La Grand Boucle starts today with La Grand Depart from Brussels. Eurosport is on, and I’ve got a Belgian bun(s) for company. Any of our Benelux friends watching live? For those catching up later: good to see GvA in the break already
What do we think is going to go down? While I’d love to see Thomas win again, I’d be very happy for Bernal if he becomes de facto leader later on. He’s definitely in form, but perhaps might lack some of the racing nous/experience? That said, with such a good squad and with team radio, you’d think he has the support he needs.
Because of their amazing kit, I want to see a lot of EF. While Uran’s been out of action for a while he got third place recently and the team behind looks as though it might have a couple of stage wins.
Movistar have their ‘trident’ again, but which will they focus on? Quintana doesn’t seem to impose himself enough and is happy to shadow others. I don’t think that makes him very popular.
I think EF is gonna be sneaky good, they’ve got a really strong team, and Uran or Tejay should finish on the podium I think.
MoviStar should be able to win, but I don’t think their ‘A-Team’ has the same level of chemistry as their Giro squad did, and Landa will be fighting Quintana for the leader position.
I agree with @pcort about EF. I think Uran will feel at home with all the high altitude sections this year, and the rest of the team is quite strong. I’m sure they’ll get a stage win with how that team has been flying this year. Really hoping it’ll be Kangert because he’s been so close several times this year in breakaways. I also expect Ciccone to battle quite hard for those polka dots, but I don’t think he’ll have enough to take it from Alaphillipe. Van Aert is my second favorite for the white.
Replay is on NBC Sports right now, I’ll see if it’s resolved. And now my wife is watching the Copper fit compression glove commercial and thinks I need a pair after my MCL/UCL thumb sprain recovers
Insane ride. All the other top teams were so close to each other and then Jumbo Visma goes along to obliterate the time of Ineos. Really proud of the ride Katusha did as well. I’m a fan of Alex Dowsett from his YouTube and his wife’s Thighs Club stuff so it was great to see him going well.
Have you listened to The Move podcast? They have a segment with Johan Bruyneel where he makes predictions for the next day.
For the TTT, he said Ineos would put up the best time that would stand for the day, until Jumbo-visma, who would win. Right on the money. He really knows his stuff.
