The 106th edition of the Tour de France has been a hugely exciting and successful Grand Tour for fizik riders, with overall victory for Egan Bernal of Team INEOS. The three-week race was very tightly competed throughout and the General Classification was impossible to call right down to the final exciting stages in the Alps. But from start to finish, Egan has ridden strongly with his Antares R1 saddle and been a leading contender, close on time and in a top-five position every day in what has been the most gripping Grand Tour contest for years! The whole 2019 Tour has been an amazing spectacle, thrilling from the Grand Départ in Brussels, through the Pyrenees and right to the decisive stages in the Alps before the final processional stage into Paris’ and along the iconic Champs-Elysées. Congratulations to Egan for claiming the yellow jersey and thanks to all our riders for their enormous efforts and delivering such an entertaining competition and a great result! 
After 17 stages, the General Classification battle in this year’s Tour de France couldn’t be more finely balanced! Tensions are beginning to show in the peloton as the temperature soars, with the lead riders hiding their exhaustion, elation, hopes and fears behind poker faces and the season’s oversized mirrored eyewear. The pressure is on Team Ineos and Infinito R1 Knit-wearing defending champion Geraint Thomas with a 1:35 deficit and threats from every angle. The main GC contenders, including Team Ineos’ “G” and Egan Bernal, and Team Jumbo-Visma’s Steven Kruijswijk (just 12 seconds behind in third) survived the heat and stress of stages 16 and 17, maximising efficiency to save energy for the decisive three Alpine stages. Going into Stage 18 there are just 39 seconds between positions 2 and 6, with the Movistar Team duo of Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde following closely behind, and ready to attack. With Ineos and Jumbo-Visma both caught between the conflicting demands to attack and defend, and that challenge amplified by depleted squads, it’s also a tactical minefield. The main protagonists might not always see eye to eye, but they share a focus: Ahead of them on today’s 208km Stage 18 are four increasingly high climbs, culminating in the 2,642m Galibier that steepens throughout its 23km and offers bonus seconds at the top before 20km of descent to the line. Then, shorter at 126.5km, Stage 19 is dominated by the single, long HC climb of 2,770m Col de l’Iseran with its steep finale… which could make or break dreams ahead of the uphill finish in Tignes. After that, anyone still in contention on Saturday will face multiple opportunities to attack – or demands to defend – on the 4,450 metres of ascent packed into the 130km of pain to the high altitude summit finish in Val Thorens. On Sunday’s processional roll-in to Paris, only the final sprint is contested and the GC champion will be toasted with champagne. But who?
The biggest race of all rarely fails to excite, and this year’s edition has already brought thrills and spills for fizik riders, with a lot more potential over the coming stages, with a short time trial before the challenges and opportunities of the mountains that put the finest riders under extreme pressure to produce astonishing, mesmeric performances. Jumbo-Visma riders have been grabbing the headlines with four stage wins so far. ‘Unlikely hero’ Mike Teunissen surprised everyone by swapping his yellow team jersey for the official ASO shade in the 100th year of the maillot jaune. Following an imperious TTT victory Dylan Groenewegan bossed a chaotic sprint on in Chalon-sur-Saône, and Wout van Aert’s powerful dash to the stage 10 line with his Antares R1 sent shivers up the spine before his nasty crash in the closing stages of the ITT. His brave efforts add another dramatic twist to today’s lumpy 27.2km Individual Time Trial at Pau, where the beautifully poised General Classification battle hots up ahead of the remaining Pyrennean and then Alpine stages. Team Ineos’ TTT second place set up the good early GC positions for joint leaders Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal. Staying on the right side of stage 10’s sidewind-induced split ensured they go into the ITT in second and third respectively. Even without the absence of some strong chrono-men, “G” would be amongst the favorites to win today. He’s been playing cool with the media but make no mistake, he is immensely proud of the number 1 dossard he earned last July, riding in his super-ventilated Infinito R1 Knit shoes. Van Aert and his GC lead Steven Kruijswijk are both on form: “If you look back at the Dauphine time trial, I gained time on most of the GC guys… Hopefully I can do the same.” said De Kleerhanger. Movistar Team’s joint leader Nairo Quintana is also ready to pounce: “It’s going to be all about going flat out, and there are no other options,” said his director sportive Txente García Acosta. The Lion aims to head into the final two Pyrenees climbing stages in his Infinito R1 Movistar shoes in a position to threaten for the overall, and complete his Grand Tour ‘set’. Although it’s ‘only’ 117km long, Saturday’s Stage 14 includes a punishing 19km ascent of the iconic Col du Tourmalet – could its summit finish prove instrumental? And who will attack where on Sunday’s 185km mountains stage that takes in the back-to-back pain of the Port de Lers, Mur de Péguère and the Prat d’Albis with another 12km ascent? With Monday’s rest day to recover, all our riders know they could decide to go full gas on either to make the difference… but the following six stages mix sprints with some increasingly tough Alpine adventures, which those GC contenders will also have in mind when they work out how much, if anything, they could leave ‘in the tank’ in the Pyrenees. They are risks to take, decisions to make and opportunities for glory!
The pure passion of the world’s biggest race brings out amazing, inspired performances and occasionally a genuine surprise result. The opening weekend of the 106th Tour de France delivered on both fronts – and how! While all the world’s finest teams did their best to channel the emotion of the two stages being held in Brussels – 50 years since Belgium’s most famous cyclist made his maiden Tour de France victory – it was the leading Dutch team who shone brightest. With crowds 10-deep and every major landmark, including the iconic Atomium, hung with yellow banners, it was the yellow of Team Jumbo-Visma that remains burned in the fans’ retinas. MAKING HISTORY ON SATURDAY Saturday’s 194.5km Stage 1 route ended, as expected in a bunch sprint. Yet the first man across the line was anything but expected: celebrating 100 years of the maillot jaune, first time Grand Tour stage winner Mike Teunissen won the sprint in front of the Laeken Castle ahead of sprinting biggest names. The 26-year-old had been supporting Jumbo’s recognized sprinter Dylan Groenewegen who crashed, along with other members of his lead-out team. Their frustration at being taken out soon dissipated with the elation of Teunissen’s shock victory. SMASHING IT ON SUNDAY Unbelievable though Saturday was, it turned out to be a mere warm-up for Sunday’s explosive Team Time Trial. We had expected good form from Jumbo-Visma but nobody quite predicted the yellow machine’s dominance. Team Ineos had gone out first and occupied the TTT hot seats for almost three hours as each outfit fell short of their mark for the 27.6km route. Jumbo-Visma went out fast and led at every checkpoint. With crushingly metronomic pace and discipline they negotiated the technical last section to finish on 28:57 in an average 56.551kph. They put 20 seconds into Team Ineos; a similar amount that covered the next eight teams. After two stages Teunissen holds both the yellow and green (points) jerseys. Logically Jumbo-Visma also lead in the Team Classification, and Wout Van Aert wears the white jersey of best young rider. 
This is it, this is the one that really matters, the biggest race in the world and the most coveted prize: “Nothing compares to the yellow jersey,” says Chris Froome. And none of the general classification contenders would disagree with the four-time winner. We can’t wait for Saturday 6th July and the Grande Départ in Brussels. After a flat start the 106th edition hits the hills and tips into a balance that’s heavier on the climbing than most editions, advantaging the lighter riders, but still offers lots of opportunities for sprinters, exciting breakaways, and two time trials: one team, one individual. There will be a final battle in the Alps before the traditional processional finish in Paris on the 28th where one GC contender and his team will sip champagne. But who…? With Chris Froome crashing at the Criterium de Dauphiné, Team Ineos have announced joint leadership roles for Geraint Thomas in defence of the yellow jersey he won last year while wearing grey Infinito R1 Knit and Arione saddle– and, given his electrifying form, including winning the Tour de Suisse, for Egan Bernal. Many think the 22-year-old is ready to win the Tour, with no less than Alberto Contador labelling Bernal the “clear favorite”. The Colombian was a vital lieutenant for the Welshman in 2018 but could the roles reverse in the mountains? Resting Richard Carapaz after his Giro d’Italia victory Movistar Team roll out the big guns in terms of big-race experience: World Champion Alejandro Valverde (fresh from winning the Spanish national championships following victory at the Route d’Occitanie), Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España winner Nairo Quintana, and mountains-ready Mikel Landa. With no Primož Roglič (third in the Giro and recently moved into second spot in the UCI rankings), Team Jumbo-Visma are led by Steven Kruijswijk. The 32-year-old is a strong option for the mountains and wants to turn his GC podium near-misses into hits. The Dutch squad could be off to an early flyer – in the 26.7km Team Time Trial on Sunday 7th’s stage 2 with a chromo-focused line-up that includes Wout van Aert, who became Belgian TT champion this week, Jos van Emden, who just claimed his second Dutch TT title and the legendary nine-time German TT champion Tony Martin. The first of the two French fizik-riding squads, AG2R La Mondiale have built their season around the Tour de France. In recent seasons, Romain Bardet has podium’d twice in the last three years. With the climbing-heavy course for this year’s edition, the 28-year-old is a serious contender. Bardet will be backed by a squad including Tour stage winner Alexis Vuillermoz and Belgian Classics hard-man Oliver Naesen (Infinito R1) – a line-up that was modified after Tony Gallopin and Benoît Cosnefroy crashed in the French National Road race at the weekend, and Pierre Latour hasn’t regained his best form. The French Pro-Continental Team Cofidis once again look to entertain and make an impact at their home Grand Tour. Some are tipping Christophe Laporte in his fifth consecutive Tour de France, for a first stage win. Look out for the climber – and double Spanish road champion – 28-year-old Jesús Herrada (who bettered Romain Bardet to win the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge) and watch out for “El Puma” – the experienced Colombian, Darwin Atapuma. But this year there’s no Nacer Bouhanni, having abandoned in the Criterium du Dauphiné and unable to find a place in the team. Roll on Saturday 6th!
