text: Domenico Pozzovivo leads the Tour de Suisse after winning Stage 6. This was Ag2r La Mondiale's first win in the World Tour. Much had been made of Cannondale-Drapac not winning in the World Tour for two years until Andrew Talansky's win in the Tour of California. This passed the longest "losing streak" onto Astana but they ended this in the Dauphiné with Jacob Fuglsang which in turn saw Ag2r La Mondiale inherit this label… ironically on a day when the stage finish was just minutes up the road from their service course HQ.
  Most probably see Pozzovivo and think "short climber" and his nickname – which he doesn't appreciate – is the Pulce di Policoro, the Flea of Policoro and you can see why it's not cherished. Even preserving the alliteration we could have the Pianista di Policoro. As ever there's a lot more to every rider but many Italians and their personalities don't export well. Pozzovivo's a keen piano player with a business degree and often carryies books on complex subjects around races, meteorology for example, an autodidact.
  Pozzovivo's studied sports science too and has mentioned a move into becoming a coach on retirement. He'll be leafing the altitude pages today for the finish in Sölden with the Ötztal Glacier Road finish, this time they pass the Rettenbachferner glacier finish used last year, climb even higher to tunnel which reaches 2,830 metres above sea level before a brief descent to the Tiefenbachferner glacier.
  Meanwhile the Route du Sud keeps growing in stature, attracting more World Tour teams. A recent deal with Eurosport to put the race on TV has helped but it's also perfectly timed ahead of the Tour de France as a short test in the Pyrenees. The race has its supporters including Tour de France director Christian Pruhomme, a regular at the race. It might not be an ASO race but Prudhomme and his colleagues seem to appreciate how the race explores "new" corners of the Pyrenees. Now this part of France can feel remote and unspoilt but it's not as if there are unexplored roads. However it is a test of logistics. This year's exploratory ride is to the Cirque de Gavarnie. Unknown in cycling but celebrated as a natural wonder as well as a great climb in its own right.
  ASO aren't just looking for new venues in remote parts. The Tour's Stage 20 is the time trial around Marseille and it finishes in the Stade Vélodrome, a large football stadium despite its name and rebranded to the Orange Vélodrome in a naming rights deal. It's a small novelty too, or rather a return to the old days when Tour stages often finished in a stadium, in part to ensure a captive audience and sell tickets. This time entry is free, as long as people apply for tickets. It's interesting because it's an urban race, so often the Tour is a celebration of rural France but the race will tour France's second largest city before a finish inside the stadium with hopefully 67,000 waiting spectators inside.
  Talking of sitting spectators Eurosport have confirmed they'll follow France Télévisions in offering live coverage of every Tour de France stage from start to finish. Great… but as suggested here the increased supply won't meet much greater demand and so the risk is the "product", ie the Tour as a TV experience, gets devalued especially because the parts that will be filmed that were not previously shown will disproportionately include those dull moments when a breakaway of wildcard invitees goes clear on what is a nailed-on sprint stage. But it'll mean everything that happens gets filmed and if you plan on tuning in for a sprint finish you can still pull out your phone or open a browser tab to keep an eye on the action rather than reading a ticker.
  A day without TV?
  TV is only a part of the Tour and one thought for July is to follow the race for a day or two without TV. Television gives us the illusion of seeing what happens but even at the Tour which has more cameras pointing at the race than any other we can only see a fraction of what happens. With all the long stages radio is an excellent medium.
  Transfer season is underway and things are simmering rather than hotting up. UCI rules prohibit riders from signing contracts with a new team until 1 August each year but this just encourages riders, agents and team managers to sidestep the rules by agreeing terms and even signing pre-contracts ahead of this date. It has to happen no matter what the UCI rules say, a team may have up to 30 riders but it's possible to have teams where three riders earn more than the rest combined. In other words a huge proportion of the team budget goes on signing headline or marquee riders and this needs to be settled soon. Imagine a jigsaw puzzle where some pieces are huge and others small, you have to start with the big pieces. Right now there's talk Marcel Kittel could move to Katusha-Alpecin but he could stay at Quick Step too, and if Kittel moves will Kristoff stay? These big pieces of the jigsaw have to move first before others can be fitted in place.
  Other factors are calming the transfer market. There are 18 World Tour teams bidding for 18 spots so no dash for points, nor is there a new team entering the market and needing to build a roster in a rush. One thing to watch is the Pro Continental teams because this tier is very uneven, a few teams get regular wildcard invitations to the grand tours while others look very wholly unsuited to competiting against World Tour teams for three weeks at a time. But just one or two attractive signings can tip the balance for these wildcards, to make a "maybe" team into a "must have". So while the likes of UAE-Emirates and Bahrein-Merida build and spend, watch to see if more modest teams can transform their fortunes with one or two crafty signings.
  Lee Friday, 16 June 2017, 11:58 am
  Interesting your comments on following the Tour by radio instead of TV – are there any english-language streams you'd recommend?
  Ronan Friday, 16 June 2017, 12:47 pm
  +1 for this. Also if there's a French radio station that can be accessed online, that's be useful too. Brush up on my language skills, keep up to date with the Tour, avoid work. 🙂
  The Cauberg Friday, 16 June 2017, 5:30 pm
  RMC is my go-to French channel for the tdf on the radio.
  The Inner Ring Friday, 16 June 2017, 5:49 pm
  RMC probably has the most coverage, they have a reporter on a motorbike for live moments and plenty going on in the studio, it's very lively sports coverage with jokes, conversation and listener phone-ins but above all plenty of it from 2pm to 8pm.
  Colly Murray Thursday, 22 June 2017, 4:02 pm
  All in French though?
  Kevin Smith Friday, 16 June 2017, 3:07 pm
  I think the UK radio station Five Live Sports Extra has had live cycling before but not sure if this was the Tour. Think it may have been the World Champs or Olympic road races.
  Fleggster Friday, 16 June 2017, 4:52 pm
  From memory, Five Live Sports Extra had commentary on the last hour or so of each stage of last years TdF from Simon Brotherton.
  Ecky Thump Friday, 16 June 2017, 9:41 pm
  I've always thought cycling as one of the most aesthetic of sports; be it the beauty of the bikes and their tech, the apparel, the cool riders and their swan-like graceful effort, the landscape, the weather.
  To take that visual sense away seems very challenging?
  RQS Sunday, 18 June 2017, 1:14 pm
  But as we both know, the grit and effort of cycling can be well conveyed by words which is lost by pictures alone.
  JH Sunday, 18 June 2017, 10:42 pm
  As the old adage goes: "Radio is just the same as TV, except with better pictures".
  Anonymous Friday, 16 June 2017, 5:50 pm
  Kittel to move out? Well he hasn't had the success he desires at Quickstep and Gaviria's recent performances must be piling the pressure on to perform. Fight or Flight? I think he will move on.
  PaulG Friday, 16 June 2017, 5:51 pm
  Apologies…hit the send button too soon.
  The Inner Ring Friday, 16 June 2017, 6:49 pm
  He's also been on a relatively low salary, the price paid so he could get out his contract with Giant but it means he's on 60% of what Nacer Bouhanni signed for before.
  ZigaK Tuesday, 20 June 2017, 10:21 am
  Anonymous Friday, 16 June 2017, 11:00 pm
  A bit figurative that TdS trophy. I wonder if for today it bears Ötzi's likeness?
  Anonymous Saturday, 17 June 2017, 9:13 am
  Cirque de Gavarnie is one of the most naturally stunning places in the Pyrenees, a glorious and accessible natural amphitheatre, more picturesque than the nearby summits. The approach road feels a little similar to the road to Fuente De in the Picos
  haps Sunday, 18 June 2017, 1:56 pm
  CN recently aired a podcast about the transfer market:
  http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/transfer-market-special-podcast/
  where they mention how Lefevre is very skilled at signing riders, but that he might not have the budget to keep them all(Gilbert, Kittel, Martin, Alaphillipe & Tepstra have their contracts expiring)