Bub Marley

Race is starting to become real interesting now. I have a few thoughts though: 1. The tactics of SD Works is pretty questionable. SD Works are probably the most dysfunctional team I’ve ever come across. They seem to complicate everything for some reason which just boggles my mind. One minute Kopecky is attacking off the front, then she’s back with the group then she’s attacking again, then she’s on the radio looking for instructions, then she’s looking across the peloton to her teammates who are on the other side of the road. Then Vollering is riding on the front closing the gap to her teammate, meanwhile they still have a teammate up front in the breakaway who they never asked to drop back when it was clear there was no chance of a stage win. It’s an absolute comedy fest at SD Works. 2. Vollering is by far the strongest rider. I think it’s clear that AVV is not at the level. She wasn’t at the level earlier in the year as well and she only won the Vuelta because again SD Works and their peegate tactics. The only way AVV wins this tour is by SD Works messing this up again and I think there is a good chance it could happen. If Im AVV, I would attack before the Tourmalet already and let SD Works just completely self destruct. 3. Ashleigh is again looking really good on terrain that is not really her strength. I have big hopes for her on that Tourmalet stage. It’s a long climb and perfectly suited to her. If she can conserve energy and just ride at her own power, i think she’ll do really well. AVV really does not look good at all but she always seems to pull something out so I don’t wanna pre-empt it but I think Ash can beat her on Saturday. Let’s hope.

She looks fantastic at the moment. Spent some time at altitude as well just before the Tour started. Honestly, outside of AVV and Vollering, that third spot is up for grabs. And that Tourmalet stage is right up her sleeve. So if she conserves energy I think she can do really well on that stage. She’s already shown that she can drop AVV so fingers crossed it happens again.

Not taking anything away from Jonas. He has clearly showed us he is the best and imo would have won regardless of Pog’s preparation and if he is healthy. He’s clearly the best. Im just referring to the drop off from Pogi. Maybe Im reading too much into it which is most likely. When asked earlier, Pog said he wanted to win Flanders before Tour de France. Flanders was his main goal this year which he achieved. Would he have been better if he focused solely on the tour? Probably buy i still feel Jonas would have been stronger regardless.

I wonder if Pogi might have some sort of illness or some problem. Not looking for excuses but his face just hasn’t been what it normally is and this going back before the time trial. There was one stage where he cant follow Rodriguez on the descent and doesn’t get the win which is very unlike Pogi. The next day Yates sets a super hard tempo and maybe he was bluffing but his face just looked terrible and to finish it off, Jonas ends the stage next to him and almost gives him that look after he couldn’t drop him. Then the TT, he gets destroyed by Jonas. And today he was just completely ******. Maybe his lack of preparation because of the injury is catching up on him or perhaps hes picked up some sort of illness.

Pretty much confirms again that on these really long climbs, Tadej is much weaker than Jonas. Happened last year and happened again this year. Well done to Jonas. He deserves all the success as he’s been the strongest at the hardest parts of the race. Pogi needs to work on those longer climbs for next year. Also for someone that has no preparation going into the tour, he’s actually done fantastic to keep up with Jonas given the level he’s at right now.

Yeah but on the road race is talking about doing a gravel climb 3 times?

Is this a road race or a gravel race? I’m confused.

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.