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Why not? Positives: showed excellent form so far this year, should be relatively fresh, is very good climber, not bad in one day races, rides for a strong team. Negatives: Might struggle in the heat, ?? Surely he must stand a fair chance?

I agree that it is going to be a big ask for a TdF rider to win. Further I agree that Adam Yates is one of the biggest favourites and won't underestimate Max Schachmann and Gianni Moscon either.

Richard Carapaz denies disloyalty accusations levelled in Movistar Netflix doc | Cycling Weekly

You must either have friends or ensure that you enemies are too shet scared of you to even open their mouths. Lance was a master in that regard.

The thing is he was one of the few riders who attacked Pogacar during the first part of the tour while the other contenders were very happy to just follow. As this tactic did not work I guess he bacame desperate and tried something else. On the Movistar issue it seems as if they ride against him since he left them... If I recall correctly they happily pulled Roglic along last year at the Vuelta when Carapaz attacked.. and also even during this Tour .. for example the half hearted "attacks" by Mas during the last mountain stage that was just enough to keep the pace up and stop further attacks on Vingegaard. Perhaps it is just racing but it could be that they are gunning for him Maybe I have a soft spot for the bloke since he gifted a Tour stage win to Kwiatkowski last year, so I will cut him some slack.

Yip, it is relative. He is not near the level of Vingegaard at time trialling but still better than O'Conner, Mas, Kelderman and a few other in the top 10 of the Tour gc..

Out of the last 10 TdF winners only 2 riders were not top level time triallists. They are Nibali (2014) and Bernal (2019). Nibali would probably never have won if Chris Froome ( pre race favourite and top time triallist) did not crash out that year while Bernal bossed the climbs in 2019 to such a degree that his relative weaker time trial skill was not really a factor. Bernal, Carapaz as well as the Yates brothers have improved their time trialling skills over the last few years but there are riders who just dont seem to have the ability to improve sufficient in order to become a legitimate GT contender. The likes of Pogacar, Roglic, Vigegaard, Almeida, Thomas and Evenpoel certainly have an edge in this regard at least at the moment.

Yeah, he has been good and was one of the very few riders who dared to attack Progacor. He has now also become one of the few active riders in the world who has a podium finish in all 3 grand tours. Fantastic performance for a rider who comes from rural Equador where poverty is probably still very prevalent.

Dammit, in my excitement about Wouts performances during the last week I clean forgot about mountainbiking It is such a small sport

Haha.. good one.... In a way it is good that the record is shared, both Mark and Eddie are/were great cyclists in a totally different way. Wout has a long way to go to get to the record but he is without doubt the most complete cyclist in the world today (sorry to Julian and Mathieu). A phenomenal athlete, really.

For sure the crashes had a huge impact, which is a big pity for us as fans of the sport. Before the tour there were only 4 riders who could be considered as serious challengers to win namely Pogacar, Roglic, Thomas and Carapaz. The two of them who did not crash lived up to expectations. Carapaz was actually very good and tried everything in and even maybe outside the book. Vingegaard came in from the left. We will have to wait to see whether he can reproduce his current performance or whether he will be a one hit wonder like Tao G Hart. Ben O'Conner was a revelation but I do not consider him as a legitimate Grand Tour contender. The energy recovery devices? Sounds like sour grapes to me.. if someone is so clever to use that technology on a bicycle then that person must surely be clever enough to ensure that it does its job without making metalic type of noises? It is pro cycling though....

The difference in time between number one and four in gc is a massive10 minutes. It is like there were 2 races.

It is not isolated, he has a volatile temperament and sometimes he just explode. It is not uncommon for sprinters to be like that. There are also you tube videos of Peter Sagan kicking a vehicle, Marcel Kittel smashing a bike into the ground, Mario Cippollini throwing a water bottle at an official on a motorbike etc etc. I think sometimes we expect too much from sportstars and forget that they are only humans who perform under extreme pressure at the cutting edge of their sport.

So it is nearly all over. Podium is settled ( unless one of the top 3 has a major mishap). Fair and square as well as Pog is in a class of his own and the other 2 are certainly stronger than any of the rest. Only outstanding issues to be settled are the green jersey and the shared record. Then for the Olympics.

The French Police did not even have to ask for Sonny Cobrelli's training files as he is posting his rides on Strava including heart rate and real power ...... clearly he is a bit more transparant and less neurotic about his data then a few other riders.

Not sure if he had what it takes to work with them. He was probably scared he might blow up after taking a turn in front and then get caught by Uran. When he eventually recovered he tried the attack. Anyway it is all speculation on my part.... The downgrade to "naughty boy" sounds fair to me It was super exciting too watch them giving it full gas ( to use their language).

Imagine you are Carapaz who has just put in the hardest effort of his life and then turn around only to see that friendly fresh innocent looking face behind you. If I were him I would probably quit cycling right there and not even complete the stage.

Carapaz can argue that he was only fighting for podium and had to do whatever it takes to gain time on Uran who is the better time triallist of the 2. His best option to achieve it today was to use the power of the 2 stronger riders which he did very well. The sneaky looking attack near the end is nothing different then what even amateurs do in fun rides.

Yeah, I have always thought they must have a proper sprinters jersey for which points are only awarded awarded to the top finishers at the end of stages. The last "real" sprinter to win green before Bennett did so last year was Cavendish in 2011. The bunch sprints are spectacular like an extreme sport and make for brilliant tv viewing so the top sprinters deserve to have their own jersey to compete for imo.

It is indeed a irony. But it will also be an irony if Colbrelli or Matthews win the "fast man" category as they are certainly slower than Cav.

Sonny has been very good so far , no doubts. Same goes for Michael Matthews...... Also very much still in the hunt for Green. Another rider who is often under the radar but who is performing out of his skin in this race is Wout Poels.

No man, Cav is the standout rider. Colbrelli has not won anything yet.

Very glad for Patrick Konrad. I wonder whether he would have been given the freedom if Sagan was still in the race. Hopefully the race for second and third on the podium will explode tomorrow.

Not so easy for pure climber Gaudu to drop new climber Colbrelli

There used to be a picture in the Vista Cafe opposite the (previous) start of the Argus of him having a coffee with the owner of the cafe before the start. If my memory serves me right Helen Zille is in the picture too.