Bub Marley

They’re coming off a rest day and then rode 22km. I don’t think they’re bleeding at all.

If anything, tomorrows stage is way more suited to Jonas. It’s a long 28km climb and given past performances, Pogi is better on the shorter and sharper stuff. I hope Pog can do something to keep things interesting and if anyone can turn it around it’s him but it’s such a tough ask. He will have to attack so early and so far he hasn’t managed to really drop Jonas yet.

Gotta say well deserved for Vingegaard. His descending skills are next level. Pogacar has looked very cautious all tour which I think is down to his accident but today really highlighted how much more risk Vingegaard was willing to take.

Not a chance. He is probably the most likely to but at the moment his climbing not good enough to match the other 2.

Probably gonna come down to the time trial now. Still 2 mountain stages as well but doesn’t look like anything gonna happen based on what we’ve seen so far.

There is literally nothing separating these 2 again. All that effort again from Pogi and he gets like 3sec gap. Surely one of them will break somewhere on a climb?

So are we finally getting a seat tube mounted chip for the road bikes? Would be great if we can finally make away with those handlebar numbers for the Argus.

Just realised now they made me buy a board for the MTB Challenge. So now what? Not valid anymore?

I have like 4 of those Racetec chips already. Every time it gets misplaced and I buy another one. Now have to buy another one again. FML

This is brilliant. However I am in no way strong enough mentally to do this. I choose life 😂

In saying that though, I just looked at todays stage and it seems a perfect one for him if he can get into a break.

Looks like a whimper. He’s not gonna win a sprint so he’ll need to get into a break and so far no sign of that. In fairness though, I don’t think there’s actually been a stage that suited him for a break. It’s a pretty brutal route this year.

I second the dietician recommendation. Healthy diet beats whatever supplement you’re gonna buy. Wrt sleep, I’ve noticed that if I get up early for a 5-6am cycle, then my eyes tend to close much earlier at night. Whereas if I don’t get up early to exercise, then I tend to stay up watching nonsense on YouTube till far too late and don’t get the required sleep I need. Healthy eating and sleeping is key for me.

Pog & Vin are so close together. All that effort from Pog yesterday and just 7 seconds. This could go down as the hardest Tour to actually predict a winner. It’s probably gonna come down to who recovers best because as it stands, there is nothing separating them. That TT might actually play a bigger role than what I anticipated.

We complain about pricing but we still buy them anyway. That’s the problem right now with cycling. Brands charge what they want because they know we’ll end up buying them regardless.

Agreed but Tourmalet is at much higher altitude though compared to Marie Blanq which also plays a significant role.

Actually found a link here: https://lanternerouge.com/2023/07/06/tadej-pogacar-returns-to-his-best-tour-de-france-stage-6-2023/

I heard it on a podcast. Either Lanterne Rouge or The Move podcast. Can’t remember which one now.

Vingegaard averaged 6.9w/kg on stage 5 up the last climb. Yesterday he did 6.8w/kg for the last section of the Tourmalet which is at much higher altitude. Clearly shows that Jonas level was exactly the same, just that Pogi had much better legs yesterday. Gonna be interesting to see how it plays out.

Amazing race. Pogi really impressing me again with his maturity. Yesterday, he just continued to tempo instead of trying to jump everytime. And today he waited for Jonas to take the initiative and then pounced. In previous years, he thought he could just do what he wanted but he’s clearly learnt from this which bodes well for the race.

Well looks like Vinge going for more time again. And Pogacar teammates all missing again. Today looks like it could be pivotal.

I actually don’t think Pog will attack. What’s been proven over the last 2 years I think, is that Jonas is better on longer climbs whereas Pogi thrives on those shorter and sharper kicks that’s why he does so well in the classics. Today’s climbs are pretty long so I feel that if Pogi does attack, Jonas will stick to him like glue and wear him out and then nab him at the end. Pogi will need to isolate Jonas if hes gonna beat him and Im not sure his team is smart enough to figure out how, but we’ll see. I actually think there’s more chance of Jonas attacking again today to test out Pogi and really put some time between them. That’s what I would do. Knock him hard while he’s down. It could backfire though.

Road surface on Bains is immaculate. Honestly cannot believe how smooth that surface is. I’ve done that climb 3 times now since January and again I will reiterate, the descent especially the worcester side with the bends is just chef’s kiss. There is also hardly any cars on that road so you can essentially go balls to the walls. Now we just need them to redo Du Toitskloof as well.

Honestly, what a fantastic stage and so early also. I have a few thoughts so bare with me: 1. Vingegaard is stronger than last year and just seems so much more confident now that he’s won a grand tour. 2. Pogacar’s comments at the end of the stage were quite interesting. He said it wasn’t a hard stage and he stills feels quite strong. Vingegaard was just too fast for him up that last climb. What was different this year though, was Pogi just continued to ride tempo after Jonas went, whereas last year he would have gone with Jonas and then probably try to attack him like the Galibier/Telegraf last year. So i do think he’s learnt from this. 3. UAE are such a strong team but just erratic and dysfunctional. There doesn’t seem to be a clear plan at all and for me that stems from the top. Compared to Jumbo who are so calm and collected and in control. It’s a pretty significant gap already to Pogi and let’s be honest, yesterday was hard but there are way harder stages to come so it doesn’t bode well if Pogi already can hold Jonas wheel. The last climb also suited Pogi better and he still got dropped. Jonas could really do damage on the longer climbs to come. UAE need to figure out how to hurt Jumbo and isolate Jonas. Pogi cannot do it himself and it’s clear he’s going to need his team this year more than ever. Shoutout to Hindley also. Will be interesting to see how he recovers but we kinda need him to do well just for Jumbo to have another distraction.

These 2 days have been brutal though. Honestly feel like the longer climbs might be better for the sprinters because most of the time the GC riders will pace it better until the final one where they go crazy. These shorter and sharper climbs are just brutal. Accelerations from everywhere all the time.