Tour de France 2022

[milky4130]

8 hours ago, capediver said:

Sagan should be DQ'd ...he's the only one breaking the speed limit......🤣

Sharp 🤣

['Dale]

While we wait

 

[Vetplant]

Only real interesting GC item on the menu today is the potential of crosswinds in the final 30 odd kilometers.

But I'm not convinced the windspeed will be high enough to have any real impact.

 

The route profile seems interesting enough to entice riders to go on a jaunt with the Polka dot wearer MCN...

[lechatnoir]

Today's stage doesn't look too arduous - ~170km/~2000m... a bumps and lumps, but nothing for everyone to be too concerned about. But... that last one, just 10km to go is a little tester. All the usual suspects will see this as a chance to get away and make a break for it, though it may be a bit hard for the proper sprinters to keep up with the guys that see 1.1km@7-8% as easy AND can sprint.

Ewan has shown this is in his wheelhouse and he's not had a sprint yet, so he'll have a keen eye on this.

Pedersen is another. Ex-stripey will eye this too. I suspect he'll be up there in a photo finish with Philipsen

WvA will eye this too, and what better way to celebrate 3x 2nd places on the trot? Will he be happy with another? No, but he may well get that.

I'm not sure how Jakobsen and Groenewegen will manage over the last 'climb' and then contest a sprint a few km later, but if they manage to get on, it's unlikely they'll get dropped by the time they get to the line, so they'll be in it for sure.

Then there's the matter of the other two CX-ers that haven't had much airtime, so I'll give them some - Pidcock will revel in this I reckon, and Thomas will have enough riders with him that Pidcock may be given the green light.

And what about MVDP... from what I've seen so far (remember, I'm 1000s of miles away watching on telly), he's a bit gun-shy in the proper sprints, and opts for leading out Philipsen anyway. If Philipsen gets over the climb, I'm sure he'll be leading out. If Philipsen doesn't get over the climb, look for MVDP to lead out the rest, WvA to to be Mr Consistency and get another second and the rest to not really trouble the scorers.

I saw a stat that said that Sunday's 2nd was WvA's 100th 2nd place in a UCI event and of those, 58 have been to MVDP. thought that 's very likely skewed to CX when they were nippers. I can't verify the truth behind that stat, but it's quite funny. If it IS true, it's hysterical

One thing that is evident though, when it comes to a proper sprint, and everyone has an equal chance, a sprinter's effort will out-do even the most determined CX-er

[The Ouzo]

2 things

* Checking Supersport schedule I see it starts late today, is that correct ?

 

* With Strava having TdF fever I started following a few riders. Their rest day rides would have me in the red trying to keep up.

[milky4130]

13 minutes ago, lechatnoir said:

 

I'm not sure how Jakobsen and Groenewegen will manage over the last 'climb' and then contest a sprint a few km later, but if they manage to get on, it's unlikely they'll get dropped by the time they get to the line, so they'll be in it for sure.

 

Only 900m short, I can't see that being an issue for any pure sprinter, if in the unlikely event they do get dropped it's still 11kms to the finish, peloton will be strung out & they would still have the convoy to use for the chase back as well as their team mates drop back to assist.

[DieselnDust]

8 minutes ago, milky4130 said:

Only 900m short, I can't see that being an issue for any pure sprinter, if in the unlikely event they do get dropped it's still 11kms to the finish, peloton will be strung out & they would still have the convoy to use for the chase back as well as their team mates drop back to assist.

I'm seeing a break away today in the last 50km. Cote du Ventus looks ideal for a MvDP train with WvA and TP joining in. Tadej may want a slice of the action to put a bit more time pressure on the Jumbo boys before the cobbles tomorrow. the Next three days look more like the classics guys territory. Watch out for Matej Mohoric too. He's been quiet

[Frosty]

34 minutes ago, ouzo said:

2 things

* Checking Supersport schedule I see it starts late today, is that correct ?

 

* With Strava having TdF fever I started following a few riders. Their rest day rides would have me in the red trying to keep up.

Some of them ride e-bikes on rest days.

[jimmycool]

40 minutes ago, ouzo said:

2 things

* Checking Supersport schedule I see it starts late today, is that correct ?

 

* With Strava having TdF fever I started following a few riders. Their rest day rides would have me in the red trying to keep up.

My dstv schedule says coverage starts at 13:05 today.

[jimmycool]

[lechatnoir]

2 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I'm seeing a break away today in the last 50km. Cote du Ventus looks ideal for a MvDP train with WvA and TP joining in. Tadej may want a slice of the action to put a bit more time pressure on the Jumbo boys before the cobbles tomorrow. the Next three days look more like the classics guys territory. Watch out for Matej Mohoric too. He's been quiet

do you think that GC teams will play the long game, waiting for places where GC shakeups will happen, and until then will play it cage? Obviously, GC teams with riders that can take on other stages like today's and tomorrow's have different questions to answer... both WvA and Pidcock are jokers in the Ineos and JV packs. For teams like Alpecin, it's a bit more obvious, so perhaps harder for them to surprise maybe? Then again, perhaps they're (all teams) looking ahead and trying to get the 'perfect route' for their riders. We've heard in the past where riders have targeted stages the day route was announced, then actually execute on the day. Personally, I love to hear stories like that

I dunno, I'm just a novice fan with a ton of bias wanting to see exciting racing.

[DieselnDust]

16 minutes ago, lechatnoir said:

do you think that GC teams will play the long game, waiting for places where GC shakeups will happen, and until then will play it cage? Obviously, GC teams with riders that can take on other stages like today's and tomorrow's have different questions to answer... both WvA and Pidcock are jokers in the Ineos and JV packs.

see 1 below

For teams like Alpecin, it's a bit more obvious, so perhaps harder for them to surprise maybe? Then again, perhaps they're (all teams) looking ahead and trying to get the 'perfect route' for their riders. We've heard in the past where riders have targeted stages the day route was announced, then actually execute on the day. Personally, I love to hear stories like that

 

See 2 below

I dunno, I'm just a novice fan with a ton of bias wanting to see exciting racing.

 

 

1> my observation is that GC teams are always balancing the long game with specific opportunities to gain the upper hand. These opportunities will depend on the specific strenghts of their main GC contenders vs that of their rvials. E.g. Pogacar is better at the really technical pave than Roglic or Vingegaard so they may want to apply pressure in Stage 5 and force an error to gain time. Either way if your rival is under more stress that cost will be paid later in the race. Until these moments its is very much protect and serve. Guy like MVDP, WvA and TP are not consider GC contenders although I'd be more wary of TP than the other two. If he's got the endurance he'd be more of a dark horse than Geraint ( I don't consider him to be a GC contender this year) who I think is real joker.

 

2> the classics teams its obviously to look for the opportunity of a stage win. Alpecin have brought a classics team to the TdF so they're looking for wins in the first week. Stage 4,5 and 6 play to that desire so they will be more tactical today. They have a good sprint team in case of a break with MvDP in it failing. GC teams won't want to play a part in it, except maybe if Ineos gets Pidcock into that break you may see UAE helping to close it down.

 

thats my 2p

[The Ouzo]

39 minutes ago, jimmycool said:

Thanks, I'll flip the channels here at work at 13:00

[The Ouzo]

47 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Some of them ride e-bikes on rest days.

I'd like to think they were riding e-bikes, but the reality is I only produce a small percentage of what they do.

[Frosty]

Not long now...

[TheoG]

Hopefully today is the day Wout change those 2's into a ONE.