Cyclry

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The Alternative Tour de France | Super Grand Tour

Welcome to SUPER GRAND TOUR. This data was compiled by Kris Tilford and shared by the dumbasses on rec.bicycles.racing. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it done before as a concept, probably from some other dumbass on rec.bicycles.racing. It’s a lot of fun though.

Winning the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France is the most romantic double in cycling. Much more romantic than the Pope Killer Flanders–Roubaix double. But today we’re announcing the Super Grand Tour, which is naturally more prestigious than both because it involves winning the combined GC across all three grand tours.

Only 39 riders have ever finished all three grand tours in a season. Adam Hansen did it six times. Nutter.

And now, it’s a competition:

Current Super Grand Tour Standings

  1. Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team – 173h 05′ 48″
  2. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo – 174h 19′ 28″
  3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida – 174h 36′ 54″
  4. Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First – 174h 41′ 23″
  5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo – 174h 46′ 55″
  6. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott – 175h 00′ 30″
  7. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin – 175h 06′ 58″
  8. Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale – 175h 50′ 58″
  9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida – 175h 55′ 08″
  10. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team – 176h 15′ 38″
  11. Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team – 176h 31′ 42″
  12. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal – 177h 15′ 46″
  13. Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Mitchelton-Scott – 179h 11′ 42″
  14. Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott – 179h 26′ 47″
  15. Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb – 181h 07′ 24″
  16. Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin – 181h 39′ 03″

Provisional 2019 Vuelta starters eligible for the Super Grand Tour:

  • Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott (6th)
  • Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal (12th)

Our money’s on Simon Yates. We’ll update you on this extremely important two horse race after the Vuelta.

THE ALTERNATIVE TOUR DE FRANCE

Way back in 2008, at the height of our Alberto Contador hatred, we declared that you shouldn’t be eligible for a grand tour victory unless you’ve also won a stage of that year’s race. Our logic was sound: it diminished Contador’s achievements a tiny bit.

Well, now we’re bringing it back. In the Alternative Tour de France, your times are taken as normal. You can lead the race and wear the yellow jersey. But when you arrive in Paris, you need to have won a stage to be eligible to win the overall victory or the highest overall stage winner in the GC takes over. Which gives us the following classification:

  1. Julian Alaphilippe @ 83h 01′ 05″
  2. Egan Bernal (COL) @ -4′ 05″
  3. Geraint Thomas @ -2′ 54″

Wait, that’s boring. What if we make it so you can only wear the yellow jersey if you’ve won a stage?

  1. Mike Teunissen
  2. Mike Teunissen
  3. Julian Alaphilippe
  4. Julian Alaphilippe
  5. Julian Alaphilippe
  6. Julian Alaphilippe
  7. Julian Alaphilippe
  8. Julian Alaphilippe
  9. Julian Alaphilippe
  10. Julian Alaphilippe
  11. Julian Alaphilippe
  12. Julian Alaphilippe
  13. Julian Alaphilippe
  14. Julian Alaphilippe
  15. Julian Alaphilippe
  16. Julian Alaphilippe
  17. Julian Alaphilippe
  18. Julian Alaphilippe
  19. Julian Alaphilippe
  20. Julian Alaphilippe
  21. Julian Alaphilippe

Ok, this idea is shit. Thanks for reading.