2014 Tour de France Preview Stages 1-3 (English Stages)

This years Tour de France will start in Leeds, England and 3 stages will be in England (more than ever previously). The first two stages will be the Tours' most northerly as they are in Yorkshire. Unlike when the Tour has previously been in England (in 1974, 1994 and 2007), this time riders will have to go up challenging hills including one 2nd Category climb on Stage 2.

Stage 1 - Leeds - Harrogate 190km

The 101st edition of this historic race will start in West Yorkshire and will see the riders have a relatively flat ride to Harrogate, which is where Manx sprinter Mark Cavendish's mother is from. The peloton will have to cross three categorised climbs; the first coming after 68km, the category 4 Cote de Cray. The days intermediate sprint comes 10km later at Newbiggin. A chance for one of the riders in the days break to get €1500 for their team. The second climb of the day is the 3rd Category, Cote de Buttertubs, here is when the break will start fighting it out for the King Of the Mountains Classification. The third and final climb of the day comes at 130km - Cote de Griton Moor - the descent will likely be where the break is caught, with there being a bunch sprint in Harrogate with my pick for the stage being Mark Cavendish to take Yellow, hopefully this year he doesn't crash with 5km to go.

Stage 2 - York - Sheffield 201km

Stage 2 is when we will see a switch in the GC as it is not a day for the sprinters. Thierry Gouvenou says "it is set to be thrilling because the overall favourites will have to avoid being caught napping" .The medium mountain stage sees the peloton crest 9 categorised climbs.  The first of the nine is the 4th Cat, Cote de Blubberhouses after 47km, followed by the 3rd Category Cote d'Oxenhope Moor 38km later. As the race re-enters West Yorkshire, the peloton will be greeted with two Category 3 climbs in quick succession; the Cote de Rippondale and the Cote de Greetland. This seems tough, but it is only the calm before the storm, as the hardest climb Holme Moss or as the ASO call it the Cote de Holme Moss; the 2nd Category Climb is 4.7km long at a gradient of 7% which is where we should see the malliot jaune being dropped by the peloton if he hasn't been already. After this we see four categorised climbs in the last 34km. The first of those would be the 3rd Category, Cote de Midhopestones, with 34km remaining, swiftly followed by the 4th Category Cote de Bradfield, with 26km to go. The final two climbs will be a perfect springboard for riders to attack and for the GC contenders to make time on their rivals these are the 3rd Category, Cote de Oughtibridge, with 19km to go and the final climb is the Category 4 slog up the Cote de Jenkin Road, which finishes with only 5km to go. The high speed descent into Sheffield could cause crashes and be a very exciting finish. My pick for the stage is Simon Gerrans of Orica-GreenEDGE.

Stage 3 - Cambridge - London 155km

A nice short stage into London before the race goes back onto the continent. This is a stage was put on so that the UK Government could give the Tour bid backing. Stage 3 shows no challenges, at all, it will be a fast stage with a break being caught, that break doesn't even have any KOM's to go for as there are none. The break will be caught before 50km to go just before the intermediate sprint at Epping Forest which is when we will see the real Green jersey contenders come to the fore, as they will be looking to catch up on the likes of Sagan and Gerrans by getting 20pts in the days' sprint. The race will then enter the Olympic Park before finishing in a bunch sprint on the Mall next to Buckingham Palace. The only thing the peloton will have to look out for is the crashes near the finish in London. My pick of the day is for Mark Cavendish to win the stage.

As the Race leaves Great Britain I think we will see David Millar in Yellow, Jens Voigt in the Polka-dot (KOM) and either Mark Cavendish or Peter Sagan in the Green (Sprinters) jerseys.

How Much can a Scottish Team receive from the Champions and Europa League group stages?

Well, it is not as easy as it seems, first of all, we have to work out at what stage they start, what crowds they'll get, how far they'll get and how much they'll receive from the TV Market pool. Simple Enough? Then let's get started.

To see how much, I am going to use the examples of the Current Top Four in Scotland.

Celtic

First of all, let's say that the Champions qualify for the Champions League,  In Prize Money, alone, they would receive £1.75m  for reaching the Play-offs, then another £7.2m for reaching the Group Stages, presuming they have a 5 points from their group and are bottom they would receive another £1.6m in performance money. 

The "Market Pool" for TV revenue in the UCL is £6.8m for Celtic. Celtic's Average Attendance for CL games in 2013-14 was 50,000, assuming they charged £25 a ticket, that give Celtic's Attendance money as £7.475m. That means the total would be £24.825m.

Aberdeen

Let's say that the dons are 2nd and play three qualifying rounds to get to the groups. From the Groups they will take 4 points. In Prize Money they would receive £1.417m for reaching the group stage and will get an extra £250k for having 4 points. Assuming Aberdeen have an average of 15,000 to qualifiers and 18,000 to groups stage matches, the Dons would generate, presuming they charged £25 a head, £1.125m from the Qualifiers and £1.35m from the Group stages. With the TV market pool for Scottish Clubs at £1.1m Aberdeen would generate £5.242m.

Dundee United

The Tangerines are favourites to win this years Scottish Cup and this assumes that they do. In Prize Money United would receive £1.417m. United would have another £250k from the four points. Presuming United's Qualifier Average Attendance was 11,000 and Group Stage Average was 13,000, United would generate (charging £22 for Qual and £25 for GS) £726k for the Qualifiers and £975k for the Group Stages. With the TV pool being £1.1m, the men from Tannadice would generate £4.468m.

Motherwell

The Steelmen are most likely to finish 3rd and unlike their east coast counterparts they would have to play four qualifiers to reach the Group Stage. That would mean Motherwell would receive £1.516m in Prize Money. The Lanarkshire side would have another £250k in performance money. Assuming Motherwell have an Average Attendance of 8,000 for the Qualifiers and 10,000 for the Group Stage, the Steelmen would be charging the same prices as United, and therefore would receive £704k for the Qualifiers and £750k for the Group Stages. With the TV Money of £1.1m, Motherwell would receive £4.32m from the Europa League.

If you want to see more of this type of thing (or not), then please tell me what you think in the comments below. 

More Scottish Football Reconstruction

My View has always been for either a 12 or a 16 team top flight. Lets keep the status quo right now.

1)Premiership- 12 teams (38 games) would be the status quo but with the addition of split gates for a larger chance of a rival to Celtic (or The Rangers in 10 years time). £18 a ticket is a more reasonable price.

2)Championship - 12 teams(44 games) would be a good idea as in England the Championship plays 46 games, this also means two more clubs will be a full time. Also a permanent TV Deal should be made as quite alot of people would like to see maybe 20-30 Championship games a season especially if it is a big game like Hibs vs Hearts, Dundee vs Hearts, or Partick vs St Mirren. Two teams Automatically go down and one more in a play-off. £15 a ticket.

3)National League - 18 teams (34 games) - Two Go up and three play-off places, and two go down with two play-off places. £12 a ticket.

4)Highland League - 18 Teams (34 games) - One Automatically goes up and three teams play in a play-off for the second spot. Two down.

Lowland League - 16 Teams (30 or 37 games) -One Automatically goes up and three teams play in a play-off for the second spot. Two down.

5)Caledonian Championship (North) -16 Teams (30 games) - Made up of Junior Clubs from North and East Regions. One Up Auto, 2nd-5th in play-off.

Lowland Championship - 18 Teams (34 games) - Made up from East and West Region clubs. One up Auto, 2nd-5th in play-off.

6)Caledonian Conference (North) -16 Teams (30 games) - Made up of Junior Clubs from North and East Regions. One Up Auto, 2nd-5th in play-off.

Lowland Conference - 18 Teams (34 games) - Made up from East and West Region clubs. One up Auto, 2nd-5th in play-off.

7) Regional Level- Highland and Islands, Lanarkshire + Central, Tayside (inc NE Fife), Forth, Ayrshire + South and Grampian

Another Aim would be for more Sunday Night TV Games, around 6.30pm on a Sunday to ensure higher attendances.

If it was created for 2013/14 it would look like this 

Premiership: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee Utd, Hearts, Hibs, Inverness, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick, Ross County, St Johnstone, St Mirren

Championship: Alloa Athletic, Cowdenbeath, Dumbarton, Dundee, Dunfermline, Falkirk, Morton, Hamilton, Livingston, Queen of the South, Raith and The Rangers (based on current leagues tables)

National League: Airdrieonians, Arbroath, Ayr, Brechin, East Fife, Forfar, Stenhousemuir, Stranraer, Albion, Annan, Berwick, Clyde, East Stirlingshire, Elgin, Montrose, Peterhead, Queen's Park, Stirling Albion

Highland League: Brora, Buckie, Clachnacuddin, Cove, Deveronvale, Formartine, Forres, Fort William, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Inverurie Loco Works, Keith, Lossiemouth, Nairn, Rothes, Strathspey, Turriff, Wick

Lowland League: Dalbeattie Star, East Kilbride, Edinburgh City, Gala, The Gretna, Preston Ath, Selkirk, Spartans, Stirling Uni, Threave, Vale of Leithen, Whitehall Welfare, Duns, Coldstream, Wigtown and Bladnoch and Civil Service Strolliers.

Caledonian Championship: Culter, Dyce, Hermes, Banks O' Dee, Deveronside, Stoneywood, Stonehaven, Maud, Ellon Utd, Banchory St. Ternan, Longside (all from North Juniors)

Lochee Utd, Carnoustie, Tayport, St Andrews Utd, Ballingry (All from East Juniors)

Lowland Championship:

Craigroyston, Lothian Thistle, Tynecastle (All from East of Scotland League)

Newton Stewart, St Cuthbert, Nithsdale, Heston, Crichton, Lochar (All from South of Scotland League)

Bo'ness Utd, Newtongrange, Bonnyrigg Rose, Linlithgow Rose, (All from East Juniors)

Auchinleck Talbot, Irvine Meadow, Clydebank, Kilbirnie, Petershill, (All from West)

Caledonian Conference: North Region and (Tayside & NE Fife) East Region Junior Clubs

Lowland Conference:

Leith, Easthouse, Kelso, Ormiston, Burntisland, Peebles, Eyemouth and HRA (all from East of Scotland League)

Mid Annandale, Abbey Vale, Fleet Star, Creetown (South of Scotland League)

Hill of Beath, Saucie, (East Juniors)

Rob Roy, Hulford, Cumnock, Arthulie (West Juniors)

Regional Set Up - Juniors and Amatuer

Strava

Sorry not posted in a while, had a lot of work on my plate and will do until June.

Anyway, I am on Strava (see stats below) and I am wondering, if anyone is up for it to start my own Strava Club. Tell me in the comments what you think.

Games of the Week - 1st & 2nd March

Feyenoord 1-2 Ajax Amsterdam

De Kuip, Rotterdam Att: 48000

Feyenoord opened the scoring in De Klassieker after half an hour when Martinis Indi first-time, left foot, curling cross glanced off the head of Graziano Pelle to beat Cillessen in the Ajax goal. However, Ajax's long period of pressure was rewarded just on the brink of half time as Kishna's cross gave Sigthorsson an easy tap-in from about two yards out. In an even second half it took 26 minutes for Ajax to break the deadlock, as Duarte's cross found Moisander whose shot was blocked on the line, the deflection found vicious Veltman to score the winner for Ajax in De Klassieker and keep the Amsterdam's team lead to 8 points at the top of the Eredivisie.

MoTM: Joel Veltman

Atletico Madrid 2-2 Real Madrid

Vicente Calderon, Att: 54600

Atletico were trying to do the double over Real for the first time in 60 years and to go joint-top in La Liga with Real and Barcelona. Real took the lead after only 132 seconds as Ángel Di María's cross missed everybody and found Karem Benzema's left foot at the far post to give Real the early advantage. 10 minutes in, Atletico were denied a penalty as Sergio Ramos clearly impedided Diego Costa inside the box. 17 minutes later, the home side equalised as Arda Turan was allowed to run right through the Real Madrid defence and give the ball on a platter to Koke who beat Diego Lopez in the Real Madrid goal. The home side took a deserved lead going into the break with Gabi's wonder goal from 35 yards that is a contender for goal of the season.

After the break, Atletico had an opportunity to see off the game for a overdue, historic and memorable double, but after the through ball Diego Costa, the Brazilian striker's shot did not challenge Lopez and was off target. Just after the hour mark, Bale's quick throw-in to Modric led to the Croat crossing to the goal scorer Benzema but the shot was a good yard wide. A minute later, the referee was the centre of attention again; this time for not giving a penalty for Atletico as it appeared Diego Costa was tripped by Pepe inside the box. Two minutes later, Atletico were denied yet another stone-wall penalty! This time Carvajal grabbed Costa's foot inside the box and clearly impeded him. Atletico boss Diego Simeone had to be physically restrained as he vented his anger at the referee.

It looked like Atletico would have stunned Real and win, to cement their place as real contenders for the La Liga crown; but with 8 minutes left a slip by Mario Suarez let Carvajal get his cutback into Bale who laid it off for Ronaldo who slotted home 15 yards. The result means that Real Madrid (64) are leading Barcelona by 1 point who are leading Atletico by 3 points. However, Barcelona still have to play both Madrid sides before the end of the season.

MoTM: Diego Costa