Tour de France 24
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No thread yet? 'cause there's no kiwis?
Brutal start this year in Italy. No easing in to it with a week on the flats letting the sprinters do their thing, organisers threw them straight in to mountains in the Italian heat and guys suffered.
First flat stage for the sprinters and a big crash blocked most of the names as well, so we had an African win a stage for the first time.
Day 4 was yesterday and we crossed in to France and up the Col du Galibier. I actually forced myself to stay awake for the whole thing and i am glad i did. Shortest stage of the tour but basically no flat, 3 climbs and 3 descents.
Breakaway entered the final climb 2 minutes ahead but set about attacking each other rather than trying to get themselves home first. UAE sent everyone to the front of the peleton and just trucked up the mountain and broke so many guys. 850m from the top Pogacar made his move, gapped Vingegaard, and then blew him away down the mountain to the finish. No one else could climb with those guys, but a couple who broke on the climb made it back up one the descent.Awesome stage to watch. Now 3 flat stages and a TT before a gravel stage on Sunday.
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I hate when one team is this strong. I hated Sky. I hated Postal. It's shit when you see the same 5 jerseys controlling every stage, and fending off every attack.
But last night was awesome watching them drag the peloton up that mountain
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@mariner4life said in Tour de France 24:
I hate when one team is this strong. I hated Sky. I hated Postal. It's shit when you see the same 5 jerseys controlling every stage, and fending off every attack.
But last night was awesome watching them drag the peloton up that mountain
Agreed. We’ve not seen it for several years as the style of Grand Tour racing has changed so much. It was great to see it as a throwback, but I don’t want to see it become the norm again.
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@gt12 it's been super interesting?
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@mariner4life said in Tour de France 24:
@gt12 it's been super interesting?
Relative to topless women on south of France beaches?
You’ve changed bro
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@mariner4life said in Tour de France 24:
@gt12 it's been super interesting?
Not in comparison to the view on the beach.
I see @voodoo has anticipated this response
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@Machpants said in Tour de France 24:
Well done Cav, most stage wins ever. What a legend
Just watched the stage highlights. Awesome to see, well deserved Cavendish. Pretty big risk by his team to take him on again for another tour but stoked for them it's paid off. Cavendish can retire a happy man.
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@voodoo said in Tour de France 24:
@mariner4life said in Tour de France 24:
@gt12 it's been super interesting?
Relative to topless women on south of France beaches?
You’ve changed bro
i've never been to the south of France...
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@mariner4life said in Tour de France 24:
I hate when one team is this strong. I hated Sky. I hated Postal. It's shit when you see the same 5 jerseys controlling every stage, and fending off every attack.
But last night was awesome watching them drag the peloton up that mountain
I'd imagine pulling together that cycling team is dirt cheap compared to sponsoring football teams - and even "our" America's Cup team.
Tour de France analysis – On the Galibier, UAE Team Emirates brought cycling into the era of the 'hors catégorie team'
Rival squads must now find ways to counter Tadej Pogačar's star-filled support squad, which looked near-unstoppable on stage 4
That Galibier stage was fabulous - leaving Pogacar aside - it was interesting seeing the relative strengths of the other riders.
Jonas on the climb.
Ayuso, Rodriguez and Roglic on the descent.
Remco on the flat and in the sprint.
Almeida (and Ayuso) were superb climbing on the front into the headwind.
Seeing how much Cavendish suffered on day 1, he probably deserved that victory - which, I imagine all of his training was tailored to. He was an hour behind the GC leaders after stage 2.
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i am astounded Cav got that win (caveat: didn't watch the end last night)
He's old. He was suffering early, and after a high mountain stage i thought his legs would be cooked today. Good on him, and well done to the team. His job is done now, just try and get to the end (i am sure he would like to finish his last tour).
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@mariner4life Yeah - watching him on stage 1, I thought he was no chance.
But, as above, I guess his training has been absolutely tailored to winning a sprint finish - and literally zero to getting over hills.
I'll be pretty surprised if he makes it to the end - but, as you say, he'd probably like to bow out by making it to the fnal finish line.
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Typically, now that I'm back in Japan I want to watch the race. I missed the gravel stage but it looked amazing.
Have to love Remco for saying that Jonas doesn't have the balls to take him and the Pog on. I love that kind of honesty (we miss it in rugby).
But, equally, well no shit, Sherlock, on that stage, on a 2nd (or 3rd) bike? Jonas must be hoping he can try to ride for the big dance.
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@Dodge said in Tour de France 24:
Jonas just rode an incredible ride. Pog jumped and pulled out a gap, Jonas just put his head down and rode him down then won the sprint. Huge emotion in his interview at the end too. Chapeau
I feel like Jonas is holding his legs for some of those tougher stages. I'm a big Pog fan and I'm hoping he hasn't gone too hard too early in this Tour. A minute lead over Jonas isn't that big especially taking into account what happened last year.
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@Canes4life Geraint Thomas said a few days ago he favours Jonas and last night will reinforce that.
Geraint Thomas: Vingegaard bigger favourite than Pogačar to win 2024 Tour de France
Welshman on new terrain at 38 as he tackles first full Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double of career
Pog's big advantage is his team. Wout Van Aert crashed quite badly, so Jonas possibly even more hampered.
I wonder if UAE might consider sending Almeida up the road in a break, force the others to chase and see if they can bring two cards into play for the GC.
UAE currently with four riders in the first nine!
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Pog lost his last two tours riding stoopid.. same thing today. Doesn't learn.
rides like he was at the Giro where he could just ride away from everyone. Seems to forgot there was no one else in the top 25 in the world at Giro.. TDF a different beast and he's been riding hard all year. Interesting to note the TAB now has Jonas as the favourite.
Love him or hate him - I reckon johan bruyneel is the smartest guy in cycling.. this is worth a listen
