tl;dr Yes, there are giveaways further down the page.

Tour de France 2017

No surprise I'm doing a prediction event for this one. :)
Due to me running out of time once again there aren't many Wikipedia links (might add these later) and the Tour Touristique was copied right off the official Tour site in a few cases.

How it works

Predict who is going to win each stage of the Tour. Anyone with at least one correct predicition will be eligible to enter the (50+ games) winners' event that I will organise at the end of the cycling season.

  • Leave your prediction for each stage on the giveaway for that stage (they all include maps and profiles and link to the official site).
  • Do not edit your predictions if you want to change but delete and create a new one.
  • Below you can see a table with all of them but you can just go the first one and use the next stage link on there to go through all of them.
  • We're not going to make it too easy so anyone who just spams the same rider for all stages will be disqualified.

Preview

Even though there are no prizes for predicting the winners of the jerseys I can't resist doing a little preview on these.

Sites
Official Site
Wikipedia
A better list of riders than the official site, with thanks to bartwu

General Classification (abbreviated as GC)
This is the one it's all about, who will bring the maillot jaune (jellow jersey) to Paris this year?

  • We start with last year's winner Chris Froome who hasn't had a great year so far. He's won three editions in the past though; there's no rider with four wins but there are four people with five wins, a rather august group that I'm sure he would love to join. There are few time trial kilometres this Tour and Chris has already pushed himself in the underdog role for this year. But are you really going to bet against him? He certainly has the strongest (and scientifically most advanced) team behind him (without Wout Poels unfortunately). However, it was interesting how Froome was the only Team Sky rider who did not publically come to the defense of Dave Brailsford over the whole Bradley Wiggins hullabaloo. So there are rumors he is not happy at Sky and wants to leave, apparently BMC is offering him 4 million a year to come ride for them. Even if all of this is true I'd think Sky would still want a win with Froome this year. Update: it's official; he extended his contract at Sky till 2021.
  • Richie Porte is seen by many as the biggest competition for Froome this year. Porte had a great year so far, winning quite a bit already. In the Critérium du Dauphiné he got beat on the last day by Jakob Füglsang but showed great form. The biggest question is if his team (BMC) is strong enough to support him in the mountains. Hopefully his string of bad luck will break this year.
  • France's big hope for a French victor since Bernard Hinault in 1985 is Romain Bardet, he managed to come in second last year, an incredibly impressive performance. The start of his season wasn't great but then it wasn't either last year. I can definitely see him winning a stage this year but not the GC. He's one to watch for the future though.
  • Trek is betting on Alberto Contador having another Tour victory in him. His last dates from 2009; he also won in 2010 but was then found to have tested positive for the prohibited substance Clenbuterol. He sure has the experience though; having won seven grand tours in total. Trek is bringing Bauke Mollema as a lieutenant; someone who used to fight for the GC himself and a top ten finisher in three Tours.
  • Nairo Quintana (third last year) declared he was going to try and win both the Giro and the Tour this year, a feat not seen since Marco Pantani did it in 1998 (likely doped to the gills). He failed in the Giro and now has to ride the Tour with legs that must still burn from his effort in Italy. He does have a great lieutenant in Alejandro Valverde who has said he will ride this Tour in total support of his captain (though I really hope to see Valverde attack on stages 3 and 14).
  • Team Astana is bringing both Fabio Aru and Jakob Füglsang, with Aru likely being the captain even though he had a knee injury this year and Füglsang won the Dauphiné last month. Aru has returned quite strong though and should not be discounted.
  • Thibaut Pinot is France's other hope and he's had a pretty good season so far. He rode the Giro though and publically proclaimed that he was focused on winning that one and the Tour was not his primary focus this year. I can't see him finishing top five this year but he'll be very keen on a stage win.
  • Team Orica-Scott is bringing Esteban Chaves and Simon Yates. Chaves is a big unknown and hasn't done much this season due to a knee injury, he is definitely the dark horse this Tour. Simon's twin brother Adam won the white jersey (best cyclists less than 26 years of age) last year and Simon who's been having a good season so far will be looking to win it this year, and most likely will.

King of the Mountain (often abbreviated as KoM)
The maillot a pois (polka dot jersey) goes to the best climber; who will it be this year? The good news is that the ASO has changed the rules and is now awarding more points for the 'real' climbs so we'll get an actual climber as a winner unlike some other years. Obviously the GC riders will all feature in this classification but there are some others...

  • I would be very surprised if Rafał Majka won't bring the polka dot jersey to Paris this year. He's shown it in previous years; he's just a great climber. This year he's already done the Giro which might not help but in his favor is that he has no captain to support in the mountains (unless his team wants Emanuel Buchmann to do well) so he can focus purely on stage wins.
  • Thibaut Pinot won't be going for the GC after his Giro this year but will try for stage wins and the KoM classification.
  • If Nairo Quintana loses big in the GC early on then he might see this as a consolation price though I personally doubt it.
  • Thomas de Gendt is always up in the KoM classification and this year won't be any different. Don't bet against him for a stage win either.
  • Cannondale-Drapac are bringing Rigoberto Uran, Andrew Talansky, and Pierre Rolland. All three will be looking for stage wins but Uran who didn't do the Giro is best position to battle for the KoM.
  • Will Warren Barguil be going for a good GC classification or not? That is the question. His lieutenants have already done so much work in helping Tom Dumoulin win the Giro, will they have the energy to do that much work again? (Though I am really happy my favorite rider, Laurens ten Dam, will be here again this year.) If not going for the GC, he will be looking for stage wins and the KoM.
  • The same could be said of Ion Izagirre; he could either try for a good GC (hard without much support) or go for stage wins and KoM.

Sprinters
This year a huge amount of sprinters will be appearing in the Tour and there is no one clear favorite making the sprints quite interesting (hopefully).

  • When he came to the Tour last year, no one expected much of Mark Cavendish; he had said his focus was on the Olympics and his season hadn't been great. Then he won four stages, surprising everyone. This year his preparation has been even worse as he has been suffering with Epstein-Barr for months, until this week it wasn't even sure if he would participate. Now that he is here, does anyone dare to discount him? He's won thirty stages in the Tour so far, only four less than Eddy Merckx, the The Cannibal himself. Cav will really want to equal or beat that record even though he publically always denies it.
  • Marcel Kittel has had he most wins this season so he'll be coming to the Tour with confidence. A tour that starts in his home country no less; he'll likely do well in the individual time trial on the opening day to get as close to the yellow as possible. His teammate Fernando Gaviria won four stages in the Giro this year, a feat that Marcel will want to equal but that's going to be quite hard and will he be as well supported as Gaviria was?
  • The other German sprinter is André Greipel, who has won a stage in every Tour since 2011. He brings the experience but does he bring the power this year?
  • France has at least two aces this year; Arnaud Démare and Nacer Bouhanni. Démare won the French national championship last week and looks to be in fine form. Bouhanni will finally appearing in the Tour; last year he was out due to a hand injury sustained in a fight (yes, really). Will one of them give France the first sprint victory since Jimmy Casper in 2006?
  • Peter Sagan; so much more than a sprinter. He has won the green jersey for the past five years and were he to win it this year (which he will), he would equal the record held by Erik Zabel, who won green every year from 1996 to 2001.
  • Michael Matthews broke his Tour de France drought last year and will be hoping to add to that victory in 2017.
  • Dylan Groenewegen did his first Tour last year and got close in one of the stages. He's stronger now and his team is showing they believe in him, bringing a four man sprint train just for him.
  • Alexander Kristoff has publicly acknowledged that he’s not particularly happy at Katusha-Alpecin at the moment, and his performance seems to have suffered a little. He’s had a solid six wins for the year, but hasn’t looked at his world-beating best.
  • John Degenkolb needs to be in this list as well. :)

Feel free to leave your predictions for jersey winners and other speculations in the comments below.

Man of the Tour
We can say it before the start already; Peter Sagan will be the man this year yet again. After yet another green jersey and three stage wins last year what will he bring us this year? Here's hoping he will be telling "Froomey" to lighten up and how they are artists here to entertain the masses. He recently announced he's going to be a father, will that change anything? I am really looking forward to his wins and his post race interviews. Technically there are 11 stages this year that he is capable of winning but that would just be silly...

Update: Well, he certainly is the Man of the Tour today (04/07) but not in the way I had hoped. Exit Peter. :(

Tour Trivia
Sylvain Chavanel will start his 17th Tour this year, equalling the record held by Stuart O'Grady and Jens Voigt. He finished the Tour 14 times but the record of most Tour finishes stands at 16 and is held by none other than Joop Zoetemelk. O'Grady has 15 finishes and Voigt 14.

Adam Hansen will be competing his 18th consecutive grand tour; an amazing record.

Stages

Date Stage (Giveaway) Steam
Saturday, July 1st Düsseldorf / Düsseldorf Strategic War in Europe
Sunday, July 2nd Düsseldorf / Liège Duke Nukem Forever
Monday, July 3rd Verviers / Longwy CoH 2 - The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West
Tuesday, July 4th Mondorf-les-Bains / Vittel Smugglers 5
Wednesday, July 5th Vittel / La planche des belles filles Rescue - Everyday Heroes (U.S. Edition)
Thursday, July 6th Vesoul / Troyes Mini Metro
Friday, July 7th Troyes / Nuits-Saint-Georges Lethal League
Saturday, July 8th Dole / Station des rousses Runaway: A Twist of Fate
Sunday, July 9th Nantua / Chambéry Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
Monday, July 10th Dordogne Sid Meier's Civilization® V
Tuesday, July 11th Périgueux / Bergerac Mafia II
Wednesday, July 12th Eymet / Pau SteamWorld Dig
Thursday, July 13th Pau / Peyragudes Reus
Friday, July 14th Saint-Girons / Foix TransOcean: The Shipping Company
Saturday, July 15th Blagnac / Rodez Runaway, A Road Adventure
Sunday, July 16th Laissac-Sévérac l'Église / Le Puy-en-Velay Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition
Monday, July 17th Le Puy-en-Velay The Masterplan
Tuesday, July 18th Le Puy-en-Velay / Romans-sur-Isère Project CARS
Wednesday, July 19th La Mure / Serre-Chevalier Heavenly Battle
Thursday, July 20th Briançon / Izoard Frozen Cortex
Friday, July 21st Embrun / Salon-de-Provence Runaway, The Dream of The Turtle
Saturday, July 22nd Marseille / Marseille The Darkness II
Sunday, July 23rd Montgeron / Paris Champs-Élysées Door Kickers

This table/chart is RaChart™ compatible and was created with Giveaways Table/Chart Creator

View attached image.
6 years ago*

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Not really into cycling but it's interesting to follow the GA comments and the race highlights in general, is it still alright to enter the GAs?

6 years ago
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bump ~

6 years ago
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It was nice to see that Peter Sagan won the sprint yesterday and today it's another 200+ KM long stage with most probably another mass sprint to decide the winner. :-)

6 years ago
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It was great to see him win after making three mistakes like he said. ;)

And yeah, today should be another sprint.

6 years ago
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It was a dramatic sprint and I just heard that Peter Sagan has been sent out of the Tour because of closing the door on Cavendish with his elbow.

Cavendish could have a shoulder fracture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ErJJMJ0hCI

6 years ago*
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Yeah, he's out. Such a damn shame.

6 years ago
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True, a real shame.

6 years ago
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Cavendish is also out with a shoulder blade fracture.

6 years ago
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Yeah, I figured everyone had read the news by now.

On reflection they probably should have taken Sagan out of the results yesterday but not out of the Tour. I haven't heard any ex-riders who agree with his expulsion.

6 years ago
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Even the top down helicopter view of the crash is not conclusive.

6 years ago
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Heyyyy :)
Yeah yeah! I'm late! :)
Weird day this. Imagine though, if that 1st crash had not happened, how many more riders would have fallen over Cav and his bike.

Now to pick my riders for today... I have the GC guys (just not Contador...), and Cumming and Rolland...maybe Majka...uhhhh

6 years ago
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Today :)

6 years ago
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Go Kittel Go Allez

6 years ago
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It's another nice stage to watch, 45 Km from the finish, 3 riders have a 2 minutes advantage on the peleton but looks like another mass sprint coming up. :-)

6 years ago
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Third one for Kittel! ^^

6 years ago
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Bump! :3

6 years ago
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Posted this on the page for the stage but gonna post it here too:

What a stage!!

Those crashes aren't good for my health. :/

Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte having their typical luck; it's so damn sad. Daniel Martin is so lucky he didn't suffer much when Porte launched him.

I was hoping Barguil would win in the end but Urán pipped him to the post by a few millimetres...

And Gesink was out after just 5 km. :(

I predicted Contador's loss of time correctly, so I guess there's that.

6 years ago
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Kittel could win his 13th TDF stage today, which would also be a new record for German riders. He is currently tied at 12 with Erik Zabel. 4 wins in one Tour would also be a new record for German riders.

6 years ago
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Yeah, he's really showing his class.

I really like the guy and he deserves it. But it would be nice if we didn't know the result before the stage. Hopefully there will be a bit more competition.

6 years ago
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And he did it again! ^^

Congrats to Kittel and the Tour is not over yet. ;-)

6 years ago
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Bump!

6 years ago
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2017-07-12
Kittel certainly disproves my preview and shows he is much stronger than all the other sprinters. Groenewegen is showing his class though; the stats also show he has the fastest top speed.

6 years ago
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Number 5 for Kittel and to date 40 victories this year for team Quickstep! ^^

6 years ago
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Finally another mountain stage today!

6 years ago
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2017-07-13
Quite an unexpected end to the stage.

Great win by Bardet. For the longest time it looked like everyone was just helping Froome win his next Tour but he lost 22 seconds in the last 300 metres or so.

All of a sudden the GC battle looks a little more interesting. There need to be more attacks though or Froome will easily regain the jersey on the penultimate day in the ITT.

Great attempt by George Bennet at the last kilometre, I was really hoping he could do it.

6 years ago
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2017-07-14
The French have a winner on Bastille Day, very well done by Warren!

These short stages sure bring some action, I predict we'll see more of them the coming years.

The GC didn't change that much though a few people gained and it's a bit more compact now. Hopefully we'll see a lot more fireworks in the mountains next week.

6 years ago
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2017-07-15
Matthews was the odds on favorite for today and he delivered; Van Avermaet back to his customary second place. I can't help but wonder how things would have gone had Sagan still been here.

Aru lost more than expected on that final climb and now Froome is back in yellow already; now that Team Sky can control the stage again it will make tomorrow's mountain stage less interesting, unfortunately.

6 years ago
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I found today's stage to be the one that was most enjoyable to watch, to date and with the greatest combat spirit. :-)

6 years ago
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Yeah, I had been looking forward to this one.

6 years ago
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For some reason when i saw this video i remembered of Corran event...x)
Next year winner?

6 years ago
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lol!

6 years ago
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2017-07-16
Bauke Mollema wins! Damn, that was totally unexpected!!

I figured lots of other riders in that breakaway had much more chance to get this one than Bauke, where the hell did that come from?? He's a climber so no idea what he was thinking. Good thing the guys behind him didn't co-operate well.

6 years ago
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Unexpected indeed but Oranje boven, congrats! ^^

6 years ago
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Thanks!

6 years ago
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😎

6 years ago
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Bump :)

6 years ago
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Bump :p

6 years ago
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Going to be an interesting stage today; Kittel already behind the peleton.

6 years ago
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2017-07-18
Quite an interesting stage, more than expected due to the strong winds today.

Matthews won his second stage though Edvald Boasson Hagen and John Degenkolb came close; Van Avermaet's final jump made things tricky for them.

A real shame for Dan Martin, he should not have been caught out, having lost time today will not help his chances for a podium finish.

Amazing jump by Landa to get back to the first group. Also impressive work of Bouhani's team, getting him back like that.

A real mountain stage tomorrow! (Even if we finish downhill.)

6 years ago
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Time is getting short for those that want to attack for the overall position so we'll have an interesting stage tomorrow, no more hiding now. :-)

6 years ago
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2017-07-19
Amazing win by Primož Roglič! I was hoping to see something special from him this Tour but after his fall in the opening ITT I must admit I figured his Tour was sort of over already. Now he's the big favorite for Saturday's ITT. It would be quite special if he manages it; two wins in your first Tour, not many people have done that.

No one was surprised at Contador attacking today and I wasn't surprised he didn't manage to win.

The GC riders all basically did as expected; Quintana proving you can't contest the GC in the Giro and Tour in one year and the others hardly attempting to attack Froome. The best GC rider by far right now is... Mikel Landa. I can't imagine what he must be thinking right now.

Here's hoping that tomorrow (the last mountain stage; finish on the Izoard!) will give us the fireworks we've been waiting for.

Edit: totally forgot to mention Marcel Kittel's exit from the Tour. The green jersey looks to be for Michael Matthews now, making Sunweb's Tour even better. With Kittel and Arnaud Démare already out the last two sprint stages now look a real possibility for Dylan Groenewegen. It all depends on how he'll survive tomorrow's stage but he could make this years Tour quite a succes for LottoNL - Jumbo.

6 years ago*
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We did have fireworks today and plenty of them! ^^

Also a very nice second win for Barguil.

6 years ago
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Definitely!

I have my little review up at the end of the thread now. :)

6 years ago
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Thank you Noorderbuur. :-)

6 years ago
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Warren Barguil... Just Wow...Some idiot in the crowd needed to be punched in the face ! He was running besides him, even if Barguil kept avoiding him...

6 years ago
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Yeah, Barguil even pushed him away at some point. It's such a shame there's morons like that on all mountain stages.

I have my little review up at the end of the thread now. :)

6 years ago
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2017-07-20
Impossible win by Warren Barguil!

It's incredible how he has been able to win two (and so nearly) three mountain stages only months after breaking his pelvis... Masterstroke by Sunweb to not make him ride for the GC though (well, Visbeen just said they were riding for a top 10 classification); I don't think he would have won a stage otherwise. Two roomies winning four stages and two jerseys (green and polka dot) between them, very impressive!

Really shame for Atapuma though, he certainly deserved something today.

So what happened when Mikel Landa broke away from Froome and the favorites? Was that tactics, was it mutiny? Hard to say right now but I'm sure Sky will say it was all planned.

Froome is gonna win his next Tour, in case anyone was still doubting that. Aru unfortunately couldn't follow but Bardet is quite strong, looks a pretty certain future Tour winner now.

Mass sprint tomorrow?

6 years ago
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Bardet and Barguil (he's young too 25 Yo)
Both Future Tour de France Winners :)

Let's just hope they will not end like Schleck...

Nice Review like always ;)

6 years ago
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