The Best and The Worst Kits at The Tour

There's only four days to go until the best 198 riders in the world set off for their 3 week schlep around France. We've talked about who will be riding and where they will be riding but we've yet to mention what they will be wearing. Cycling kits exist in a perfectly balanced vacuum, there has to be an equal amount of rubbish kits for the brilliant ones to exist and today we're calling out the bad ones and praising the stylish gems that our favourite riders will don for July.

Abbie Saunders is Bike Route Hub's resident fashionista. With her sharp tongue and sharp style she's perfectly happy tearing chunks out of the kit designers who have punished 25 poor riders by making them wear their hideous creations for a year. When she isn't doing this she also writes on figsandfootprints.blogspot.com which focuses on healthy living and exercise. Maybe finish that burger and pint whilst reading this blog.......

Five Worst

Trek Factory Racing ~ 3.5/10

Despite the futuristic appeal of the silver space-age gloves and ankle contour moon boots, Team Trek’s kit seems a little, well, effeminate. The slick body contour fit and bizarre reverse plunge neckline not only looks like a leotard design more suited to a performance gymnast, but also strikes me as an immediate sunstroke hazard. In the mid-Summer heat of Tour De France, I wouldn’t fancy myself with those tan lines…

Europcar ~ 3/10

If you’re Irish, green may well be your lucky colour. But otherwise motor folklore dictates that green is a veritable car crash. Type ‘green cars crashing’ into Google and you will be met with images of Andy Warhol’s famous painting ‘Green Car Crash’ and headlines such as ‘Green Party leader delivers “car crash” performance’. Would you trust anything green on the roads based on this correlation? Sorry Europcar…

Lotto NL-Jumbo ~ 2/10

If, like me, you find yourself asking what your own chances are of winning the lottery, you may also, like me, find yourself asking what the chances are of Team Lotto NL winning the Tour De France… Needless to say, the team’s official sponsor emblazoned across the front does not instil me with a huge amount of confidence.

Team AG2R-La Mondiale ~ 1.5/10

In essence, there is very little wrong with Team Ag2r’s kit. It is well streamlined, with good coverage and neat brand representation. However if you are inclined toward the immature, you may want to question the colour scheme. I can’t help but think that turquoise shorts may have been a little more fresh and eye-catching than these ‘I soiled myself on the Tour De France’ meggings.

Tinkoff-Saxo ~ 1/10

Poor Team Tinkoff… The very misguided decision to photoshop the team mates in against a black background does nothing for the fact that a black crotch patch already draws attention to the area. Add this to the fact that their team name is ‘Tinkoff' and you may begin to find yourself wondering if there’s a crotch there at all…

Five Best

Cannondale-Garmin ~ 7.5/10

The new Garmin kit is reminiscent of a Softmints branding colour scheme. Who doesn’t like a Softmint? The pattern also seems to be inviting its wearer for a languid game of golf rather than an invigorating incline cycle. Who knows? Maybe the Softmint serene Garmin team have coined a 

relaxing new cycling style too…

Orica-GreenEDGE ~ 8/10

In case you didn’t know, mesh is in. It appears that Team Orica have taken their new season look straight out of New York Fashion Week’s Spring / Summer 2015 catalogue. With on-trend fishnet look sleeves and uppers, who cares if the kit is practical? It’s fashion, dahling…

Etixx-Quick-Step ~ 8.5/10

Team Etixx have taken Team Trek’s kit and injected it with some alpha male. The black body, high neckline, long sleeves and even ‘quick step’ mantra stapled down the side give Team Etixx the edge. If their performance is anywhere near as ‘panther’ as their look, we can expect strength and agility from the team in this year’s Tour.

Astana ~ 9/10

Potentially one of the most polarising kits of the competition is Team Astana’s. As a fan of controversial colour schemes, I am instantly drawn to this head-to-toe turquoise ensemble. Team Astana won’t be missed by cyclists or onlookers in this hue, and its summer sky-inspired feel should keep Team Astana in high spirits. They may not look like the dark horses of the competition, but let’s face it, the future is bright.

Movistar ~ 10/10

Well, this guy just looks like a winner. That latex shine seems to give this kit a Marvel Comics Superhero appeal with the streamlined stripe detail on the sleeves emphasising those superhuman muscles. The Movistar branding also seems to play into the subliminal suggestion that it could be Brad Pitt or Orlando Bloom riding the bike. Superhero, movie star, and cyclist rolled into one. Who wouldn’t want them to win?!

Tour de France 2018 - Stages 18 - 20

Introduction
The final three stages are here, and we have the queen stage, and epic final haul in the mountains before the famous final stage criterium around the streets of Paris. The dream is that no one will know who will win going into these final three days. The previous two weeks haven't been easy but it has been designed to keep the race exciting right until the final day. Stages 18 and 19 are really hard and both feature significant amounts of climbing and mountain finishes however they are totally different stages and will be incredibly hard for the team of the yellow jersey to control.

Stage 18 - Pamplona - La Pierre St Martin - 172km

We're staying in Spain for the start of this stage and after the roll-out from Pamplona the first 60km are almost entirely flat so expect to see the peloton riding hard until a break is formed, there will be a lot of teams by this point who have had very lean Tours and they will be looking for a stage win today. Expect to see a high quality break forming early on who will be able to take their advantage onto the opening climb, Alto Aristu (4.7km @ 6.3%). From the bottom of this climb though the race takes on a very different shape, since the start of the stage we've had under 700m of climbing but in the final 110km we cram 3,700m of climbing. After the Aristu there's some rolling terrain towards the French border and the Port de Larrau. This climb has been used twice before in the Tour from its harder northern side but it's still going to be an unrelenting 10km @ 6.3% from the Spanish side. From the top of the Larrau there's a very quick descent down to the village of the same name before a brief section of flat into the town of Saint-Engrace where the Saint Martin begins. The road to the ski resort will be used in the 2015 Tour de France but it will be from a due north direction so that it includes the Col du Soudet, the climb is steeper from this direction but it's shorter and includes fewer sections that are as steep as on this route. The start of the climb is fairly benign with nothing steeper than 6% for the first 3km. This is merely to lull you into the climb, what follows is 3km where the gradient kicks up to 11% before another lull and another sustained section which features the steepest roads of 25%! The riders can breathe a sigh of relief at this point but there's still 6km and 450m of climbing to be done before the top, anyone who was put into the red on the earlier steeper stretches can easily be dislodged on the final run to the ski resort.

Stage 19 - Laruns - Ris - 136.3km

If the Tour hasn't been decided by now then this will be an unbelievable final stage. There's no opportunity to be eased into the stage as we're climbing the Col d'Aubisque immediately from when the flag is dropped. The Aubisque is sustained and although you would normally expect an early break to go here, it won't be guaranteed on this stage. With a stage this short and as the penultimate one of the race, the team of one of the riders hoping to take the stage might decide to make this really hard from the start. There's very little flat ground on the route today so there's no really disadvantage from going for it early.
After the Aubisque we have the famous and painful Tourmalet to deal with from the west side. There's not much to say about the Tourmalet that hasn't already been said. It's incredibly hard and with just 52km to ride from the summit it will be a key strategic point in the race. Although the focus will be on the front of the race, share a thought for the sprinters. Because the stages are shorter the time limit will be reduced as well, there will be a few riders having an absolute nightmare here as they try and make it to the finish inside 25% of the winner's time.
After the Tourmalet there's a descent and then an immediate climb of the Col d'Aspin, it's the easiest of the three "giants" today but at this stage it's an obstacle that will be too much for most of the peloton. From the top of the Aspin there's a long descent to the town of Arreau and a brief section of flat before the final test of the 2018 Tour. The Cote de Ris has never been used before but it's very steep and will be a fitting end to the Tour.

Stage 20 - Versailles - Paris - 93.7km
The traditional final dash is retained this year. The riders will start with a loop around the beautiful grounds of Versailles before they head into the French capital via the Bois de Boulogne. Don't expect anything other than the usual gradual pace wind up before the mass sprint to the line on the Champs Elysees.
Who will be in yellow though? The lack of time trialling kilometers means that you don't need to be strong against the clock to win here which brings guys like Pozzovivo, J.Rodriguez and Bardet into the frame. However, there's not loads of huge climbing days - even the days that do have a lot of climbing tend to have periods where the difficulties do abate. In reality the winner of this Tour is unlikely to be much different from a Tour which had 200km+ stages and an average stage length of well over 140km. But, the time gaps should be smaller and there should be excitement right until the final stage and the top 10 should be more compact.

Conclusion
So that is the whole route of the 2018 Tour de France. It started as a challenge to see if it's possible to design a Tour de France which no stages over 200km in length and with an average stage length of less than 160km. That has been achieved, but, has it retained the essence of the Tour? Is it still epic? Over the next two weeks I will be speaking to pro cyclists, race designers, fans and hopefully journalists to see what their thoughts are on this route.

2020 Vision - Tour de France Green Jersey winner

Introduction
As Peter Sagan has proven, you don't need to be a prolific stage winner to win the green jersey. Surprisingly, he crossed the finish line as a winner 7 times last year and yet he won 4 points jerseys (Tirreno, Tour of California, Tour de Suisse and Tour de France). Recently, Giacomo Nizzolo proved that you can win a points jersey by just bagging some top 5's and showing an interest in the intermediate sprints. But who will be winning these jerseys in 5 years?

Sam Bennett
Age in 2020: 29
Current Team: Bora Argon 18
Best GT Performance: Not Raced

Bennett is a proven winner

Sam is yet to win a points jersey but he's already proven to be a prolific sprinter and he will get stronger with more high quality races. He first came to cycling's attention in 2012, with top 10's in the AN Post Ras and Tour of Britain stages. He's best result of the year however, was 10th on the hilly U23 World Championships course, which shows that he isn't just a pure sprinter. Since that year he seems to have just got better and better; in 2013 he won 2 stages of the AN Post Ras and the very hilly Caerphilly stage of the Tour of Britain and was best of the rest behind Cavendish in the final stage. in 2014 he made the step up to pro continental level with Netapp-Endura. He took 3 wins, including the final stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt and numerous high quality top 5's.
So far this year Bennett has already won 3 races and it looks likely that he will be lining up in Utrecht in a month's time. Bora are lacking an overall contender so expect them to get behind Bennett in the early stages. If he can steal a couple of podium places in the sprint stages then it will considered a successful Tour for him.

Moreno Hofland
Age in 2020: 28
Current Team: LottoNL-Jumbo
Best GT Performance: 136th 2015 Giro d'Italia

The winner of all LottoNL's wins

It's not often that a sprinter accounts for 100% of his team's wins but that's the case with Hofland this season. He's been the thin sliver of success in a desert of misery for the Dutch team this year.
Hofland's successes started in 2011 when he won 3 stages, including a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir. He also came second behind current teammate Barry Markus in the Dutch junior semi-classic Dorpenomloop Rucphen. 2012 was more of the same really with 3 wins including a stage of l'Avenir and he also took the U23 Netherlands champion win. Moreno made the step up to the World Tour in 2013 but overall it was a disappointing season for the Dutch rider. He didn't win a race until October when the Belkin team went over to China for the Tour of Hainan and won all 9 stages as well as the points and overall with Hofland. 2014 was Hofland's best season to date, he won 6 races in total including; a stage of Paris Nice, the Volta Limburg and a stage of the Ruta del Sol. He also came 2nd in the Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne and got 2 top 10's in the 9 stages of the Vuelta in which he raced.
2015 has been disappointing for LottoNL-Jumbo and Hofland but he's shown consistency in the sprints, 6 top 10's at World Tour level. He's also notched up a Grand Tour at the Giro and that will give him some added confidence. Hopefully LottoNL will send him to the Tour, at least for the first 10 days because he is a potential winner, something the Dutch team are severely lacking.

Fernando Gaviria
Age in 2020: 25
Current Team: Etixx Quickstep (as of 01/08)
Best GT Performance: Not Raced

The Columbian sprint sensation has already beaten the best

The difficulty with picking young riders for future success is the very limited amount of data that is available. This is especially difficult in the case of Gaviria, he has less than 2 seasons of road results to look at.
Although Gaviria came to international attention this season at the Tour de San Luis his performances really began in 2012, on the track where he took the Omnium and Madison titles in the Junior World Championship. His road career started in 2014, although the early part of the season was quite disappointing he did manage a win in the U23 Pan American Road Race. From that moment his season continued to improve, he went to the Tour de l'Avenir and although he failed to win a stage he did 3 top 10's and a 2nd in the points jersey. As I mentioned though, his biggest performance was this year in the Tour de San Luis. He won two stages, beating Cavendish in both and came 2nd in a third stage. What was even more impressive was that his second stage win came the day after a mountain stage which suggest he does have the ability to win a points jersey in a major tour.
Fernando is moving to Etixx at the end of this year and they will be hoping that he continues his winning ways. It's hard to imagine him not doing this, especially with a better lead out train and more professional training. Whether he turns into a green jersey or just a flat out sprinter will be interesting to see, one thing is for sure - he has a massive future in the sport.

Caleb Ewan
Age in 2020: 25
Current Team: Orica GreenEDGE
Best GT Performance: Not Raced

Can Ewan keep up his winning ways?

Caleb is another rider who is difficult to judge because of his youth and lack of experience. What is true though is that he's prolific, 5 pro wins in a season prove this. What is also true though is that he can win even on difficult stages and it's this which proves that he can be a green jersey winner.
Ewan's career really started in 2013 but in 2012 he came 2nd in the Junior World Championships behind current Cannondale-Garmin rider Mohoric. In 2013 though he took 7 wins, the best of these were 2 stage wins in both the International Thuringen-Rundfahrt and Tour de l'Avenir - he also came 3rd in the points jersey in the latter. He also won the hilly junior nation's cup event, La Cote Picarde. 2014 was a harder year for Ewan, he took just 2 wins; the U23 national championships and a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir. He did turn pro towards the end of the season though, coming 2nd in the U23 World Championships and 2nd in the opening stage of his first World Tour race, Tour of Beijing. 2015 has been another step up for the young Australian, he came 2nd in the Australian Champs at the start of the season and then took 4 wins and then took 9 top 5's in the next 13 racing days. Since then he's won another race at the Vuelta la Rioja. Orica seem to be building him up slowly so don't expect to see him at the Tour but they might decide to send him to the Vuelta for a couple of weeks, either in support of Michael Matthews or as the team's main sprint option. In 5 years, Ewan will still only be 25 but I would expect to see him winning Grand Tour stages and maybe Ghent-Wevelgem or Milan San-Remo by then.

Tour de France 2018 - Stages 12 - 14

Introduction
After a tough few days for the sprinters it's finally time for more bunch sprints as the Tour heads towards the south coast. Before that though there's one final day in the Alps. As much as they might want to, the overall favourites can't ignore this stage, the final climb of the Col du Vence is seriously hard and it could unhitch many of the GC guys. After that it's two stages that look deceptively easy on paper but in reality will be very difficult if the conditions are just right.

Stage 12 - Briancon - Grenoble - 144.1km
It's ranked as a medium mountain stage but there's still 2,800m of vertical ascent in less than 100 miles of riding. The first 28km are all uphill as the peloton climb the Col du Lautaret. The Lautaret is not one of the most beautiful climbs in the Alps, it's a main road up a valley which is straight for almost its entire length. It trends downwards at the top though for the best part of 70km so there is a benefit to the initial climb. The peloton will enter Grenoble with 30km to go and oh how they will wish that they can just nip one street over to the finish line. Unfortunately they have to leave Grenoble to climb the Col du Vence. The road is narrow and the climb is incredibly steep so don't expect any more than 10 riders to fight it out in the final sprint.

Stage 13 - Valence - Nimes - 145.3km
It's not totally flat today but there's only two categorised climbs on the whole route so it should be a large bunch sprint. We're following the Rhone river today all the way into Nimes. The whole day is custom built for sprinters, it's towards the coast so expect a headwind to push the breakaway group back towards the sprint teams. The finish is also built for a sprint. The last 2km are made up of two 1km straights with a 90 degree bend between them. The next few days are great for the sprinters and it will be a race for the green jersey until the Basque country where the overall contenders will come back to the front.

Stage 14 - Montpellier - Perpignan - 189.5km

It looks like the easier stage of the entire race, there's barely 700m of climbing in the whole day. It will be the easiest day as well, unless the wind blows. There's a tiny amount of the route which doesn't hug the coastline so if there is a wind expect the race to be blown to pieces. If there's no wind though, this will be another opportunity for the sprinters to get a stage win. The one minor obstacle actually comes in the last kilometer. Although the stage has been pan flat up until this point, there's a 15m rise after the red kite. This shouldn't prevent the sprinters from winning but it will mean that they have to time their efforts much better. If you go for a long one then expect your legs to die far before you hit the line.

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