Le Tour 2025

One of my favourite sporting events and a great three-week distraction during the off-season.

It looks like it’s shaping up to be another Pogacar vs. Vingegaard showdown, with Evenepoel aiming to disrupt their dominance. On current form, you’d have to say the Slovenian is the clear favourite—especially as their teams seem fairly evenly matched this year.

I believe there are 11 Brits in the race, but realistically, none are serious GC contenders. One of the more intriguing subplots is the Yates twins racing in support roles for the main two - a stage win is probably the best we can hope for. I'm particularly interested to see how Oscar Onley performs—I wouldn’t be surprised to see him crack the top 10 on GC. Jake Stewart also looks promising, and a stage win certainly isn’t out of the question. It’s also Geraint Thomas’s last Tour, so it’d be nice to see him get stuck into the action, though his teammate Sam Watson might end up making more of an impact. A bit disappointing that Matthew Brennan isn’t racing this year, but if this season is a guide, he’ll surely win multiple stages in the future.

As for today, it’s a relatively flat opener, so it should be one for the sprinters. That said, there’s been some bonkers racing already, and the crosswinds could have an impact before the finish.

 

Sorry, no French posts on here until after the Lionesses match!

 

Quel culot !

 

Best 3 weeks of the year. I would happily hibernate for the whole Tour.
Cannot see beyond Pog for the win this year but hoping Jonas has improved his condition since the Dauphine and makes a real competition of it

 

My pre-match meal tonight… Amuse bouche and aperitif, bouillabaisse, duck a l’orange, tarte au citron. None of that French faff for me!

 

Summed it up pretty well.

It’ll be interesting to see how much of an impact the teams have or if it will pretty quickly end up a Pogacar - Vingegaard showdown on most of the climbs. Unless he is sacrificed heavily for the team I think Almeida will pip Remco on to the podium.

If Vingegaard was facing a typical stage racer you could expect him to use Van Aert to help him gain time on the non-mountain stages but Pogacar’s probably the 3rd best in the world on classic type stages behind Van Aert & Van der Poel.

I hope to see Oscar Onley breakout with a stage win and / or a decent overall placing & I’d love Thomas to win a stage in his final tour.

It’d be nice to see any of Watson, Askey & Stewart pick up a stage win but I think it’s unlikely.

 

Last year of free-to-air coverage in the UK. Enjoy it while you can, folks.

 

We’ll be left with tiddlywinks, shove ha’penny, British Bulldog, tigs, and hopscotch!

 

Absolute carnage already.

Only Pogacar, Vingegaard, Mas & Jorgenson finishing in the front group out of anyone who could do something overall.

I felt sorry for O’Connor who did well to make the front group but then got taken out by a crash that wasn’t his fault.

 

On British hopes. I forgot to mention Fred Wright above. He’s probably our best bet for a stage win

 

Love to see Fred Wright win a stage. He's come close a few times and he's definitely got the talent to win one though I'm a little unsure of his current form.

Interesting stage today with a lumpy end and up-hill finish. Probably one for van der Poel or van Aert though I think Sam Watson could be a dark horse especially after his top 10 finish yesterday.