The Tour de France being the biggest event of them all, is of course the crown jewel.
The 2015 edition is under way and more than 1 third (of the stages) is completed already.
Many things happened and already and has usual many crashes that took a toll on the peloton. Not as high impact as last year, when we lost the defending champion on week 1. This year we only lost 2 yellow jerseys, that were not contenders for the overall win.
And so all the Big 4 of current cycling are still there: Froome, Contador, Nibali and Quintana.
Froome drew first blood as he currently wears the yellow jersey and holds already some respectful advantage over his main rivals, considering that the first week of the Tour is usually not all important for the overall classification. But last year was already different and Nibali built the foundations for his win on the first week, so are we seeing a repetition of the scenario this year?
But for me the rider that impressed me the most is Peter Sagan. We won the green jersey last year without a stage win and this year is following a similar path. But he looks stronger. Again finishing consistently in the Top 5 like last year's first week but actually beating several times other sprinters, in the likes of Cavendish and Kristoff. Sagan for me is not the fastest finisher of the peloton. He is a great sprinter but most of all he is a great cyclist that can actually compete in my different type of stages and races. Beating Cavendish, Kristoff and other great names so many times in the race so far is very surprising for me. He only got an hold on the green jersey in yesterday's stage, already on the second third (or week) of the race. But he was well in the hunt before that.
Considering that the road gets tougher now and the other sprinters will soon fade, some will even quit, Sagan will now build a gap and finish again the leader of the points classification. Maybe he can grab a win, but most likely he wont. And still just 25 years-old. What a talent!
So yesterday we had the beginning of the second part of the race. It brought the first French win, so that can be crossed off the list. Today a Team Time Trial will for sure bring new gaps on the overall classification. Or maybe not. The Big 4 are on teams that will actually fight for the stage win, so maybe they will still finish close to each other. I do expect however for Quintana to move closer to the others and then we will try to destroy the competition on the mountains.
The second act of the race should be a cracker.
Final note for the Portuguese riders. All eyes on Rui Costa that of course is the biggest name of all, but things do not look good. Expect him to loose more time on today's TTT and then I only hope that he recovers his strength to go for a stage win in the hard stages.
No big expectations in regards to the overall classification, though...
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Second part article ==>
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