Road Cycling
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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
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@WillieTheWaiter I reckon winning today’s stage probably doesn’t count as being shit. Amazing powers of recuperation ...
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That was worth staying up for.
Given the timing, it’s hard to choose which stages are worth it, but it was fascinating watching the big four chase down Hirschal. Heaps of tension, some awesome attacks, brilliant.
I felt super sorry for him that he couldn’t get the stage win after such a huge effort.
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interesting year with the fucked up prep meaning a few guys you expect to do well already popped.
Did you see Pinot's face when he cracked up that first climb? World of hurt
I enjoyed watching Hirschi power up the first big climb by himself. He's quite the young rider. Then i fell asleep. Will watch replay later.
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I see on Stuff Bennett saying he's been riding with a busted rib since his early crashes.. starting to come right.
One tough mofo -
@WillieTheWaiter They all must be as hard as nails.
You know when you're riding down a hill and you think, "Fuck, I'll munt myself if I come off here".
Those guys do and they're going twice as fast as me! And then they often get back on instead of lying there screaming for an ambulance!
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@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
@WillieTheWaiter They all must be as hard as nails.
You know when you're riding down a hill and you think, "Fuck, I'll munt myself if I come of here".
Those guys do and they're going twice as fast as me! And then they often get back on instead of lying there screaming for an ambulance!
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@Chris-B they’re all hard as nails, or nutters. Didn’t Tyler Hamilton grind 11 teeth down after riding the Giro a few years back, with a broken shoulder and then rode most of the following TdF After breaking his collar bone in an early stage? Geraint Thomas also famously rode most of a TdF For Team Sky after cracking his pelvis , and had to be lifted on and off his bike each day. Truly hard men. Doing that without high powered (banned) pain killers too, though I guess in Hamilton’s case, overstepping the mark was not something that bothered him too much.
