Road Cycling
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@Crucial Yeah - I'd more expect a chance to go for a stage win, somewhere.
I read somewhere that George might even sit up and take it easy on Stage 1 - I guess that supposes that the peloton splits.
Edit: Here it is: "Bennett has even been instructed to sit up and lose time on the opening stage in order to keep his legs fresh for the mountains, which is when Jumbo-Visma will be counting the Kiwi climber to protect Roglic and Dumoulin."
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@Crucial TJV website report:
Sports director Frans Maassen had also seen a stressful day. “Our leaders performed well. We always were in the front at the right moments. I hope the weather will get better tomorrow. Moreover, it will be a challenging stage. Fortunately, despite the crashes of Wout, Amund and George, the damage is not too bad.”
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i watched until the top of the first Cat 1 and it was great to have the Tour back. Dudes battling up mountains, beautiful scenery
Sagan is a fucking marvel.
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@mariner4life said in Road Cycling:
Sagan is a fucking marvel.
Stood in the cold for ages just south of Roubaix last year to snap this shot of him.
Fuckers go so fast you only get one opportunity. -
A good stage for TJV today - Roglic won in a mountain-top finish, with only Pogacar looking like matching him - despite that a reasonable bunch finished with the same time.
Not such a good day for George. He seemed to be caught back in the bunch as they started the final climb and not part of the TJV pacing team - which was Martin, Van Aart and then Kuss. George eventually dropped out the back, whilst Van Aart was still doing the pacing - which shouldn't have happened if George was 100% - unless that was team orders?
My guess is he's still felling a few effects of his crashes.
Alaphillippe still has the yellow jersey, with Yates 2nd and Roglic having closed the gap with a 10 second time bonus.
Notable losers today were Valverde and Carapaz.
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@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
A good stage for TJV today - Roglic won in a mountain-top finish, with only Pogacar looking like matching him - despite that a reasonable bunch finished with the same time.
Not such a good day for George. He seemed to be caught back in the bunch as they started the final climb and not part of the TJV pacing team - which was Martin, Van Aart and then Kuss. George eventually dropped out the back, whilst Van Aart was still doing the pacing - which shouldn't have happened if George was 100% - unless that was team orders?
My guess is he's still felling a few effects of his crashes.
Alaphillippe still has the yellow jersey, with Yates 2nd and Roglic having closed the gap with a 10 second time bonus.
Notable losers today were Valverde and Carapaz.
Or TLJ are planning on rotating there support riders through the stages. I thought it was strange for Van Aert to be the main man early on then Kuss took over the pacing.
That was a short sharp mountain compared to many and George may be being saved for the longer hauls. -
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@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
@Crucial Could well be.
George never seemed to be riding with his team leaders at the business end, which you would have thought he would have been even if he wasn't feeling good.
I guess we will have to wait a couple of days and see what happens on the Col de la Lusette.
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Today’s is a stage like never before, from the Rhône valley to the Mont Aigoual (alt. 1504m) that has only been used once in the Tour de France in the middle of a stage with Charly Mottet wearing the yellow jersey that day of 1987. A weather station was built up there in 1894 and recorded gusts of wind at 334km/h in 1966 but a nice and sunny weather is forecast for stage 6. The final ascent to Mont Aigoual is preceded by the 11.7km long col de la Lusette (7.3% average with some gradients at 14% and some curves at 19%). It’s an occasion for Julian Alaphilippe to bounce back after losing the yellow jersey to Adam Yates due to irregular feeding inside the last 20km yesterday but the Englishman will defend his lead, also against Primoz Roglic who is a favourite again.
This looks like fun!
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Last night's stage was a bit reminiscent of the one last year (last year?) where George got caught out in the crosswinds and lost a heap of time.
This time George was in the front echelon when Ineos split the field and George ended up doing plenty of work on the front of the peloton to help them build a substantive advantage over those who got caught out - notably Pogacar, Porte and Landa.
Ineos ended up getting burned a bit, because Carapaz (their No. 2) punctured and fell out of the front group.
Three big climbs in the Pyrenees tonight.
Might be especially interesting, because several of the big guns burned some candles yesterday - including among their support riders.
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@Chris-B had to laugh at George channelling his best Tony Martin Panzerwagen, pulling on the front whilst Martin was 10 minutes back.
Surely Van Aert is the best cyclist in the world currently. The guy is a freak!
Felt sorry for Sagan. Bora obliterated the sprinters in an impressive show of tactics and force, and then Sagan got caught slightly out of position and dropped a chain in the sprint. Would never have happened to the Peter of old ...
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@scribe Yeah - I think he did a similar thing in Stage 1 last year. Skinny little guy breaking the wind.
Big news tonight as I'm watching is Pinot has cracked badly and a long way from home.
TJV driving the (elite) remnants of the peloton and it is Van Aert who takes them over the top of the Port de Bales. Incredible for a guy who again outsprinted the sprinters yesterday.
Sepp Kuss has dropped out of the chain for TJV - maybe paying for his work yesterday. WVA, Roglic, George and Dumoulin left to climb the Peyresourde - but, both George and Tom looked to be struggling a little as they went over the top.
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Pogacar clawed back plenty last night. Big winner of the GC contenders and got back 40 seconds. The question will be whether he can back it up tonight.
Pinot Noir (the dark horse) and Alaphilippe the big losers. Both out of contention now.
Jumbo Visma doing the damage to those two and a few others, but Roglic didn’t really capitalize on all the candles they burned. He had the opportunity to follow Pogacar when he attacked and either didn’t or couldn’t. I’m inclined to think the former – he rode a bit conservatively – but when Quintana attacked late on the final climb, Roglic had no trouble shutting him down.
But, TJV put in a lot of effort making the pace, including sacrificing Dumoulin. It was either a bit of a fuck up, or they’re playing the long game and thinking Roglic will really be able to hurt others tonight.
Another mountain stage tonight - I think it could be quite decisive. Or, as decisive as any stage can be in a race that will go to the wire.
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Dunno if any of you guys following cycling are "power nerds" but here's an article with an analysis of the power that Pogacar was putting out. It's fucking insane.. and obvs lots of question marks being raised on the interwebs.. obvious he's a talent. Hopefully today he's shit like George and Depp were last night after their previous day's effort.. usually a bit of a sign
Tour de France power analysis: Tadej Pogačar's record-breaking ascent of the Col de Peyresourde
Slovenian averages 6.5 watts per kilo for 24 minutes and 450 watts for the decisive attack
