Tour De France 2014

[limerickman]

Next Saturday the 2014 Tour De France starts in Yorkshire, England.

The contenders for GC include defending champion Chris Froome and former winner Alberto Contador.
Bradley Wiggins, another former winner, will not be racing in this years race and will not be supporting Froome's title defence.

Other riders who may well have a crack at winning on GC include Richie Porte, Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde.

GCN 2014 Tour de France Preview

2014 Stages Stage Date Route Distance Stage 1 July 05, 2014 Leeds - Harrogate 190.5 km Stage 2 July 06, 2014 York - Sheffield 201 km Stage 3 July 07, 2014 Cambridge - London 155 km Stage 4 July 08, 2014 Le Touquet-Paris-Plage - Lille Métropole 163.5 km Stage 5 July 09, 2014 Ypres - Arenberg Porte du Hainaut 155.5 km Stage 6 July 10, 2014 Arras - Reims 194 km Stage 7 July 11, 2014 Épernay - Nancy 234.5 km Stage 8 July 12, 2014 Tomblaine - Gérardmer La Mauselaine 161 km Stage 9 July 13, 2014 Gérardmer - Mulhouse 170 km Stage 10 July 14, 2014 Mulhouse - La Planche des Belles Filles 161.5 km Rest Day 1 July 15, 2014 Besançon - Besançon Stage 11 July 16, 2014 Besançon - Oyonnax 187.5 km Stage 12 July 17, 2014 Bourg-en-Bresse - Saint-Étienne 185.5 km Stage 13 July 18, 2014 Saint-Étienne - Chamrousse 197.5 km Stage 14 July 19, 2014 Grenoble - Risoul 177 km Stage 15 July 20, 2014 Tallard - Nîmes 222 km Rest Day 2 July 21, 2014 Carcassonne - Carcassonne Stage 16 July 22, 2014 Carcassonne - Bagnères-de-Luchon 237.5 km Stage 17 July 23, 2014 Saint-Gaudens - Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet 124.5 km Stage 18 July 24, 2014 Pau - Hautacam 145.5 km Stage 19 July 25, 2014 Maubourguet Pays du Val d'Adour - Bergerac 208.5 km Stage 20 July 26, 2014 Bergerac - Périgueux (ITT) 54 km Stage 21 July 27, 2014 Évry - Paris Champs-Élysées 137.5 km
2014 Race Route

Who are the Top Contenders?

2014 Tour de France Start List


Team Sky 1 Christopher Froome (GBr)
2 Bernhard Eisel (Aut)
3 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr)
4 David Lopez Garcia (Spa)
5 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa)
6 Danny Pate (USA)
7 Richie Porte (Aus)
8 Geraint Thomas (GBr)
9 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa)


Movistar Team 11 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa)
12 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa)
13 John Gadret (Fra)
14 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa)
15 Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa)
16 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spa)
17 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa)
18 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa)
19 Giovanni Visconti (Ita)


Team Katusha 21 Joaquím Rodríguez Oliver (Spa)
22 Vladimir Isaychev (Rus)
23 Alexander Kristoff (Nor)
24 Luca Paolini (Ita)
25 Alexander Porsev (Rus)
26 Egor Silin (Rus)
27 Gatis Smukulis (Lat)
28 Simon Spilak (Slo)
29 Yury Trofimov (Rus)


Tinkoff-Saxo 31 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa)
32 Daniele Bennati (Ita)
33 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa)
34 Rafal Majka (Pol)
35 Michael Mørkøv (Den)
36 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por)
37 Nicolas Roche (Irl)
38 Michael Rogers (Aus)
39 Matteo Tosatto (Ita)


Astana Pro Team 41 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)
42 Jakob Fuglsang (Den)
43 Andriy Grivko (Ukr)
44 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz)
45 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz)
46 Tanel Kangert (Est)
47 Michele Scarponi (Ita)
48 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita)
49 Lieuwe Westra (Ned)


Cannondale 51 Peter Sagan (Svk)
52 Maciej Bodnar (Pol)
53 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita)
54 Edward King (USA)
55 Kristijan Koren (Slo)
56 Marco Marcato (Ita)
57 Jean-Marc Marino (Fra)
58 Fabio Sabatini (Ita)
59 Elia Viviani (Ita)


Belkin Pro Cycling Team 61 Bauke Mollema (Ned)
62 Lars Boom (Ned)
63 Stef Clement (Ned)
64 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned)
65 Tom Leezer (Ned)
66 Bram Tankink (Ned)
67 Laurens ten Dam (Ned)
68 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel)
69 Maarten Wynants (Bel)


Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 71 Mark Cavendish (GBr)
72 Jan Bakelants (Bel)
73 Michal Golas (Pol)
74 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol)
75 Tony Martin (Ger)
76 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita)
77 Mark Renshaw (Aus)
78 Niki Terpstra (Ned)
79 Matteo Trentin (Ita)


AG2R La Mondiale 81 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra)
82 Romain Bardet (Fra)
83 Mickaël Chérel (Fra)
84 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra)
85 Ben Gastauer (Lux)
86 Blel Kadri (Fra)
87 Sébastien Minard (Fra)
88 Matteo Montaguti (Ita)
89 Christophe Riblon (Fra)


Garmin Sharp 91 Andrew Talansky (USA)
92 Janier Alexis Acevedo Colle (Col)
93 Jack Bauer (NZl)
94 Alex Howes (USA)
95 Benjamin King (Aus)
96 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned)
97 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu)
98 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned)
99 Johan Vansummeren (Bel)


Team Giant-Shimano 101 Marcel Kittel (Ger)
102 Roy Curvers (Ned)
103 Koen de Kort (Ned)
104 John Degenkolb (Ger)
105 Dries Devenyns (Bel)
106 Tom Dumoulin (Ned)
107 Ji Cheng (Chn)
108 Albert Timmer (Ned)
109 Tom Veelers (Ned)


Lampre-Merida 111 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por)
112 Davide Cimolai (Ita)
113 Kristijan Durasek (Cro)
114 Christopher Horner (USA)
115 Sacha Modolo (Ita)
116 Nelson Oliveira (Por)
117 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Arg)
118 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col)
119 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa)


FDJ.fr 121 Arnaud Démare (Fra)
122 William Bonnet (Fra)
123 Mickaël Delage (Fra)
124 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra)
125 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra)
126 Cédric Pineau (Fra)
127 Thibaut Pinot (Fra)
128 Jérémy Roy (Fra)
129 Arthur Vichot (Fra)


Lotto Belisol 131 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel)
132 Lars Ytting Bak (Den)
133 Bart De Clercq (Bel)
134 Tony Gallopin (Fra)
135 Andre Greipel (Ger)
136 Adam Hansen (Aus)
137 Gregory Henderson (NZl)
138 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel)
139 Marcel Sieberg (Ger)


BMC Racing Team 141 Tejay van Garderen (USA)
142 Darwin Atapuma (Col)
143 Marcus Burghardt (Ger)
144 Amaël Moinard (Fra)
145 Daniel Oss (Ita)
146 Michael Schär (Swi)
147 Peter Stetina (USA)
148 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel)
149 Peter Velits (Svk)


Team Europcar 151 Pierre Rolland (Fra)
152 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn)
153 Bryan Coquard (Fra)
154 Cyril Gautier (Fra)
155 Yohann Gène (Fra)
156 Alexandre Pichot (Fra)
157 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra)
158 Kevin Reza (Fra)
159 Thomas Voeckler (Fra)


Trek Factory Racing 161 Fränk Schleck (Lux)
162 Matthew Busche (USA)
163 Fabian Cancellara (Swi)
164 Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa)
165 Grégory Rast (Swi)
166 Andy Schleck (Lux)
167 Danny van Poppel (Ned)
168 Jens Voigt (Ger)
169 Haimar Zubeldia Aguirre (Spa)


Cofidis, Solutions Credits 171 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa)
172 Nicolas Edet (Fra)
173 Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel (Spa)
174 Cyril Lemoine (Fra)
175 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa)
176 Rudy Molard (Fra)
177 Adrien Petit (Fra)
178 Julien Simon (Fra)
179 Rein Taaramäe (Est)


Orica GreenEdge 181 Simon Gerrans (Aus)
182 Michael Albasini (Swi)
183 Simon Clarke (Aus)
184 Luke Durbridge (Aus)
185 Mathew Hayman (Aus)
186 Jens Keukeleire (Bel)
187 Christian Meier (Can)
188 Svein Tuft (Can)
189 Simon Yates (GBr)


IAM Cycling 191 Mathias Frank (Swi)
192 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra)
193 Martin Elmiger (Swi)
194 Heinrich Haussler (Aus)
195 Reto Hollenstein (Swi)
196 Roger Kluge (Ger)
197 Jérôme Pineau (Fra)
198 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi)
199 Marcel Wyss (Swi)


Team NetApp-Endura 201 Leopold König (Cze)
202 Jan Barta (Cze)
203 David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Spa)
204 Zakkari Dempster (Aus)
205 Bartosz Huzarski (Pol)
206 Tiago Machado (Por)
207 José Joao Pimenta Costa Mendes (Por)
208 Andreas Schillinger (Ger)
209 Paul Voss (Ger)


Bretagne-Séché Environnement 211 Brice Feillu (Fra)
212 Jean-Marie Bideau (Fra)
213 Anthony Delaplace (Fra)
214 Romain Feillu (Fra)
215 Armindo Fonseca (Fra)
216 Arnaud Gerard (Fra)
217 Florian Guillou (Fra)
218 Benoit Jarrier (Fra)
219 Florian Vachon (Fra)

 

[limerickman]

I'm looking forward to seeing howw Adam Talansky fares in this years race after an excellent race last year.

Same goes for Pierre Rolland.

 

[jhuskey]

Could be Valverdes last chance. Still not sure why Quintana is not going to race. Looks like sprinters and break aways until stage 10 and then 13 looks like pain for all. I am not impressed with the way the early stages are being presented. I like to see more suffering.

 

[jhuskey]

Sagan might make things interesting also.

 

[danfoz]

Sagan!

 

[limerickman]

@JH : I agree this years race - certainly first half of the race - is suffering lite.

@JH & Danfoz : how could I forget Sagan.

 

[limerickman]

Stage 5 is an acknowledgement by the ASO to the centenary of the war to end all wars (World War I)

Ypres was the location of huge casualties.

 

[jhuskey]

Not to overstate the obvious but with Froome's history and considering Sky probably has the strongest team it will take an epic effort to overcome the odds to be in yellow in Paris.

 

[slovakguy]

i think contador has good edge on the title.

as for the centenary, heve to believe that aso will remember in some way the riders who gave their lives in that war.

 

[jhuskey]

Contador is certainly on the radar this year and he will no doubt take the opportunity to break in the mountains if he gets a shot however Sky is very good at tempo riding to keep the peloton at it's limit and reduce the effectiveness of attacks. We will see if he has the legs.
I also suspect and hope for strong showing and stage win for Jens since this will probably be his last show. Some of the early stage should play well for his type of riding.
I would add that Voeckler can abandon the race early as far as I am concerned. I use to like him ok but just over him now I guess. There is a line between aggressive riding and showboating.

 

[slovakguy]

hoping that this year is one for the outliers. it would please me greatly to see the cart upset by a team like bmc who should be able to stand up to sky.

 

[Ramirez-Auron]

Quintana has already contested (and won) the Giro this year. He's only 24 years old, so the participation in the TdF would be a risk to harm his physical progress.

 

[steve]

Originally Posted by Ramirez-Auron
Quintana has already contested (and won) the Giro this year. He's only 24 years old, so the participation in the TdF would be a risk to harm his physical progress.

Spot on, alejandro valverde is their man this year.

 

[steve]

STAGE 1: Leeds / Harrogate @ 190.5km

Stage 1 Map, Profile and Last km

Key Climbs Km 68.0 - Côte de Cray1.6 kilometre-long climb at 7.1% - category 4
Km 103.5 - Côte de Buttertubs4.5 kilometre-long climb at 6.8% - category 3
Km 129.5 - Côte de Griton Moor3 kilometre-long climb at 6.6% - category 3

 

[steve]

Here is some footage of the last km showing Mark Cavendish's crash that left him with a separated shoulder. Cavendish admitted that he was going for a gap that didn't exist.

 

[ambal]

Does anyone know why andrew talansky lost almost 4 minutes? garmin are making a habit of screwing up their starts in the tours this year.

Cavendish is out of the tour, it's a shame because I was looking forward to him going head to head with sagan and kittel.

 

[steve]

Seems to have been already posted here, but it's official now;

Mark Cavendish pulls out of Tour de France after crash in first stage Mark Cavendish has pulled out of the Tour de France following a crash in the final kilometer of the opening stage, his team Omega Pharma-Quick Step have confirmed.

 

[steve]

STAGE 2: York / Sheffield @ 201km Stage 2 bears more resemblance to the route of a Classic like Liège-Bastogne-Liège than to a traditional early stage of the Tour de France stage. The finish up the very steep Jenkin Road will cause splits within the peloton, and may even favour a sprinter with climbing power like Cannondale’s Peter Sagan or a proven Ardennes classics rider like Simon Gerrans (if he pulls up alright from yesterdays crash) or Joaquím Rodríguez.

Stage 2 Map, Profile and Last km


Mountain Passes and Hills Km 47.0 - Côte de Blubberhouses: 1.8 kilometre-long climb at 6.1% - category 4
Km 85.0 - Côte d'Oxenhope Moor: 3.1 kilometre-long climb at 6.4% - category 3
Km 112.5 - VC - Côte de Ripponden 1.3 kilometre-long climb at 8.6% - category 3
Km 119.5 - Côte de Greetland: 1.6 kilometre-long climb at 6.7% - category 3
Km 143.5 - Côte de Holme Moss: 4.7 kilometre-long climb at 7% - category 2
Km 167.0 - Côte de Midhopestones: 2.5 kilometre-long climb at 6.1% - category 3
Km 175.0 - Côte de Bradfield: 1 kilometre-long climb at 7.4% - category 4
Km 182.0 - Côte d'Oughtibridge: 1.5 kilometre-long climb at 9.1% - category 3
Km 196.0 - VC - Côte de Jenkin Road: 0.8 kilometre-long climb at 10.8% - category 4

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by ambal
Does anyone know why andrew talansky lost almost 4 minutes? garmin are making a habit of screwing up their starts in the tours this year.

Cavendish is out of the tour, it's a shame because I was looking forward to him going head to head with sagan and kittel.

It's a shame Cav is out, I might be one of the few who actually likes the guy, but on the upside I think it will remove some of the predictability from sprint finishes and make for a more exciting race.

 

[steve]

Originally Posted by danfoz

It's a shame Cav is out, I might be one of the few who actually likes the guy, but on the upside I think it will remove some of the predictability from sprint finishes and make for a more exciting race.

Yeah I must admit i'm not really a fan of him

it's never good to see super stars go home early though, the race is better with him in it IMO.