legible on TV.

Love seein that pic everytime.

Freedom’d hard yesterday and took my rest day today as well with the riders.
Will update the thread mañana. Not sure anyone actually reads the updates but enjoy doing them either way.
Cheers all

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Cheers all

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Racing Returns Today!! Thanks for the updates.

Looks like a mass sprint today. Still 100K+ but only two in the break won’t win today.

Cav gets his 3rd stage win of this year's TdF... 1 more to tie Eddie's record for most career stage wins

His teammates did an absolutely excellent job leading into that final sprint. He could go wherever he wanted. One more to tie!