Tour de France 2021

[kosmonooit]

19 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

Which one is Seb? I thought Sepp won yesterday.

 

Also, not fair to say he "blows hot and cold" He's probably the most consistent mountain domestique in the peleton.

Aagh ffs, whats in a name.. Seb, Sep, Seep, Suip. Names are not my strong point.

There was great expectations from him once he joined the world tour coming to the Giro I think after that ToU victory, just didn't feature at all. I guess that the way it goes, the weight of expectations perhaps a bit heavy for his young shoulders. But he has been a great team mate for Rodg, and he did take that stage at the Vuelta in a spectacular way. I'm fan for sure.

 

 

 

 

[Jewbacca]

2 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

Might as well compare him to the local kindergarten this year. The top 10 on GC aren't exactly the sports top 10 grand tour riders. 

Besides Bernal, who do you think was missing from the start line that constitutes the current 'top 10'?

I'm interested as I don't actually think the current cycling superstars are GC oriented. The 'current' big names are mostly classics and monuments riders.

I prefer the spring racing and I love how the style has overflowed into how the guys are racing GT's. Bike racing is infinitely more exciting these days and it is thanks to the shift in focus of the 'new' big names and how they just don't care for the traditional status quo

[TNT1]

11 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Besides Bernal, who do you think was missing from the start line that constitutes the current 'top 10'?

 

Sosa, Evnepoel, Almeida, Pinot, Landa...

[dsw]

7 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

Sosa, Evnepoel, Almeida, Pinot, Landa...

You must be a massive fan of Sosa to call him a top 10  grand tour rider  

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by dsw

[TNT1]

6 minutes ago, dsw said:

You must be a massive fan of Sosa to call him a top 10  grand tour rider  

 

6th at l'Avenir, and then 4 overall victories in stage races at  World Tour level. He's not a palooka.

Edited July 12, 2021 by TNT1

[Jewbacca]

15 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

Sosa, Evnepoel, Almeida, Pinot, Landa...

Evenapoel is hardly a top 10 GT rider currently. He has the potential to be, but a few weeks ago he proved he has a long way to go before he is up there.

Pinot has also proved he isn't going to trouble the big guns. With his back issues and tendency to implode or get sick I don't really consider him a 3 week threat. 1 week, yes, 3 weeks? nah

Sosa still to really race and yeah, if we include Almeida and Landa it just shows how thin on the ground genuine GT contenders are and the massive gap between the top few and the rest.

[Frosty]

Here's the top 34 GC riders based on the last 365 days worth of points collected on the PCS site.
Domestiques capable of riding well won't make it onto the list if they're expected to do a job for their team leader.
 

[dsw]

18 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Evenapoel is hardly a top 10 GT rider currently. He has the potential to be, but a few weeks ago he proved he has a long way to go before he is up there.

Pinot has also proved he isn't going to trouble the big guns. With his back issues and tendency to implode or get sick I don't really consider him a 3 week threat. 1 week, yes, 3 weeks? nah

Sosa still to really race and yeah, if we include Almeida and Landa it just shows how thin on the ground genuine GT contenders are and the massive gap between the top few and the rest.

My list of top Grand Tour GC contenders on current form:

Tier one: Roglic, Bernal, Pogacar

Big gap.

Tier two: Thomas, Carapaz, Yates x 2

Tier 3: Landa, Almeida, Evenpoel, Porte, 

New kid on the block : Vingegaard.

 

 

[100Tours]

On 7/10/2021 at 7:32 PM, 'Dale said:

The Alt Tour, km 4 225 - Stage underway today: 335 kms with more than 5000m vert 

Pic IG @efprocycling

he's doing 5000km's in Crocs?

[splat]

8 minutes ago, 100Tours said:

he's doing 5000km's in Crocs?

Butchered Birkenstocks

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRNrk_2loyE/

[Eldron]

Me. I'm done wondering. The only people that will ever know the true extent of doping in the peleton is.....nobody. 

Of course I still care about it but the is he isn't he game is fruitless.

Let the UCI and WADA do their sometime good sometimes bad sometimes random thing - I'm just gonna watch and enjoy and if someone gets bust I'll add them to my sh1tlist.

That said - I'm loving the "new generation" of young cyclists coming through.  Great on bikes, great in interviews, actual humans that let their emotions out, nice attacking racing. This Tour has to be the best in a decade at least! Even Cav 2.0 has been great to watch!

Edited July 12, 2021 by Eldron

['Dale]

13 minutes ago, 100Tours said:

he's doing 5000km's in Crocs?

He is on to his 2nd pair of sandals with the front strap removed to prevent further chafing. From CyclingTips below:

On day 11 of his journey, Morton had a rough night’s sleep after a nearby rave kept him awake. He rose to a delicious breakfast of a litre of full cream milk mixed with sweetened condensed milk and coffee powder. “Milk is an easy way to get protein in and I can digest it really easily,” he apparently said, and continued on his way toward the Pyrenees. 

That day the indignities kept coming. First, a day-long headwind.

Second, a flat Di2 battery, leaving Morton spinning in the small ring for 120 km. 

[Wayne pudding Mol]

1 hour ago, TNT1 said:

Sosa, Evnepoel, Almeida, Pinot, Landa...

And then the ones who were in form and crashed, Thomas, roglic  or even the semi retired dumoulin.

pogacar looks like he would have crushed anyone but the field has crumbled around him one way or another 

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, kosmonooit said:

Aagh ffs, whats in a name.. Seb, Sep, Seep, Suip. Names are not my strong point.

There was great expectations from him once he joined the world tour coming to the Giro I think after that ToU victory, just didn't feature at all. I guess that the way it goes, the weight of expectations perhaps a bit heavy for his young shoulders. But he has been a great team mate for Rodg, and he did take that stage at the Vuelta in a spectacular way. I'm fan for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

Sepp was caught up in the Stage 1 crashes so there's that

[TNT1]

I dunno if it was mentioned, but I must say, I really liked the way Ineos and Movistar combined forces at one point to really drive home the fact that they both use the same tactical handbook. I like a good comedy.

[Eldron]

7 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

I dunno if it was mentioned, but I must say, I really liked the way Ineos and Movistar combined forces at one point to really drive home the fact that they both use the same tactical handbook. I like a good comedy.

It was kinda sad watching Ineos call their riders back from the break then set a 4 man crazy tempo up the final climb then fizzle out after one Carapaz attack.

Poggy is head and shoulders clear of his rivals at the moment....