The Giro d'Italia was fantastic this year. The outlook for the 2017 Tour de France (TDF) doesn't look like it will match the competitiveness of the Giro, which saw Tom Dumoulin win. After 1 stage of the TDF, I'm not feeling too optimistic that there is a realistic challenger to Chris Froome, the defending champ, who is now looking to win the TDF for a 4th time. Team Sky finished with 4 riders in the top 10, including Geraint Thomas who won and Froome 6th. They are stacked.
Stage 1 highlights:
The course this year is flatter than usual, probably aiding breakaway wins, but making it harder to break up the pelaton and create big gaps in the General Classification (GC) standings like mountain top finishes tend to do. So right off the bat here, Froome has more than half a minute on Richie Porte and Nairo Quintana, with Contador even further back. As for Quintana, he and the whole Movistar team took a huge hit as Alejandro Valverde crashed on the wet roads and broke his leg. The 37 year old Valverde should have been a top domestique for Quintana in the race, the crash now leaves the Movistar team much weaker. It also could mean the end of the career for Valverde if the damage is severe, as initial reports seem to suggest.
What I would love to see happen now is the emergence of Peter Sagan as a grand tour GC contender. Sagan is a very exciting cyclist and probably the best bike handler in the Pelaton. Sagan, however, isn't the fastest sprinter, best time trialist, or the best climber, but is very capable in all aspects. He has mastered the classics, single day races, and came in 39th this year at the Tour of California. Team Bora will have a fight matching up with the power of Sky, but I think Sagan may be able to compete for a title here in much the same way Dumoulin did in the Giro. Dumoulin and Sagan are pretty similar in that they are very competitive in the three aspects of Time Trial, Sprint, and Climbing, thus enabling them to lose fewer seconds per stage to those who are better in certain stages and able to separate themselves against the other riders weaknesses.
The picture from Skysports.com shows from left, Adam Yates, Thomas De Gendt, Peter Sagan, Froome and Dumoulin in last years TDF.
All 21 stages of the TDF 2017.
Stage 2 will probably be a stage for the sprinters as the race travels from Dusseldorf, Germany to Liege, Belgium. Barring crashes or other surprises, the GC standings among the favorites should remain the same after stage 2.
