Puncheur

Tag: france

  • 2025 Tour de France Preview

    It’s almost that time of year again. The 112th Tour de France commences July 5 in Lille. With the final team (INEOS Grenadiers) releasing its squad for this year’s edition, the start list is complete and it’s time to publish this piece. I’ll start by previewing each stage and picking a winner for each one,…

  • Paris-Nice Preview

    Consisting of eight stages starting near Paris and heading down to the French Riviera, The Race to the Sun is one of the biggest stage races in the world. Paris-Nice starts Sunday, March 9. This year, the field is strong, though not quite as strong as the top as the past few years, as only…

  • Pogacar Teases Paris-Roubaix Start

    On Monday, February 10, Tadej Pogacar posted on his Instagram account a video of him “reconning” (riding) the Trouee d’Arenberg, which is the most famous cobbled sector of Paris-Roubaix. The internet immediately went wild with speculation: Will Pogacar ride Roubaix this year? And the Classics peloton probably trembled in fear. Jasper Philipsen (Pogi’s close friend…

  • 2025 Predictions and (Some Random) Hot Takes

    Tadej Pogacar will win seven Great Victories (Milano-Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana, World Championship Road Race, Il Lombardia) and 27 total races, thus surpassing his 2024 season as the greatest ever Included in this rampage will be five stages of the Tour and eight stages of the Vuelta Pogacar’s…

  • Olympic Games Road Cycling Preview

    This is an event that happened three years ago that happens once every four years. Okay, now that I’ve got my punchline out of the way, let’s discuss the second-best part (behind Athletics) of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris, France. The Olympic Games for road cycling consists of two one-day races: a…

  • Tour de France Reflections

    I’m not sure where to start. What a race! This post will be a little bit different from what I normally write after Grand Tours. But this was a special race, so it deserves a special essay. And to be honest, I’m looking to change things up with this blog. I haven’t been getting the…

  • Week Three

    The 2024 Tour de France has reached its conclusion. I’m sad that it has to end, but happy with the result. Stage 16: A sprint stage won by Jasper Philipsen. Biniam Girmay crashed in the final kilometer and limped to the finish; I thought his green jersey dreams were over. Stage 17: With crosswinds and…

  • Stages 12&13

    The Tour de France rolls on, and waits for nobody. Stage Twelve: A high-powered four-man breakaway consisting of Jonas Abrahamsen, Valentin Madouas, Anthony Turgis, and Quentin Pacher escaped after a scuffle, but because of their strength and the nervous peloton, a few sprint teams including Alpecin and Movistar kept them under two minutes in front.…

  • Tour de France Week One Wrap-Up

    I’ll start this piece by covering the remaining stages from the first week, then analyze the week as a whole and how the top guys might be feeling. Stage Seven: The all-important wine trial (the French say the time trial is the race of truth, and of course the Romans had a saying “in vino,…

  • Mid-Week One

    Stage Three: An incredibly boring 5-and-a-half hour sprint stage that couldn’t incentivize anybody to go into a breakaway until the stage was more than half over. In the crash-marred finale, Biniam Girmay took a surprising win from the bunch ahead of Fernando Gaviria and Arnaud De Lie. That’s not a top three that anybody would…