Hello fans of Big Mig, Il Pirata and the incomparable Phil Liggett. Once again, it is time. It is time for our annual foray into the best sporting event in the history of the world, the Tour de France !!!

First things first. Watching it this year will SUCK. The greedy bastards at NBC have locked the content away on Peacock. You’re gonna have to pay to stream the TDF this year. Last year, their was a last minute salvation as NBC agreed to allow same day broadcasts on partner platforms. I don’t see that happening now. BTW, it starts on Saturday.

As for the race, this year is shaping up to be one for the ages.

The route is insane. 2 very hilly stages to start. Lots of attacks expected. Stage 4 brings back the Col du Galibier. As of today, they are are still clearing snow from the top of that behemoth. Stage 7 brings you a Time Trial. Yay! And, this is just the first week. Stage 9 gives you gravel. That’s right, gravel. Stage 14 brings back the Tourmalet. The pain in the Pyrenees continues until the last day where we have….another Time Trial!…take a breath… The only bad thing about the route is that for the first time, ever, we will not finish in Paris due to the Olympics. We finish in Nice.

What about the race? The Manx Missle is back for one last ride. 39 year old Mark Cavendish is tied wit the the legendary Eddie Merckx for most TDF stage wins with 34. Astana took Cav in and has given him all the support he needs. I hope the old man finds the finish line one more time.

That will be fun to follow, but all eyes will be on the absolute duel to the death that Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard will have. TP won this race in ’20 and ’21. JV won in ’22 and ’23. Now, during this time, JV has had a much stronger team with Jumbo Visma. If you’re name isn’t Indurain or Pantani, you’re not winning the TDF without help. While TP has a much stronger team with UAE this tear, the real story is how weak Visma is now. It started when Pimoz Roglic left to head the Bora squad. Then, just in the past couple days, it was announced that Sepp Kuss would not start for Visma due to not being over a COVID infection. That also sucks for Americans as Sepp is the best American rider right now.

Pogacar and Vingegaard are the class of the field, but there is a crop of young guns looking to make some noise. Carlos Rodriguez, Remco Evenpoel, Juan Ayuso, Matteo Jorgenson and Tom Pidcock are all capable of making a run for the Podium in Nice.

While we all like to joke about the inhuman toughness of Jens Voit or the freakish talents of Peter Sagan, neither of those guys are returning from retirement. But, we still have Wout Van Aert. If you find yourself losing focus on the Tour, just find Wout. I guarantee you that he will be doing something ridiculously awesome.

So, what will happen this year? Well, Tadej just destroyed the field in the Giro, and he has is eyes set on the Giro/Tour double. Something that hasn’t happened since The Pirate himself did it in 1998. Tadej was recently quoted as saying, “I have never felt this good on a bike”. Meanwhile Jonas is still recovering from a nasty crash a few months ago. My prediction? To qoute Mr. T, …..”PAIN”.