Tour de France 2021

[DieselnDust]

2 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

I wouldn't say Pogacar "cracked", but he definitely chose to not follow Vingegaard when on previous days, he was dropping the field on the climbs. He has the massive advantage of being 5 minutes ahead, so he knows that he can let people go and ride his limit to the top and if he looses a minute it's no big deal, as long as he doesn't mega crack and loose 20. 

But if the race was tighter, and Vingegaard was 10s behind him, he would probably have tried harder to stick to his wheel, and then potentially have actually cracked if he went over his limit. But he's obviously a smart rider that doesn't just burn all his matches and go pop. 

BUT..... In the 2018 Giro, Yates dominated for 17 stages, then on stage 18, he lost some time when he couldn't quite follow wheels, but he didn't completely crack. Then stage 19 came and he super mega cracked on the Finestre and lost something like 30 minutes that day. If history repeats, Tadej can be lucky the next 2 stages are flat. I don't want him to fail though, but I do kind of hope he loses some time somewhere just so the race is closer and more exciting.  

I think it was more a case of being told in his ear " Whoooa baaas, laat hom daai 1 gaan down die mountain. Aiiiikona baba let Jonaaaaas go. laaapa 6meenoots down"

[Ispeed_V]

11 hours ago, 'Dale said:

About the maillot jaune unable to follow Jonas - conserving is not cracking.

Must admit, the commentators were bloody annoying. Ranting on on how Podjacar had cracked and that Jonas was riding into yellow

[Vetplant]

So, today is "flat". But there is a bit of a lump close to the finish.

Bike exchange and/or Bahrain to make it hard on the incline to try to drop Cav.

Might be lumpy enough for a big breakaway group to stay away

[TheoG]

13 hours ago, Patchelicious said:

I think he didn’t need to go into the red today, so he didn’t. Little TC today so that he can suip some more in the next week.

Yes he didn't need to but if he could he would have gone with Wingegaard, no doubt in my mind.

More importantly, it shows he is not invincible, now at least there is a glimmer of hope for the other guys especially JW, before yesterday there was no hope in hell !

Edited July 8, 2021 by TheoG

[Vetplant]

13 hours ago, Vetplant said:

"The 9 riders in the @MarkCavendish gruppetto made it with a 7' margin on the time limit, @kraghsoren survived the day by 4''... but @LukeRowe1990was still on the road and finished OTL."

4 Seconds?! 

José Been

 

@TourDeJose

 

Time limit is 47m39. Luke Rowe and S. Kragh Andersen could be in trouble

 

 

 

That was too close for Kragh Anderson!

[TNT1]

I know no-one cares, but Maincheese moved up a few places in the GC yesterday. With a good run in the Pyrenees, he can be knocking on the door of a top ten.

 

On the Pogacar thing, the bottom line is if he could have stayed with Vingegaard he would have. This nonsense of "he chose to not follow" is, well, nonsense. Sure, he didn't crack open like a piñata, but at the moment he simply didn't have the legs.

[TheoG]

10 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

I know no-one cares, but Maincheese moved up a few places in the GC yesterday. With a good run in the Pyrenees, he can be knocking on the door of a top ten.

 

On the Pogacar thing, the bottom line is if he could have stayed with Vingegaard he would have. This nonsense of "he chose to not follow" is, well, nonsense. Sure, he didn't crack open like a piñata, but at the moment he simply didn't have the legs.

LM in 16th, nice Louis, keep going.  Also WvA is up in 13th, surely he can end up in the top 10 if he wants to.

I see the gaps to the top 10 is pretty big however ... ????

Edited July 8, 2021 by TheoG

[FootballingCyclist]

Campaenarts also pulls out of Le Tour.. 

[Jewbacca]

55 minutes ago, Vetplant said:

So, today is "flat". But there is a bit of a lump close to the finish.

Bike exchange and/or Bahrain to make it hard on the incline to try to drop Cav.

Might be lumpy enough for a big breakaway group to stay away

I'm pretty sure the wolf pack will have something to say about that!

[Andymann]

35 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

I know no-one cares, but Maincheese moved up a few places in the GC yesterday. With a good run in the Pyrenees, he can be knocking on the door of a top ten.

 

On the Pogacar thing, the bottom line is if he could have stayed with Vingegaard he would have. This nonsense of "he chose to not follow" is, well, nonsense. Sure, he didn't crack open like a piñata, but at the moment he simply didn't have the legs.

I'm actually rooting for him - I think when he burst onto the scene everyone put huge pressure on him by announcing him as our first TDF podium hope and maybe that was a bit much to handle.  It looks here like he's just chipping away slowly and maybe a top 10 is possible.  A big ask, but I hope he manages it!

[lechatnoir]

11 minutes ago, Andymann said:

I'm actually rooting for him - I think when he burst onto the scene everyone put huge pressure on him by announcing him as our first TDF podium hope and maybe that was a bit much to handle.  It looks here like he's just chipping away slowly and maybe a top 10 is possible.  A big ask, but I hope he manages it!

I think world tour riders know that while they can be confident in their prep and abilities, it's really what happens on the day that counts. And they know that an off-day can happen at any time without warning. So much can go wrong over the hours of a stage or weeks of a GT - it's not like a 100m that's over in seconds.

Any 'sending up' of LM was the media, not Louis himself. I believe him to be humble, yet confident in his capabilities. Same as Quintana... Pretty sure it was the Spanish media that sold him as their all conquering rider, when he never said or thought the same

All the riders do their best on the day with what they have and sometimes just finishing is the best they can do.

[lechatnoir]

Does anyone know why yesterday's stage finished after the 2nd Ventoux descent? Did it add anything to the stage? Or would a summit finish have been better? While it was certainly enjoyable, I found it a little bit of a let-down. I feel the drama of ending at the summit serves the tour better.

or perhaps with covid and logistics, setting up a finish there would be a bridge too far?

[Vetplant]

4 minutes ago, lechatnoir said:

Does anyone know why yesterday's stage finished after the 2nd Ventoux descent? Did it add anything to the stage? Or would a summit finish have been better? While it was certainly enjoyable, I found it a little bit of a let-down. I feel the drama of ending at the summit serves the tour better.

or perhaps with covid and logistics, setting up a finish there would be a bridge too far?

Interesting. Only stage 9, 17 and 18 seem to be Mountaintop finishes. The other "mountain" stages have a descent after a big climb to finish the stage.

Don't know if this is noteworthy for the 2021 edition vs other editions.

But I agree, it dilutes the spectacle of the battle on the climb to some degree as things tend to come back together on descents if the gaps aren't big enough.  

 

[TNT1]

1 hour ago, Vetplant said:

 

But I agree, it dilutes the spectacle of the battle on the climb to some degree as things tend to come back together on descents if the gaps aren't big enough.  

 

Yeah, it would have made the Vingegaard - Pogacar battle more interesting. And Ineos (movistar v2.0) and carapaz could have detonated earlier...

[Carmichael]

Amateur comment incoming - But where is Sepp Kuss? What happened to him? Prev time he was up there leading the charge. 

I see only 2 minutes seperate Froome and Greipel....  

[fanievb]

1 hour ago, lechatnoir said:

Does anyone know why yesterday's stage finished after the 2nd Ventoux descent? Did it add anything to the stage? Or would a summit finish have been better? While it was certainly enjoyable, I found it a little bit of a let-down. I feel the drama of ending at the summit serves the tour better.

or perhaps with covid and logistics, setting up a finish there would be a bridge too far?

it gives the vetties a chance to catch up on the downhills