Tour de France 2017

I'll be surprised if Quintana is even in the Tour this year, having done the Giro.

I'll be going for a French rider in all probability (it must be the year for France this year!), but will wait until the team rosters are announced.

That said, Froome will be the man to beat.

I think Froome, with every thing that's gone on at Sky he will want to prove himself.

I think that Froome would want to 'prove himself' anyway. After all, it's worth mega-bucks to him to win any big competition.

And he does seem to be a very 'driven' person and an excellent pro cyclist.

Regarding Team Sky......who would have thought that 'marginal gains' would turn out to mean 'stretching the doping rules to the very extremes of their limits......and maybe a bit more' ?

Just had a look at the team selections and route.

Really difficult one to call, the route only has two short time trails and two proper summit finishes.
Could make it really wide open.
Rather than seeing all the favourites holding back to the final climbs, we might see loads of attacking on innocuous stages that could gain time that normal GC contenders won't have the opportunity to gain back. This is going to make everyone super attentive to break aways almost anywhere.
I am hoping it will be really exiting as a result (but might be wrong)

The route does not play to either Froome or Quintanas strengths, but their two teams are far and away the strongest on paper. Surely if either want victory it has to come from those two stages. With only short time trials Froome will need every marginal gain he can get.

I wonder what is going through the heads of riders like Dan Martin and Steve Cummins.
On the assumption they could get away, riders like that can get in a break and sustain an attack on hard finishes. With time bonuses on offer too there could be opportunities for such riders. With only two real summit finishes they could limit their losses and keep things really tight at the top.

Vincenzo Nibali says he is riding for Aru, maybe he is, maybe he is past his best, but to me this route has his name written all over it.

Bring it on.

Stage 1 Prologue. Tony Martin on home soil, or either of the BMC boys Porte or Rohan Denis

I'll go for Aru. Not read a lot about anyone's form so just feeling that it's his time for this race.

Now that was a surprise, and a very pleasant one at that. Just goes to show what kind of form he was in before the unfortunate crash in the Giro. Well done Geraint.

Shame about Valverde though. Could a broken kneecap put an end to his racing career, I wonder?

Oh my, after stage 4 , I don't know where to start... 

So I won't   

Well I've got a stage winner at least. The way Aru shot away from the bunch give me some confidence that I've pick the right guy. 

Hell's  Bells  &  little  Ding  Dongs,  Where  are  you  all  --  12  days  since the  latest  comment  ??