Introducing our metric on how to decide what to watch: the TV NAP rankings.
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I haven’t been this excited about the first week of the Tour de France since 2014, when I learned the first stage in Leeds that year would go over a climb called the Côte de Buttertubs. Last year’s opening week was well above average, thanks to a pair of French heroes, but the Col du Galibier on stage 4 settled much of the GC too early. This year, I don’t think that will happen. At least not in any significant way.
“Wake me when we hit the mountains,” this opening week is not. It’s quite clearly designed to have the yellow jersey change hands multiple times, and to put some of the most exciting racers of the modern peloton on show. That means the Classics stars, plus opportunistic stage hunters, plus the GC riders looking for a chance to gain a bit of time on rivals. They’ll all be in the mix.
There will be breaks. There will be surprise winners. There’s even a nicely placed time trial so we can get an early taste of what the GC men can do; crucially, it will be more hors d’oeuvre than entrée. Tadej Pogačar won’t be able to help himself this first week, but the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert and maybe even Julian Alaphilippe won’t make it easy on him. Thierry Gouvenou, the man who makes the Tour route each year, deserves a raise.
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