all words by Mike Franchetti
La Fleche Wallonne is potentially great, potentially boring, and potentially rubbish. The conclusion to last year’s race was brilliant as we saw master (Valverde) and apprentice (Alaphilippe) duke it out on the Mur and a phenomenal underdog victory. The ‘apprentice’ now returns at an ugly short price (8/11) and I find it hard to back
The Tour de France is over for another year and we can revert to our ‘normal’ lives without dedicating a chunk of the afternoon to the world’s most famous bike race. Chris Froome silenced (most) of his doubters, Rigoberto Uran rocketed back to prominence and Romain Bardet took his second podium in as many years.
Chris Froome will win the next two Tours I said in my preview that whilst Froome remained a cycling force, he had ‘not improved’ over the last twelve months. I was referring in particular to his climbing and ignored the fact he has become the most astute of team leaders. He’s mentally tougher than ever –
Following the rest day in Switzerland, the riders of the Tour de France will tackle a selection of the hardest Alpine climbs not named Alpe d’Huez. The four days stretching from Wednesday to Saturday can be thought of as; hard summit finish, mountain time trial, even harder summit finish, trio of big climbs.
Just Pro Cycling 