Cycling Weekly Magazine 3rd August 2017 Back Issue

TOUR DE FRANCE: ESSENTIAL REVIEW
So Chris Froome won another Tour. Had you missed the last three weeks, you might, as an impartial observer, stifle a yawn and roll your eyes. But only had you missed the last three weeks. What began at VO2 max on a career-threateningly wet Düsseldorf city centre course quickly morphed into a Geraint Thomas-led raid across multiple borders. The GC players were forced into the open twice in the fi rst week alone, after which remained a fortnight during which multiple riveting storylines intermingled as the world’s best cyclists beat seven bells out of each other all over the south of France, with no rider able to deliver the knockout blow until the final time trial, the day before Paris. It was a classic race. Indeed, when you consider the intrigue, the suspense, the scrappy, never ending GC fight and the late manner in which it was won, perhaps it was the best since, oh, 1989?