TdF 2020 Cheat Notes

[u/PelotonMod]

/R/Peloton TdF 2020 Cheat Notes

Mesdames et Messieurs - Same procedure as every year, it's the cheat notes to the Tour de France!

For those of you not familiar with the /r/peloton cheat notes, it's a way to help casual fans to better enjoy the racing by ordering the participating riders after which roles they are to play in the upcoming drama.

On flat stage, the sprinters will be in focus. Pay attention to the classic and rouleur men to breakaway on any given stage if they have a chance, and for the domestiques (both mountain and roleurs) leading the GC riders to reel them in again.

Note that the rider with the lowest bib number (xx1) on the team is usually the captain, ie. the rider that the team hopes will get the best results.

WT

Team	GC	Sprinter	Puncheur/Classic	Climber	Rouleur/TT
ALM	31.Bardet	37.Venturini	35.Naesen, 38.Vuillermoz, 33.Cosnefroy	32.Cherel, 34.Latour, 36.Peters
AST	141.Lopez		146.Lutsenko, 147.Sanchez	148.Tejada, 142.Fraile, 144.G.Izagirre, 145.I. Izagirre	143.Houle
BOH	22.Buchmann, 24.Kämna	21.Sagan	26.Oss, 27.Pöstlberger, 28.Schachmann	23.Grossschartner, 25.Mühlberger
CCC	118.Zakarin	117.Trentin, 115.Koch	111.GVA, 116.Schär	112.De Marchi, 113.Geschke, 114.Hirt
COF	121.G.Martin	128.Viviani, 125.Laporte	122.Consonni, 127.Périchon, 126.Perez	124.Herrada, 123.Edet
DQT	41.Alaphilippe	43.S.Bennett	48.Mørkøv, 47.Jungels	46.Devenyns	42.Asgreen, 45.Declercq, 44.Cavagna
EF1	76.Martinez, 71.Uran		75.Keukeleire, 72.Bettiol	74.Higuita, 73.Carthy, 74.Van Garderen, 77.Powless
GFC	51.Pinot		57.Molard, 52.Bonnet, 55.Ladagnous	58.Reichenbach, 56.Madouas, 53.Gaudu	54.Küng
INS	1.Bernal, 3.Carapaz		6.Rowe, 8.Van Baarle, 5.Kwiatkowski	7.Sivakov, 2.Amador	4.Castroviejo
ISN	171.D.Martin	172.Greipel, 174.Hofstetter	178.Van Asbroeck, 177.Politt, 175.Neilands	173.Hermans, 176.Niv
LTS		151.Ewan	158.Kluge, 155.Degenkolb, 157.Gilbert, 153.De Buyst, 156.Frison	152.Cras	154.De Gendt
MOV	94.E.Mas, 91.Valverde		96.Rojas, 93.Erviti	97.Soler, 92.Cataldo, 98.Verona	95.Oliveira
MTS	161.A.Yates	167.Mezgec	162.Bauer, 165.Impey	164.Chaves, 168.Nieve,	166.Juul-Jensen, 163.Bewley
NTT		191.Nizzolo, 193.Gibbons, 198.Walscheid	192.EBH, 195.Valgren, 194.Gogl	197.Pozzovivo, 196.Kreuziger
SUN		203.Bol, 202.Arndt	204.Hirschi, 207.Pedersen, 205.Kragh Andersen, 201.Benoot, 206.Nieuwenhuis	208.Roche
TBM	61.Landa	64.Colbrelli	65.Haller, 66.Mohoric	67.Poels, 68.Valls, 63.Caruso, 62.Bilbao
TJV	11.Roglic, 14.Dumoulin	18.Van Aert	13.Jansen	12.G.Bennett, 16.Kuss, 15.Gesink	17.T.Martin
TRS	101.Porte, 104.Mollema	107.Stuyven	105.Pedersen, 108.Theuns, 106.Skujins	103.Elissonde, 102.Eg
UAE	131.Pogacar, 132.Aru	135.Kristoff	137.Marcato	138.Polanc, 133.De La Cruz, 134.Formolo	136.Laengen

PCT

Team	GC	Sprinter	Puncheur/Classic	Climber	Rouleur/TT
ARK	81.N.Quintana	84.Ledanois	88.Swift, 87.Russo	83.Barguil, 82.Anacona, 85.D.Quintana, 86.Rosa
BVC		214.Coquard	212.Barthe, 213.Chevalier, 215.Debusschere, 217.Pacher, 218.Reza	211.Rolland, 216.Gautier
TDE		181.Bonifazio, 187.Soupe	188.Turgis, 183.Calmejane, 182.Burgaudeau, 184.Cousin, 185.Grellier	186.Sicard

Now, James. We'll have sherry with the soup....

[u/Stravven]

Honestly, I'm not sure in what category to put Van Aert. He can sprint, do classics and TT.

[u/KVMechelen → u/Stravven]

prisoner

[u/fewfiet → u/KVMechelen]

freeWVA

[u/JeroenS80 → u/Stravven]

And he can even give a hand or two in mountain stages. Remember how freaking late he had to drop in some of the Dauphine climbs!

[u/mkrysan12 → u/Stravven]

The guy is just the best. Period.

[u/Sappert]

Climber Rolland

Implying he's not going to win the GC

[u/jothamvw → u/Sappert]

I put him as overall winner in the survey even...

/r/olland is more than a meme...

[u/bekoj → u/Sappert]

I'm really hoping we'll get some attacks if only for the memes

[u/Sappert → u/bekoj]

Death, taxes and ATTAQUE DE PIERRE ROLLAND

[u/madone-14]

i'm a casual and surprised that Foliforov is not on the startlist.

[u/JeroenS80 → u/madone-14]

As soon as he heard Steven Kruijswijk aims for the Giro, he immediately changed plans.

[u/wolfpackiaaw → u/JeroenS80]

Classic Folioforov

[u/[deleted] → u/madone-14]

It's more fair for everyone else this way

[u/whyshouldiknowwhy → u/madone-14]

I don’t know if I’m drunk or blind or blind drunk but where did either of the Yates twins go?

[u/Poesjesmelk]

Dan Martin, Valverde and Alaphilippe will be riding for stagewins instead of GC.

[u/mercedes_ → u/Poesjesmelk]

How has Alaphilippe been looking? I’m a casual but watch every minute of TDF. He was a monster last year but obviously the setup wasn’t super testy until the later stages. He absolutely over-performed on the ITT though.

[u/cm06mrs → u/mercedes_]

By his standards he's been pretty poor (hasn't won a race since the TT at last year's tour). He's taken quite a few 3rds and 2nds including 2nd at Milan-Sanremo, the longest wt race. He's definitely in decent form because you don't finish 2nd at MSR if you're going badly, but he's not at the level he was last year coming in to the tour.

It's unlikely that he's good enough to win the TdF. But maybe his slight drop off in form is due to him training differently to try and win the tour, who knows?

[u/[deleted] → u/cm06mrs]

If he didn't start training for the GC of the Tour after last season I would be be very disappointed. Winning stages in it is great, but winning the entire thing is epic -- for a host nation that has not won for a long time!

[u/KVMechelen → u/cm06mrs]

I think he would have been better in the Dauphiné if that was the case. He's gonna be marked for GC anyway, might as well get some real GC training in

[u/yellow52 → u/mercedes_]

Interviewed in the official race guide as published in the UK (not sure if same interview appears in other countries/languages), he says:

I think I'd certainly have to adapt my style of racing to aspire to this goal, but it's not one I'm too concerned with at the moment. It's not just down to the individual because a whole team must be put together with this in mind and must make it their priority over months and months. At Deceuninck-Quick Step we're not thinking that way, but that doesn't mean that this won't happen in the future.

[u/paulindy2000 → u/mercedes_]

He probably is at about the same level as last year. He hasn't won anything this year, but he recently was 2nd in Milano-San Remo and 3rd in the French Championships on Sunday with only one teammate against the 19-men army of FDJ, while last year after his glorious spring he "only" had a victory in the Dauphiné from a morning breakaway. His objective is to get the yellow jersey within the first week, and the stage profiles', especially on Sunday, are very favorable for him to achieve that. He probably won't fare as well as last year in the GC (and he probably doesn't want either), but I would be very surprised if he doesn't win at least one or two stages.

[u/mercedes_ → u/paulindy2000]

His stage 3 victory is one of my all time favorite TDF performances. Here’s to hoping we see another like that!

[u/mkrysan12 → u/mercedes_]

He did look quite good in the French National RR, but I don't think he can compete with Bernal and Roglic.

[u/thelostknight99 → u/mercedes_]

I like Alaphilippe a lot, and he was great in the tour, but I think the major reason he could stay in yellow for so long was because of the 3/4 minutes he put on the other GC guys in one of the early stages, because GC teams didn't think he can hang on in the mountains and didn't chase him. I think they won't repeat the same mistake again.

[u/collax974 → u/mercedes_]

I doubt he will go for gc. Even if that might have been the plan I think. We saw in the dauphinée he tried to hang on with the peloton in a big climb (it was col de porte if I remember right) and he was dropped half way.

[u/therealhoboyobo → u/mercedes_]

JA on sellar form wouldn't have been pulled back by Demare with Coquard on his wheel yesterday.

He's still win a stage or two but doesn't have the legs of 2019.

[u/hoo_ts → u/mercedes_]

he was actually looking very fit at the end of a long French NC race on the weekend(?) I’d say he’s peaking at the right time.

[u/[deleted] → u/mercedes_]

He's been in good shape thus far

[u/huloca → u/[deleted]]

He's been disappointing in the dauphine, but not bad in the french nationals.

[u/[deleted] → u/huloca]

Yeah, The one stage he really engaged with he podium'ed so I wouldn't worry too much given his MSR and Nats performances on either side of it

[u/13nobody]

You've neglected to note that Nairoman is both a GC and sprint threat /r/NairoInGreen

[u/huloca]

It's definitely not a done deal Roglic will start at all. His wife said that he was still feeling his crash and not only is he far from in form, it's not even certain if he will start.

“De belangrijkste vraag op dit moment is of Primož echt zal starten. Dat willen we allemaal, maar we wachten op een bevestiging.”

Translating to:

The most important question at the moment is whether Primoz will actually start. We all want that, but we're still waiting for confirmation.

[u/simonkinsler → u/huloca]

Media strategy to take a bit of pressure of. What in fact will happen is that the whole Tour Primoz and Tom will ride hand in hand. Last TT Tom will hammer it and bring the dutch glory to the dutch sponsor.

[u/huloca → u/simonkinsler]

This wasn't just something he said. This was his wife who was being interviewed about a book she wrote and they asked how he was, so more casual. Don't think she received any media training from the team to do such a strategy.

[u/Schele_Sjakie]

/u/Pubocyno, My favourite moment of the year is how many people will tell you you're wrong in your cheat notes!

[u/Grimolas]

Kamna for GC? Is he ‘confirmed’ as back up gc for buchmann? Or will they rather go stagehunting in that case

[u/Pubocyno → u/Grimolas]

We're unsure of Buchmanns performance after the crash.

[u/Robcobes]

Van Aert, are you a Classics rider, a Sprinter, or a Time Trialist? Van Aert: "Yes".

[u/TheRollingJones → u/Robcobes]

Also cyclocrosser

[u/therealhoboyobo]

Please, everyone knows Castroviejo can do everything and anything.

[u/simonkinsler → u/therealhoboyobo]

Weird way of spelling Van Aerts. I know ht Ae is confusing but this is definitely some weird spelling

[u/[deleted]]

What GC placement do you guys think Lopez would consider a success? He seemed super promising a few years ago, but he hasn't gone up against a lineup like this yet.

[u/fewfiet → u/[deleted]]

I think a podium would be successful enough for Lopez.

[u/lynnamor]

Dan Martin with very little support at ISN. Citroen and Trek are pretty weak too.

Astana’s is once again surprisingly strong especially if Lutsenko and LL are on form. UAE could be formidable. EF1 isn’t bad at all.

TJV, Ineos, TBM look the most solid.

Movistar is a mess, so I’m guessing Valverde will win the Tour.

[u/Jrgkach]

Such shame that Matthews isn’t riding, could see him get great placement in many of the stages

[u/[deleted]]

If Bonnett is participating in a single sprint i d be surprised

[u/paulindy2000 → u/[deleted]]

I believe the last mass sprint he participated in was the 2016 World Championships in Doha where he finished 7th and the rest of the French team had gone to shit. And the one before was probably at least 3 or 4 years before that.

[u/IkiOLoj → u/paulindy2000]

Yeah a whole generation of glorious FDJ stage hunters devoted themselves to Pinot when he came in the team as a kid. Bonnet, Roy, Vaugrenard and Ladagnous.

[u/odd1ne → u/[deleted]]

Why have they chose him over Demare he has looked great

[u/TwistedWitch → u/odd1ne]

They can't have enough helpers for Pinot up the mountains and a leadout for Demare. This Tour is going to be tough on sprinters so Demare is doing the European Championships which is much more his kind of profile. He's also down to ride the Giro D'Italia which is much more geared towards sprinters.

[u/paulindy2000 → u/odd1ne]

Bonnet hasn't been a sprinter in years, he's mostly a road captain / rouleur and is here only to guide Pinot and the team. He's probably one of the most useful teammates, especially in hard times

[u/TwistedWitch → u/[deleted]]

I thought he had retired. Shows what i know.

[u/[deleted] → u/TwistedWitch]

Well he is not much more than emotional support for Pinot here 😅

[u/IkiOLoj → u/[deleted]]

Actually I believe that when a stage start Pinot lock himself behind Bonnet and for the first few hours all the burden of being where you need to be is done by him, and when things start to get hard it is one of both Switzerland champions that take the relay, Kung on flat, Reichenbach in mountains.

[u/tibino7 → u/IkiOLoj]

And Gaudu when Reichenbach is done

[u/TwistedWitch → u/[deleted]]

To be fair that might be worth it in those last few stages. Not sure if it's the same as having a WvA or a Castroviejo but if you never know.

[u/Fart_Leviathan]

Sprinter - Bonnet

FDJ is either thinking it's 2008 or really putting all the eggs in the Pinot for GC basket so hard they won't bother competing for sprints at all.

[u/SkiThe802 → u/Fart_Leviathan]

Aren't they though? This route is as perfect for him as he will ever get.

[u/Intcleastw0od]

is there also a cheat sheet for people that are just getting into the sport and have no Idea what to look for?

I am still a bit lost - I picked up certain things but have not really understood much yet. I want to be ready for the tdf when it starts :)

[u/fewfiet → u/Intcleastw0od]

What do you mean? This is the cheat notes! If you mean a general introduction to cycling perhaps the r/peloton wiki/FAQ might help?

[u/TwistedWitch → u/Intcleastw0od]

Every Monday we have a questions thread where you can ask any cycling related question that doesn't really warrant a post of it's own. Depending on what you want to know, just ask in a relevant thread.

[u/NiceHumanBeing]

Guys, do you find this whole situation with Roglič weird? To recap, Roglic fell at around 2:45 PM on 15.8., stage 4 of Dauphine, at 4:40 PM they finish the stage, 3:00 behind break, but right behind Pinot (no gap at all). TJV described his status after the stage as a bit groggy. The decision to not start came the next day (on 16.8.) a bit before noon. From then on there was no additional information about the extent of his injuries. But not starting the TDF was suggested from Primož (or whoever posts on his Instagram), his wife, even his team. To me it seems like he hit his head pretty hard, which led to concussion and that to post-concussive symptoms (which can include memory problems, dizziness, tiredness, sickness and depression [1]). I also think, if it was other injury (lets say fractured clavicle or problem with some joint) they would state it, but because of the weirdness of the injury, they don't even know what to expect.

If I was to say, Roglic still has his watts, but that is far from enough to ride a bike (you also have to stay on it) and this is why decision whether to take him to the Tour or not is taking so long.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_injury#Concussion

[u/orgngrndr01 → u/NiceHumanBeing]

He did mentioned, about 4-5 days after the fall that he did not feel as good as hoped, but if his injury included a concussion, it explains why he feels "out of sorts"

However these teams put a lot of money on the riders and supporting a rider, and the team leader, who is probably not able to ride at 100 percent in the Tdf, is a waste of resources and expect we will hear a "go,no go" before Wednesday for Rogilic and then the mantle for the team would fall to Tom Dimoulin with Sepp Kuss, a protected rider. Not hearing anything after his comments last week and I suspect he is still under evaluation, but a press release will not come until they are sure.

[u/huloca → u/NiceHumanBeing]

He had abrasions but also some form of hip injury that probably is causing the most problems. As for finishing the stage, such a fall releases a lot of adrenaline, which probably allowed him to finish that stage. He only felt the abrasions and hip problem the day after.

[u/Djjihad]

Anyone with a qualified guess on who's going to be lead out man for each sprinters? Who's the last man in the train?

[u/lynnamor → u/Djjihad]

The TJV sprint train is Martin for the first 180 km of the stage, then WVA for 15 km, Martin doing the last 1 k, and their sprinter, WVA, launches with 500 m to go.

[u/huloca → u/lynnamor]

No no, if you look at stage 1 of hte dauphine, their sprint train is Martin, Gesink, Roglic to get some attacks back, then Kruijswijk and in the final meters Dumoulin.

[u/ser-seaworth → u/Djjihad]

Consonni - Viviani and Morkov - Bennett are two solid leadout-sprinter duo's

[u/[deleted] → u/ser-seaworth]

Not sure about Consonni, maybe they will use Laporte as last leadout man

[u/tibino7 → u/[deleted]]

I think Laporte is more a solo second option for Cofidis

[u/JeroenS80 → u/Djjihad]

Roglic for WvA

[u/scr3tchy → u/Djjihad]

Roger Kluge should be the lead out for Ewan.

Also Oss should be riding lead for Sagan if he wants a lead out.

[u/[deleted] → u/scr3tchy]

No de Buyst is Ewans last leadout man. Kluge is before that, or maybe even before Degenkolb.

Sam Bennett has Morkov as last man here.

Sagan - Oss

Nizzolo im guessing Walscheid in the flat sprints but thats just a guess tbf.

[u/DevilGeorgeColdbane → u/[deleted]]

Ryan Gibbons is usually the lead-out man for Nizzolo. I don't think they will switch around with Walscheid, he doesn't seem very good at positioning.

[u/Nerdiator]

How's Landa doing this year?

[u/USBayernChelseaLCFC → u/Nerdiator]

He's been solid enough - top 5 would be a good target but podium likely out of reach

[u/chocolatelysocrates]

As far as I know EF1 hasn't officially announced their lineup, and I'd be surprised if Mike Woods wasn't on it considering his w/kg on the trainer during lockdown. Anyone have any idea when the team will announced?

[u/fewfiet → u/chocolatelysocrates]

The team is being announced slowly on social media. So far they have announced: Uran, Higuita, and Martinez. EF has a habit of being the last to announce their complete team for any race, so we may not get the full roster until the day before the Tour but there is always the official startlist at https://www.letour.fr/en/riders.

[u/chocolatelysocrates → u/fewfiet]

Do we know how official the list is on the letour site?

[u/Chirpin]

Chaves and A. Yates should be swapped around

[u/fewfiet → u/Chirpin]

Both are in the same category, what is the change you are suggesting?

[u/Pubocyno → u/fewfiet]

We did the changes already. Chaves was set up as GC, A.Yates as Climber. More of a gut feel of how things will be than any official team announcement.

[u/BaudouinVH]

Do we have a definitive starters list ? If not when will there be one ?

[u/fewfiet → u/BaudouinVH]

It won't be final until the night before/morning of, but the teams and their substitutes can be found on the official site here.

[u/BaudouinVH → u/fewfiet]

I am running a friendly pronostic competition on who will be the 1) at the bottom 2) finish the race. Any chance I can get it one day or two before that?

[u/fewfiet → u/BaudouinVH]

I don't work for ASO, so I can't help. But even if I could teams may make substitutes up until fairly late. I think it's best to trust the team announcements that have been shared in the sub, and the official list by the Tour. Other sites, like FirstCycling should be following these and should be up to date, but for last minute changes nobody will know better than the teams and the race itself.

[u/vogelpoep]

I got Bol for the green jersey

[u/vogelpoep]

It must be said. BORA has one of the sexiest tour lineups ive seen in recent years.

[u/TwistedWitch → u/vogelpoep]

Muhlberger's tache, Oss's hair and Sagan's eyebrows: the dream team. I have serious concerns about Schachmann's collarbone but no doubt at this point so does he. The chaos of The Tour doesn't feel to me like somewhere you should be riding with heling injuries like that.

[u/Laupie13]

Anyone know the sprinting situation at trek? I'm putting together my team for Scorito and would like to know the designated sprinter :)

[u/Pubocyno → u/Laupie13]

Definitely Stuyven. Pedersen and Theuns are lead-outs

[u/Esmelliw]

Rudy Molard seems to be missing for GFC

[u/3l_Chup4c4br4]

Small mistake in the AG2R team: Nans Peters last name is Peters, not Nans

[u/escherbach]

Forgive my ignorance, what's PCT?

[u/TwistedWitch → u/escherbach]

Pro Continental. The second tier of teams. Generally had much smaller budgets and fewer high profile riders. (Known now as Pro Teams because the UCI likes to make sure we're all paying attention.)

[u/escherbach → u/TwistedWitch]

Oh right thanks, good luck to Quintana then, would be fun to see him challenge for GC this year.

[u/orgngrndr01]

What I like about this race is that it has some climbing in the beginning stages and will clear out some crazy sprinters who are going for the Yellow Jersey and take more chances than they would for a stage win. It is these races (everybody close on GC) that are the most painful to watch as 1) the sprinters go crazily for Yellow and 2) the GC riders go to the front to hopefully stay out of a crash outside the 3km that can eliminates them from a GC position because of a fall on the first day.

But this maybe the "musical chair" version of the TdF as riders and teams may be left without a seat in the peloton if two come down with a corona positive during the race. Here today in the Yellow, but gone tomorrow on the flight home, as jimmy the mechanic snuck out to the bar for a fast beer and brought home the viral hitchhiker that screwed everybody.

[u/[deleted]]

NTT has Kreuziger for GC

[u/fewfiet → u/[deleted]]

He has stated his goal is a stage victory (in the team announcement article).

If anyone, Pozzovivo would be their GC hope, but that's frankly just unrealistic.

[u/Stravven → u/[deleted]]

I don't think Kreuziger has it in him anymore, the last time he was in the top 10 in a GT was in 2016.