The Race Communiqué: Tour de France Breakdown & Durbo’s Data Dive

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We’re coming to the end of June, and in the world of cycling, that can only mean one thing…it’s almost time for the Tour! It’s all been leading up to this - the biggest bike race of the year. I’ve got my old mates Tom Southam and Luke Durbridge back on The Race Communique to help me preview this massive race and, oh boy, it’s set to be an absolute banger. 

Durbo kicks off this month with PeloChat, where he takes us through his TrainingPeaks data from the Tour de Suisse so we can see just how hard the racing is these days. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - I am so glad I retired when I did; oh my god, the racing is just so brutal in 2025! Some of these numbers are crazy! And hey, Durbs, we all saw you splitting the bunch up with 70k to go on stage 1, so don’t you start complaining about how tough it is out there these days…

Before the Tour de Suisse, of course, we had the mini Tour de France - the Critérium du Dauphiné. This is where we saw ‘The Big Three’ go toe to toe (to toe) with each other. Remco, Jonas, and - of course - Pogi. It was an amazing race, and Tadej came out looking absolutely dominant, but there was a pretty big question mark over his form after a quite frankly pathetic 4th place after the time trial. We know Jonas is still on the comeback trail from his crash back in Paris Nice, so with another few weeks of solid recovery, I think we’re in for an absolutely massive battle this July.

After we discussed the warm-up races, we got stuck into our massive Tour de France preview. We discuss everything - the stages, the riders, the moments that are going to define this year’s race. An absolutely chaotic looking first 10 days around Northern France with tonnes of opportunity for an aggressive rider to take shed loads of time, an absolutely brutal end to the race in the mountains (stage 18 - holy sh*t!), a new finish circuit around Paris to make sure there’s excitement all the way to the line, and heaps more! You’re not going to want to miss a single second of this race.

We all pick a rider or two to discuss, so make sure you tune in if you want to hear what Southam thinks of Carapaz and what really went down on that infamous Colle Delle Finestere stage at the Giro! Durbo lifts the lid on how Aussie favourite and recent guest on Life In The Peloton is going to take on the GC in a bid for a top 5 finish.

Next, we get into talking some tactics with Tom. This month’s theme is simple: wind. Southam breaks down how teams can use echelons to break up the race and try and catch the big favourites off guard.

As always, we wrap up with the Communiquiz. Durbo’s leading the way this time with 7 quickfire questions about the Tour de France. 

Guys, I hope this ep gets you as excited for the Tour as I am. Crack open a weak French beer, have a nibble on a baguette, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Cheers,

Mitch

 

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🎧 Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Intro
00:04:26 – Pelo Chat (Training Peaks Stats Breakdown)
00:21:03 – Race Recap (Tour de France Stage-by-Stage)
01:03:30 – Talking Tactics (Wind)
01:18:45 – CommuniQuiz (Quickfire Tour Special)