Tour de France Postponed

Racing
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Not surprised but definitely disappointed

TDF Postponed

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Iā€™ll wait for the next communique which announces all three GTs cancelled for 2020.

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lots of wet weather for an October Giro. Combined with the usual brutal route, that could make for a great race.

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Yeah, I have little faith in that tweet I posted, but just thought it was worth posting as reference.

I donā€™t really know how the teams could do 3 back-to-back GTā€™s. Some doemstiques are gonna get ground to dustā€¦even only doing 2, there is little time for recovery in between. Best case scenario would be doing the Tour, recover during the Vuelta and then race the Giro.

Brutal.

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I will be happy if we get to see any one of those races.

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Doubtful any of them will actually happen, but the idea of fall grand tours has me salivating.

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Maybe this will be yet another COVID altered outcome ā€“ a 3-month Mega Grand Tour!

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And then the world Championships after the Giro? Literally last man standing.

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Just showing up is half the battle.

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I was having this discussion with a few buddies and teammates and we came up with a great idea for all 3 tours if they want to compress/combine all toursā€¦ spend 1 week in each country, that is first week in Italy, second in France, then top it off in Spain. Plenty of routes along the coast. Or go in the other direction from Spain thru France then Italy.

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Do a special one of, and call it The Grand Tour. And maybe get Clarkson, Hammond and May as commentatorsā€¦ Would be a trip :joy:

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Throw everything together ā€“ Tour de Kitchen Sink.

GTs, Classics, WCsā€¦3-month long mash-up of everything. Winner getā€™s a special one-time-only/lifetime ā€˜King of Coronaā€™ jersey/trophy. And a weeklong nap. :+1:

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I think the TDF is the most important of the grand tours to try to have this year, as many teamsā€™ contracts have provisions in them regarding participation. My guess is that for world tour teams the TDF is the most financially important race for them, and not having it this year will be a disaster for many. Or really a bigger disaster than this year already has been. Hopefully the cycling calendar and teams will be recognizable next year.

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Tour now happening from Aug. 29 - Sep. 20.

Officially official.

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Not sure whether these will actually go ahead (nobody knows at this stage). But at least putting a marker down for the date gives riders something to aim for in terms of season planning and training.

I think that a 2 week (15 stage) Vuelta and Giro, and 3 week TDF might be easier on the riders, and being able to squeeze all of these races on the calendar. I think most teams, manufacturers, etc would still want a 3 week Tour in terms of publicity and visibility.

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But most teams have enough riders to line up at least 2 full teams. I donā€™t think it will be that much of an issue. And who knows, it might mean that we donā€™t see as much control in the race as weā€™ve seen the past few years.

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This is going to be a big cycling autumn, if itā€™s going ahead after all

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I really, really hope those will go ahead (especially the Vuelta, since it starts 30 min away from my place :yum:), but Iā€™m still quite pessimistic about itā€¦ travel and big sport events are for sure on the bottom of the governments priority lists, of things to be opened up again.

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Good luck with that Second Wave, France, after you cram 1,000,000 people onto a mountain. :+1:

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