Tour de France 2021

[J Wakefield]

Thank you guys for the messages and congrats, appreciate it. Kinda surreal still.

[dsw]

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheoG]

Louis Meintjies did really well to end up 14th.  A few months ago before the tour, this result seemed totally impossible.

[TNT1]

4 minutes ago, dsw said:

Carapaz ... improved their time trialling skills over the last few years...

Vigegaard, ...

Vingegaard out-climbed Carapaz and mugged him for nearly two  minutes on Saturday. I guess improved is relative.

[dsw]

Just now, TNT1 said:

Vingegaard out-climbed Carapaz and mugged him for nearly two  minutes on Saturday. I guess improved is relative.

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.. 

 

[TheoG]

Jumbo-Visma ended up 3rd in the team competition, that with almost half a team for most of the race, pretty good result in the end.

[Vetplant]

1 minute ago, TheoG said:

Jumbo-Visma ended up 3rd in the team competition, that with almost half a team for most of the race, pretty good result in the end.

As mentioned on the Lanterne-Rouge podcast, one could argue that TJV had a better TDF in 2021 then in 2020, if you look at the results.

4 Wins including the final Sprint in Paris. 2nd on GC. Not a bad return, especially considering the damage cause by the Week 1 crashes.

[TNT1]

3 minutes ago, dsw said:

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.. 

 

Yeah, I just find it hard to sing his praises. He's a turd. That nonsense with the lying to Movistar and then his questionable ethics on the road to Col du Portet cemented my opinion of him.

[Andymann]

Anyone else listen to JB^2 on The Move and think that Johan Bruyneel is some sort of Soothsayer.  His ability to pick stage winners is uncanny.

He says he is not a betting man, but with the amount to times he's got the winner correct, he could have made a fortune.

[TheoG]

8 minutes ago, Vetplant said:

As mentioned on the Lanterne-Rouge podcast, one could argue that TJV had a better TDF in 2021 then in 2020, if you look at the results.

4 Wins including the final Sprint in Paris. 2nd on GC. Not a bad return, especially considering the damage cause by the Week 1 crashes.

Yip, thanks to 3 guys, Wout, Sepp & Jonas ... ????

Edited July 19, 2021 by TheoG

[Long Wheel Base]

13 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

Whats with all the kids on the podium? This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really don't think there should be kids up there. And as a sponsor, I'd be pissed if my guy, whose salary I pay so that he can be a billboard for my company, gets on the podium of the world's biggest bike race, and then covers up my brand with his kid. 

Even this?? 

Hard to say anything bad about WVA though

Have you got kids?

[TheoG]

Just now, Long Wheel Base said:

Have you got kids?

I totally liked the fact that they had their kids on stage.  Its an experience of a lifetime, why not share it with the ones closest to you!

[TNT1]

5 minutes ago, Long Wheel Base said:

Have you got kids?

You don't even need to have kids to see it's a fantastic spectacle.

 

I loved Pogacar posing with Mark and his three kids so Peta could snap a pic. Brilliant. It's so nice to see a human side of pro sport. 

 

I couldn't imagine the robotic twats like Lewis Hamilton being a real person outside of the sheltered environment of F1, for example.

Edited July 19, 2021 by TNT1

[dsw]

16 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

Yeah, I just find it hard to sing his praises. He's a turd. That nonsense with the lying to Movistar and then his questionable ethics on the road to Col du Portet cemented my opinion of him.

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.

[TheoG]

8 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

You don't even need to have kids to see it's a fantastic spectacle.

 

I loved Pogacar posing with Mark and his three kids so Peta could snap a pic. Brilliant. It's so nice to see a human side of pro sport. 

 

I couldn't imagine the robotic twats like Lewis Hamilton being a real person outside of the sheltered environment of F1, for example.

Speaking of Hamilton, that 10 sec penalty was a flippen joke!  Worst case scenario he could have caused serious injury or even death due to that move.

Edited July 19, 2021 by TheoG

[TNT1]

1 minute ago, dsw said:

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.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the Grenades either.