TdF Stage 1 - Utrecht-Utrecht *SPOILERS*
above_the_cows
Posts: 11,406
So here we go the 2015 Tour de France (and other assorted northern European countries) starts tomorrow in Utrecht.
The stage looks like this:
And is a mammoth 13.8km
The weather looks set to be scorching:
http://buienradar.nl/weer/de-bilt/nl/2757783/#14daagse
Pack a hat and sun cream folks.
Some fun facts about the fourth largest city and oldie religious centre of the The Netherlands...
So Utrecht was of course the most important city in NL until the Golden Age when the merchants of Amsterdam became hegemonic, and put the Archbishop of Utrecht back in his box. (I'm not biased at all)
There is little of geology to report but it is worth noting that Utrecht is the older city and thus was the more important due to it being at the western edge of the Gooi which meant that it wasn't all flooded like the polderised land that lies in the Randstad and on which Amsterdam was built.
There is no wine but there is beer. Utrecht's southern industrial estate is home to the De Leckere brouwerij who have a special Tour beer: Tourkoorts which I can attest it very nice with a slightly spicy taste facilitated by the inclusion of star anise.
Utrecht is home to the Netherlands largest university (but not the best, again I may be biased) and the world's biggest cycle parking facility outside the station. In addition Utrecht was of course home to Dr Strabismus (whom God may preserve) but most importantly Utrecht is home to this little lady!
Nijntje!
So allé allé let's go and best of luck to BR men Violet Beauregarde and Jose The Moustache Serpa, may the Koninklijk Weg Meubelen bless them and keep them.
The stage looks like this:
And is a mammoth 13.8km
The weather looks set to be scorching:
http://buienradar.nl/weer/de-bilt/nl/2757783/#14daagse
Pack a hat and sun cream folks.
Some fun facts about the fourth largest city and oldie religious centre of the The Netherlands...
So Utrecht was of course the most important city in NL until the Golden Age when the merchants of Amsterdam became hegemonic, and put the Archbishop of Utrecht back in his box. (I'm not biased at all)
There is little of geology to report but it is worth noting that Utrecht is the older city and thus was the more important due to it being at the western edge of the Gooi which meant that it wasn't all flooded like the polderised land that lies in the Randstad and on which Amsterdam was built.
There is no wine but there is beer. Utrecht's southern industrial estate is home to the De Leckere brouwerij who have a special Tour beer: Tourkoorts which I can attest it very nice with a slightly spicy taste facilitated by the inclusion of star anise.
Utrecht is home to the Netherlands largest university (but not the best, again I may be biased) and the world's biggest cycle parking facility outside the station. In addition Utrecht was of course home to Dr Strabismus (whom God may preserve) but most importantly Utrecht is home to this little lady!
Nijntje!
So allé allé let's go and best of luck to BR men Violet Beauregarde and Jose The Moustache Serpa, may the Koninklijk Weg Meubelen bless them and keep them.
Correlation is not causation.
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Comments
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Nice sense of humour putting the TT apex on Pythagoraslaan. Other philosophers - Galileilaan, Newtonlaan, Archimedeslaan even an Euclidean square - were available in the 'hood....a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.0
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Does anyone know when we'll find out the start order please?0
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Nice sense of humour putting the TT apex on Pythagoraslaan. Other philosophers - Galileilaan, Newtonlaan, Archimedeslaan even an Euclidean square - were available in the 'hood.
It will be sink or swim for some of them when they turn right onto Archimedeslaan around the halfway point.Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
My little boy is 15 days old today, and I had considered getting him a little yellow baby grow for "watching" the first day of the TdF with Dad. Time has kind of gotten away from me over the last two weeks and I haven't done it, but my colleagues did buy him some Miffy baby grows, so maybe they'll have to do instead!0
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Nice sense of humour putting the TT apex on Pythagoraslaan. Other philosophers - Galileilaan, Newtonlaan, Archimedeslaan even an Euclidean square - were available in the 'hood.
It will be sink or swim for some of them when they turn right onto Archimedeslaan around the halfway point.
Looks like quite a chaotic entropy into Boylelaan....a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.0 -
Utrecht spends more than any city on earth on cycling infrastructure. A whacking €5.5m p/a (my latest figures are from 2012). That's more than 5 times the second placed city."In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
Nice sense of humour putting the TT apex on Pythagoraslaan. Other philosophers - Galileilaan, Newtonlaan, Archimedeslaan even an Euclidean square - were available in the 'hood.
It will be sink or swim for some of them when they turn right onto Archimedeslaan around the halfway point.
Looks like quite a chaotic entropy into Boylelaan.
Personally, I can't wait for the Tour to start in Stuttgart one year. There would HAVE to be a prologue timecheck on Heisenbergstraße....Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Mines 17 ..... days oldMy little boy is 15 days old today
Congrats ..
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Nice sense of humour putting the TT apex on Pythagoraslaan. Other philosophers - Galileilaan, Newtonlaan, Archimedeslaan even an Euclidean square - were available in the 'hood.
It will be sink or swim for some of them when they turn right onto Archimedeslaan around the halfway point.
Looks like quite a chaotic entropy into Boylelaan.
Personally, I can't wait for the Tour to start in Stuttgart one year. There would HAVE to be a prologue timecheck on Heisenbergstraße....
Are you certain about that? 0 -
Mines 17 ..... days oldMy little boy is 15 days old today
Congrats ..
1 year ago!
Trainer Road Blog: https://hitthesweetspot.home.blog/
Cycling blog: https://harderfasterlonger.wordpress.com/
Blog: https://supermurphtt2015.wordpress.com/
TCTP: https://supermurph.wordpress.com/0 -
My little boy is 15 days old today, and I had considered getting him a little yellow baby grow for "watching" the first day of the TdF with Dad. Time has kind of gotten away from me over the last two weeks and I haven't done it, but my colleagues did buy him some Miffy baby grows, so maybe they'll have to do instead!
Excellent choice. Can't go wrong with the cheeky bunny.Correlation is not causation.0 -
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Congratulations to you too!
Mines 17 ..... days oldMy little boy is 15 days old today
Congrats ..
It's just about now that I'm starting to think entering my first Iron distance triathlon that takes place 6 weeks after he was born might have been a bad idea. On the other hand my 3 week taper coincides with the Tour, so it's not all bad!0 -
Brilliant
1 year ago!
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Hard to think of a better startlist for a Tour prologue:
Martin, Dumoulin, Cancellara, Malori, Dowsett, Kwiatkowski. That's before you even mention guys like Dennis, Thomas, Castroviejo, EBH.
Whoever wears the first yellow jersey will have earned it.0 -
I haven't seen the start list posted - they are out according to Cycling Weekly but their link doesn't work
Key times
14:32 – Mark Cavendish
14:37 – Rohan Dennis
14:38 – Jonathan Castroviejo
14:55 – Simon Yates
15:00 – Nairo Quintana
15:47 – Thibaut Pinot
16:01 – Adam Yates
16:25 – Tom Dumoulin
16:28 – Alex Dowsett
16:44 – Tony Martin
16:50 – Adriano Malori
16:52 – Geraint Thomas
17:03 – Fabian Cancellara
17:13 – Alberto Contador
17:14 – Chris Froome
17:17 – Vincenzo Nibali
Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/start-times-for-the-tour-de-france-stage-one-time-trial-180199#two7kAsj59yecx2F.990 -
[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19639725#p19639725]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:Utrecht spends more than any city on earth on cycling infrastructure. A whacking €5.5m p/a (my latest figures are from 2012). That's more than 5 times the second placed city.
At the risk of taking this waaay off-topic, I've seen figures of £160m for the newer London cycle superhighways (https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/board-20150204-part-1-item-07a-propose-csh-scheme.pdf), and numbers of way over £50m/yr spent in the last few years in London (http://road.cc/content/blog/81249-why-isn%E2%80%99t-transport-london-spending-more-cycling-asks-green-partys-darren-johnson), so I'm a little skeptical of your claim. Do you mean top spend per person?"Mummy Mummy, when will I grow up?"
"Don't be silly son, you're a bloke, you'll never grow up"0 -
Accuweather are predicting afternnon thunderstorms
http://www.accuweather.com/en/nl/utrecht/250560/daily-weather-forecast/250560?day=2
Interesting then to see Quintana starting two hours ahead of the other contenders. The storms are predicted for 2pm and 5pmTwitter: @RichN950 -
Am I reading the Dutch weather forecast correctly that it is giving a 30 percent chance of showers during the prolog TT? Maybe bet on an early starter0
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Accuweather are predicting afternnon thunderstorms
http://www.accuweather.com/en/nl/utrecht/250560/daily-weather-forecast/250560?day=2
Interesting then to see Quintana starting two hours ahead of the other contenders. The storms are predicted for 2pm and 5pm
Is that between 2 and 5 or one storm at 2 followed by another at 5?
Could be pot luck if there is more than one storm.0 -
Two storms according to that source. Other sources have different opinions. Another one thinks one storm at around 6pm-8pm.Accuweather are predicting afternnon thunderstorms
http://www.accuweather.com/en/nl/utrecht/250560/daily-weather-forecast/250560?day=2
Interesting then to see Quintana starting two hours ahead of the other contenders. The storms are predicted for 2pm and 5pm
Is that between 2 and 5 or one storm at 2 followed by another at 5?
Could be pot luck if there is more than one storm.Twitter: @RichN950 -
Nice sense of humour putting the TT apex on Pythagoraslaan. Other philosophers - Galileilaan, Newtonlaan, Archimedeslaan even an Euclidean square - were available in the 'hood.
It will be sink or swim for some of them when they turn right onto Archimedeslaan around the halfway point.
Looks like quite a chaotic entropy into Boylelaan.
Personally, I can't wait for the Tour to start in Stuttgart one year. There would HAVE to be a prologue timecheck on Heisenbergstraße....
Are you certain about that?
Applause0 -
Utrecht has about 250,000 inhabitants, about 30 times less than London.[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19639725#p19639725]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:Utrecht spends more than any city on earth on cycling infrastructure. A whacking €5.5m p/a (my latest figures are from 2012). That's more than 5 times the second placed city.
At the risk of taking this waaay off-topic, I've seen figures of £160m for the newer London cycle superhighways (https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/board-20150204-part-1-item-07a-propose-csh-scheme.pdf), and numbers of way over £50m/yr spent in the last few years in London (http://road.cc/content/blog/81249-why-isn%E2%80%99t-transport-london-spending-more-cycling-asks-green-partys-darren-johnson), so I'm a little skeptical of your claim. Do you mean top spend per person?
I'm a bit sceptical of the 5 times more than 2nd city - Utrecht's cycling infrastructure is obviously outstanding, but not that much better than other Dutch cities like Groningen, Amsterdam, The Hague, etc0 -
"In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
My weather app says 30% chance of storms between 10-11 tomorrow morning.
Still if you want to check tomorrow this would be a better bet:
http://buienradar.nl/Correlation is not causation.0 -
That is amazing! Correlation is not causation.0 -
Utrecht has about 250,000 inhabitants, about 30 times less than London
Do you mean top spend per person?[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19639725#p19639725]disgruntledgoat[/url] wrote:Utrecht spends more than any city on earth on cycling infrastructure. A whacking €5.5m p/a (my latest figures are from 2012). That's more than 5 times the second placed city.
Would've made sense if the figures had been given as a net spend per head (ie €22 per person) rather than absolute or if the '5 times' had been qualified with the 'per person'. I thought the Netherlands spends about €30 per person as a whole so €22 is below the national average (http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2010/05/487-million-euros-for-cycling.html). Perhaps it's extra city-specific spend over-and-above national average? Anyway, this is digressing significantly and cycle paths are hardly very 'Pro Race' (well, outside of Giro TTTs of course) "Mummy Mummy, when will I grow up?"
"Don't be silly son, you're a bloke, you'll never grow up"0 -
Super excited for this - managed to sort a last minute trip to Utrecht out... But I haven't packed a rain jacket!0
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...not forgetting the architectural gems of the Schroder House by Reitvelt and the shopping centre by Herman hertzberger.Half man, Half bike0
