With the Tour de France starting tomorrow, here’s all the latest from our team in Brussels ahead of the Grand Depart.
road.cc live blog from Brussels Grand Depart: Sagan drops teammates on TDF training ride; media, fans and cats descend on Team Movistar camp to catch a glimpse of the world champ; more Tour de France tat; all the best Tour tech + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond ahead of the Tour de France starting tomorrow
Fri, Jul 05, 2019 20:40
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SUMMARY
5 July 2019, 20:40
(Not) Geraint Thomas gets a new bike just in time for the Tour
Geraint Thomas is currently preparing to defend his Tour de France title.
Meanwhile, @geraintthomas has just got a new bike…
Pleased to be getting @geraintthomas, one of the most patient people on Twitter, on a bike this July… He’s #NowaCyclist pic.twitter.com/xrIEGReU1q
— Evans Cycles (@EvansCycles) July 4, 2019
5 July 2019, 20:40
Behind the scenes at Silverstone as Team Ineos go wind tunnel testing
“We know when you’re going at 45-50kph the number one thing that slows you down is air.”
Take a sneak peek behind the scenes with Team Ineos and Swiss Side as they give a bit of an insight into aerodynamic testing.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Geraint Thomas is announced as new brand ambassador for Continental Tyres
In his first action as brand ambassador Geraint provides a glimpse into the world of professional downhill racing in a short film called “Confidence”. As Geraint himself said: “follow guys riding Continental tyres, they will stick when others will not. And sticking’s is what you want.” Let’s hope he remains upright for the next three weeks…
5 July 2019, 20:40
Day two in Brussels - the media, fans and their cats all descend on the Team Movistar camp
Going to check out the world champion’s bike is a special occasion… so guess it’s only right to bring your cat with you. We caught Valverde and his Movistar teammates just before they set off for a training ride around Brussels, with plenty of fans (human and feline) there to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Tour de France tat part 2: a polka dot goat
We think it’s a goat anyway, and despite his rotund build this one is still supposedly good at climbing. Yours for 15 euros…
5 July 2019, 20:40
Tour TT rigs: 1x, crazy 3D-printed cockpits and massive chainrings galore
We’ve been having a gander at the TT bikes at the team hotels – with the second stage being a team time trial the riders and mechanics are making sure everything is tip-top. First up, the Cervelo P5 of Nicolas Roche with massive 58/46t chainrings…
The mechanics told us Sunweb’s bikes for the Tour were also specially painted in the UK with a much thinner and more delicate paint than the standard P5 to save some weight. We also spied this very neatly integrated Elite TT bottle and cage, different to the Chrono CX bottle set that joe public can buy.
At the Katusha Alpecin camp, Alex Dowsett and co will be running a SRAM Red eTap AXS 1x set-up for their TTT. We also spotted a few riders using non-standard chainring sizes over at Trek Segafredo yesterday, clearly SRAM are happy to customise for their pro teams.
The award for the craziest cockpit of the Tour so far goes to Rohan Dennis. His Merida Warp has 3D-printed bars, moulded to the shape of his forearms with some padding in there for extra comfort. There’s even a computer mount built in…
5 July 2019, 20:40
Dan Martin's Colnago V2R
Martin’s all-round race bike is a beauty, dressed with Campagnolo 12 speed Super Record EPS and a non-standard 54/39 chainset. We also spotted Martin is running the special edition Tour de France Look Keo blades with ceramic bearings, the first time we’ve spotted them in the wild…
5 July 2019, 20:40
Brussels names street after transgender cyclist Willy de Bruyn
Green Alley in Brussels between Gare du Nord and Tour & Taxis, will be renamed today after Belgian cyclist Willy De Bruyn, born Elvira.
Elvira was born intersexual, meaning she has a combination of male and female biological traits.
She became the female world champion in 1934 and 1936.
By the end of 1936, Elvira was more interested in her identity, and was at last recognized as a man on 24 March 1937 after a name change.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Team Dimension Data get a few new members
The Velokhaya Life Cycling Academy – or Velokhaya for short – is a not-for-profit organisation based in Khayelitsha, South Africa.
They use their cycling-based programmes to involve youth in a positive, after-school activity.
Yesterday, at the Team Dimension Data team presentation in Brussels ahead of the Tour de France they were given the chance to join their heroes up on stage.
The Beginning | Inspire
A journey from a rural township in South Africa, to @LeTour for @Velokhaya.
“We’re not crying, you’re crying” – #BicyclesChangeLives pic.twitter.com/Ei4hwdmrrW
— Team Dimension Data (@TeamDiData) July 5, 2019
5 July 2019, 20:40
Tour de France tat part 3 - pants
What better way to pay homage to Le Tour with some yellow boxer shorts? Just 18 euros to you monsieur.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Let the madness begin ...
The 106th Tour de France starts in Brussels tomorrow. Here’s our previews of the opening three stages.
Stage 1
Saturday 6 July
Brussels – Brussels (192 km)
The opening stage features two climbs that over the years have so often proved decisive in the Tour of Flanders, the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg, but today they feature early on rather than in the final. Nevertheless, it will as always be a nervous start for the peloton, and we can expect a lot of jostling for position ahead of both ascents as riders try and keep themselves out of trouble.
On the way back into Belgium’s capital, the race passes the battlefield of Waterloo, as well the suburb of Wouluwe-Saint-Pierre, the childhood home of Eddy Merckx, who spent more days in yellow than anyone else in Tour de France history. The peloton will be going full gas to reel in the day’s break ahead of what looks set to be a bunch sprint finish in the city’s Royal Park.
Stage 2
Sunday 7 July
Brussels – Brussels (TTT) (27.6 km)
A change in the race lead is highly possible today, and even this early, time gaps between teams with overall ambitions may have an impact later on – but last year’s team time trial in Cholet saw just 11 seconds separating the fastest five teams, with the now-defunct BMC taking the win.
Today’s stage starts at the Palais-Royale in the Belgian capital and finishes outside its most emblematic building – the Atomium, built in 1958. Whoever is in the overall lead today will be sporting the iconic structure on the yellow jersey, with the one awarded after each stage each marking people and places in the race’s history.
Stage 3
Monday 8 July
Binche – Epernay (215 km)
Another stage with a Spring Classics flavour – today, the Ardennes, with four punchy climbs within the final 40 kilometres as the race heads into France. It’s not going to end in a bunch sprint, for sure. There’s a time bonus available on one of those, 15 seconds from the line – remember Geraint Thomas banking some of those last year on his way to victory?
There’s also a 15 per cent slope approaching the line. One for Julian Alaphilippe … or a final Tour de France stage for Alejandro in the rainbow jersey? The Champagne for the stage winner should go down particularly well tonight – Epernay is at the epicentre of the wine-growing region.
5 July 2019, 20:40
Peter Sagan trains so hard he drops his team mates
On our way to another team hotel, we spotted none other than Peter Sagan himself out training on his time trial bike one last time before the Tour de France Grand Depart tomorrow. Sagan was chugging along at one hell of a pace in front of a gang of Astana riders, and shortly afterwards the rest of his own team arrived with Peter nowhere to be seen. Save something for the race son!
5 July 2019, 20:40
That's all for now
…from us in Brussels – we’ll be bringing you race reports from tomorrow till the end of the Tour and plenty of tech articles and videos on all the bike porn we’ve managed to borrow while we’ve been here. Au revoir/saluu!
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Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Latest Comments
yodhrin 8 hours ago
@robgodd The poor guy himself suffered a traumatic brain injury and his skull was so badly shattered a significant portion of it had to be removed - do me a favour, have a look around cycling helmet manufacturers and see if any of them claim the foam hats they produce will protect against or even mitigate that level of injury. I'll wait if you like, but I can save us both the time and tell you what you'll find: none of them. Not a single one of them will. Because they don't, and they *can't* based on simple physics. Once the point of failure in a material is reached all(or as near as makes no odds) of the additional force beyond that necessary threshhold transfers through to the object beneath. Since bicycle helmets are rated for forces roughly equivalent to being dropped straight down from a stationary start 1.5m above a hard surface. Now, I'm not an expert in vehicle crash investigation, but I'm *fairly* sure that any impact or series of impacts powerful enough to render a quarder of your skull into gravel, put you in a weeks-long coma, give you massive amnesia, and leave you with ongoing symptoms of traumatic brain injury are a little bit, a teeny-weeny amount, a little smidgeon-widgeon more than what bike helmets are rated for. That's why none of the companies that make them claim they will help in such circumstances: because they know it would be a lie, and that unlike uninformed punters, carbrained journalists, or "medical professionals" who think wearing a helmet would save you from a broken arm(an actual scenario encountered by a mate, who's nurse at the A&E tutted and harrumphed her way through his whole treatment due to his lack of helmet despite his bonce having come through *being hit by a car* - another scenario bike helmets are worthless in - completely unscathed), the lawyers for those companies know their business and understand that if you lie in advertising you will get sued into the ground.
Mr Blackbird 10 hours ago
The Battle of Ypres April 1915. The German infantry division advanced using das Brumptstadt Fahrarden. The slow speed kept them behind the cloud of chlorine gas as it drifted towards the Commonwealth trenches. The offensive cleaved a two mile gap in the Western Front. The use of cycles was copied by the Japanese as they invaded Singapore and Burmah. By then war technology had embraced wider low pressure tyres, carbon frames and hydration gels. The German forces decided not to incorporate cycling as part of Operation Session, as bike theft in London and the South East was rife and would have caused huge casualties. Ironically superior advancement of tyre technology led to a British victory at El Alamein. This technology played a key part in the US Marines victory at Iwo Jima.
ROOTminus1 10 hours ago
The appropriate response to Google pissing on your cereal is not a fancy new sugar that removes the taste of urine. Stop using Google products where you can. Firefox browser and DuckDuckGo search engine have had noticeable upticks in market share by explicitly NOT pushing AI.
belugabob 10 hours ago
my thoughts exactly...I wonder how that approach is working, with motor vehicle drivers...🤔
Anonymousattorney 10 hours ago
I do not wish to diminish the personal tragedy, but one never hear calls for pedestrians or even hikers to wear clothing with integrated lightening rods.
chrisonabike 11 hours ago
RE Andy Burnam / Heidi Alexander - this is the best thing in many ways - set an example (even if currently it leads to lots of online name-calling). And imagine some of the political alternatives! The folks in the apparently second-placed party seem incredibly unlikely to be doing so. And even the current "new Greens" seem less interested in ... y'know, environmental things. OTOH I wish Heidi could be bolder. And I fear that like anyone ambitious enough to get to the top (exception B Johnson - well, I guess there was the Corbyn bicycle...) Burnam will be trimming his transport policy sails to fit the wind (should that be "bunker-fuel-burning engines"?)
Rendel Harris 11 hours ago
@mattsccm Bull bars aren't banned, they just have to conform to regulations so they are deformable or have plates that allow crumple give on contact, rather than rigid steel bars that can smash into pedestrians and cyclists with no give at all, catch them and drag them under the wheels. If you think that's a problem, do one. Why should who is responsible for a collision remove the responsibility of people driving a tonne of machinery on the road from having safety features to at least mitigate some of the effects of a collision?
AidanR 11 hours ago
I'd be willing to bet that's lazy use of stock photography rather than deliberate misinformation, but the result is still the same.
Backladder 11 hours ago
@smallbeer You obviously don't realise how many bulls there are wandering around Chelsea, in and out of the china shops, that he needs to protect his Range Rover from.
chrisonabike 11 hours ago
I agree, it's bloody 'elf and safety overreach, can't help some people, I put some meat, sorry, neat decoration on the front of mine and the polis were round poking their noses in like that (mind you, that was a mistake...) (etc)