“You can be sure that Neymar will play in the World Cup. I am absolutely convinced of that. He will play.

As for Neymar, I want to make one important point. He stayed on the field despite an injury, when he felt pain in his ankle, and helped us score two goals. He stayed because the team needed him. And in the case of the first goal, Neymar had a decisive part in the attack.” – Tite told Globo.

• In the 62nd minute it was Neymar who gave it to Vinicius Júnior, who struck on goal, Milinkovic-Savic parried it, but Risharlison was on the rebound. Later, Ricciarlison sealed his double with a spectacular strike.

• And Neymar was replaced by Anthony on 79 minutes.

• The Brazilian national team doctor said that the medical staff plans to wait a day or two, after which it will become clear how serious Neymar’s ankle injury is.

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While the mechanics prepare the bikes, participants can walk the course to check for changes since the last race. Usually it can be completed twice, once a day. Riders memorize the fastest route and keep in mind that the course may change dramatically due to the weather and the racers’ passing.
Route or obstacle technique can make or break a race. Of course, the fastest bikes ride in a straight line, but downhill is not just a way to find the fastest and straightest way down. Taking a turn on the inside radius may shorten the distance, but the competitor will lose speed compared to taking a turn on the outside radius. The trick is to successfully balance both. At speed. Flying down the hill.

Time training

Each bike is equipped with a timed transmitter. During this workout, the athlete can set a time and complete the entire distance. No points are awarded for this, but the practice can turn into a fun game of “who gets where and in what time.
Participants often stop and start their descent again to determine the best path for themselves – and it’s a great chance for all the fans to see their favorite idols up close.

Start order

Competitors start according to their position in the UCI World Cup rankings and set the time of the race, which will determine the order in which they appear in the starting gate on race day. The advantages of starting first or last is that you know exactly what result you should improve.
Not many points are awarded for this race, but in a high-density competition they can determine first or second place.
The weather can also affect the race – over the years we have seen the best of the best show the worst time just because of weather conditions. It’s good to pass the course while it’s still in acceptable condition, but it’s pure luck.

Race day

The big day. Usually there is practice in the morning, with most competitors just taking off for the start of the course to warm up before the main action begins.
There is a “hot seat” at the finish line, where the current leader stays until his or her time is beaten by a more fortunate competitor. Competitor results can be a total mess, but sometimes the very first ones are not easy to beat, such as the result of Aron Gwin in 2015, who was twenty-first after qualifying.

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This Tour is remembered as one of the most bizarre. On many occasions, fate spared the four-time winner Lance Armstrong. One of the most spectacular moments occurred in the last kilometers of the stage to Gap, when Spaniard Joseba Beloki spectacularly fell right in front of Armstrong at the entrance of the turn. To avoid the fall, Armstrong steered the bike across the field. He had fractions of a second to react, and he rode through the dirt and back onto the highway into the lead group on the other side of the turn. This moment will go down in history as one of the most memorable instances of bicycle maneuvering.

Tour de France 1983: Pascal Simon is eliminated in Yellow

The Tour de France is nothing without faith and heroism. In 1983, Frenchman Pascal Simon demonstrated both. Competing for the strong Peugeot team, Simon captured the yellow jersey in the Pyrenees, and his lead was more than four and a half minutes. But when he fell on the stage to Fleurance and broke his scapula, his chances of winning were lost. But nevertheless, with a yellow jersey on his shoulders, he refused to get off the race, struggling to continue the distance no matter what. For the next five days, the race looked more like a funeral procession, as the challengers refused to attack the injured leader and Simon struggled just to stay in the peloton. Finally, on the climb up to Chapelle Blanche in the Alps, Simon gave up and got off. But before that, he had won in the hearts of his fans.

Tour de France 1990: Claudio Chiappucci almost stole the victory

The event has been described as the robbery of the Tour de France: four riders achieved a 10-minute advantage on the first stage of the 1990 Tour de France. But the least known of the riders in that breakaway, Claudio Chiappucci, nearly stole the entire race. With the yellow jersey on his shoulders, he held a seven-minute lead over Greg Le Monde at the exit of the Alps. And he kept the yellow jersey until the last split at Lac de Vassiviere, when Le Monde finally beat the upstart who surprised everyone and won the Tour de France. But during his time in the leader’s jersey, Chiappucci became one of the most popular riders of his generation.

Tour de France 1919: first yellow jersey

What would the Tour de France be without the yellow jersey? Until 1919, there was no yellow jersey given to the winner. Only in the middle of the 1919 race did the organizers give in to the pressure of the press, which demanded that the leader of the race be singled out and made more visible. Yellow was chosen as the appropriate color, which was a bow to the newspaper L’Auto.” The first yellow jersey went to Eugène Christophe, one of the leading riders of his generation.

Christophe almost won the 1913 Tour de France, but lost everything when his front fork broke in the Pyrenees. In 1919, after a six-year hiatus associated with the First World War, he was finally ready for his long-awaited victory. But fate decided otherwise. On the penultimate stage on the cobblestone roads of Northern France, a broken fork cost him his Tour de France victory once again. He dragged his bike to a bike store in Valenciennes, where he spent more than two hours getting it fixed. He ended up falling back to 11th place and never won the Tour de France.

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