Tour de France 2022

[BuffsVintageBikes]

1 minute ago, madmarc said:

What makes you think Jonas can recover better than Taddy - Jonas burnt a lot of matches in those final km's but today will tell I suppose

The fact that Taddy imploded and Jonas didn't.

[lechatnoir]

11 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

The fact that Taddy imploded and Jonas didn't.

watching Pog yesterday was, I'm sure, an Apocalypse Now moment for anyone who's ridden a bicycle - that knowledge that legs, lungs, heart, everything is just FUBAR and there's still a mountain to climb.

I was cheering JV but felt bad for Pog because it feels crummy to go through that; It looked liek he wasn't having a good time. I hope he's paid well

[Frosty]

3 minutes ago, lechatnoir said:

watching Pog yesterday was, I'm sure, an Apocalypse Now moment for anyone who's ridden a bicycle - that knowledge that legs, lungs, heart, everything is just FUBAR and there's still a mountain to climb.

I was cheering JV but felt bad for Pog because it feels crummy to go through that; It looked liek he wasn't having a good time. I hope he's paid well

It’s like Pogácar is not allowed to have a bad day. It’s his first proper bad day in 3 Tours. He hasn’t been in this position before, at the Tour, so will be interesting to see how he can respond.

Back in 2020, Roglic had a good stage time (stage 20, TT), but not good enough compared to the others; he was 35s behind Tommy D (2nd).  

I enjoyed the stage yesterday, and I think it’s good for the race. It’s much more exciting after yesterday’s events compared to recent times. With Bardet and Geraint in play too, it bodes well for an exciting Tour.

[wattnow]

Only 1 bad day in 3 tours.... Now that is fishier than JV's fingers....

[Jewbacca]

14 minutes ago, Frosty said:

It’s like Pogácar is not allowed to have a bad day. It’s his first proper bad day in 3 Tours. He hasn’t been in this position before, at the Tour, so will be interesting to see how he can respond.

Back in 2020, Roglic had a good stage time (stage 20, TT), but not good enough compared to the others; he was 35s behind Tommy D (2nd).  

I enjoyed the stage yesterday, and I think it’s good for the race. It’s much more exciting after yesterday’s events compared to recent times. With Bardet and Geraint in play too, it bodes well for an exciting Tour.

2 to 7 are still in this hunting for a podium spot. 

Less than 1minute between them all. We saw how quickly a minute can change hands yesterday.

This tour is set up brilliantly with a whole lot of racing to come

[DieselnDust]

59 minutes ago, madmarc said:

What makes you think Jonas can recover better than Taddy - Jonas burnt a lot of matches in those final km's but today will tell I suppose

Well….. IME riders that are blown take longer to recover than a rider who is unblown…

poggie was decided blown yesterday unless it was all an act in fooling Jumbo into getting Jonas to go deep then putting the sword into him today..

[BuffsVintageBikes]

1 hour ago, lechatnoir said:

watching Pog yesterday was, I'm sure, an Apocalypse Now moment for anyone who's ridden a bicycle - that knowledge that legs, lungs, heart, everything is just FUBAR and there's still a mountain to climb.

I was cheering JV but felt bad for Pog because it feels crummy to go through that; It looked liek he wasn't having a good time. I hope he's paid well

 

Agreed, I felt terrible for him as well, you could see the hurt and the joy was gone.

The problem with Taddy is he's a hard bloke to dislike... and so is Jonas for that matter. Even the congratulations to Jonas after the stage didn't looked forced at all, he looked seriously happy for him. He's just an all around nice kid that loves to ride his bike and does it bloody well and you have to respect that fact. Maybe is his only downfall is that he's too competitive and gives nothing away but that's the trait of a winner. It was way easier in the days of Lemond and Hinaut and Armstrong and Ulrich where the hero and villain status was easier to distinguish, depending which side of the fence you sat on of course.

Here you're kind of left not minding who of the two actually win, we're just really enjoying the show and the impressive display of racing tactics 🤙

[madmarc]

31 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

 

poggie was decided blown yesterday unless it was all an act in fooling Jumbo into getting Jonas to go deep then putting the sword into him today..

That was my thought... is he putting on an act ? .....But the time difference at the end I thought mmmm maybe that was not clever to give him such a gap - But Jonas looked properly wasted on the line. 

One thing for sure, they producing the same excitement that LA and the boys produced, which has been seriously lacking in the TDF these last few years  

[lechatnoir]

46 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

2 to 7 are still in this hunting for a podium spot. 

Less than 1minute between them all. We saw how quickly a minute can change hands yesterday.

This tour is set up brilliantly with a whole lot of racing to come

my thumbsuck maths had Pog losing a minute in the last km. and remember Yates shelled +20min on a climb in the Giro

[Eddy Gordo]

Damn, I gonna miss today, I need to go to langebaan just to pick up something!!! aah well road trip

[DieselnDust]

Blowing up on the Alpe d’Huez could be a 4min loss. Pog and UAE will find it tough to crack Jumbo unless JV has struggled to recover. I think he should be ok today since he hasn’t expended as much as TP over the past week. 
The most realistic strategy today is too limit losses and keep it too a main GC contender group and not let Ineos to the party. Bardet maybe be tempted to be the next great French hope of a tour win so I expect the DSM to put up a bit of a show today. Jumbo will try to play Ineos and UAE against each other by sending Roglic in a break. Kamna will likely be in this as well with perhaps Mohoric.

but mostly likely I’m talking complete bollocks 

[lechatnoir]

10 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Blowing up on the Alpe d’Huez could be a 4min loss. Pog and UAE will find it tough to crack Jumbo unless JV has struggled to recover. I think he should be ok today since he hasn’t expended as much as TP over the past week. 
The most realistic strategy today is too limit losses and keep it too a main GC contender group and not let Ineos to the party. Bardet maybe be tempted to be the next great French hope of a tour win so I expect the DSM to put up a bit of a show today. Jumbo will try to play Ineos and UAE against each other by sending Roglic in a break. Kamna will likely be in this as well with perhaps Mohoric.

but mostly likely I’m talking complete bollocks 

well, you say that, but who predicted yesterday's outcome? Not many I'm sure - there rest of us as all blowing hot air (loadshedding means my hairdryer is packed away)

it's all conjecture and it's a lot of fun

Man, on today of all days (Bastille Day), wouldn't it be great for all those people that wrote Pinot's name on the tarmac to get a reward? Oh, and for Pinot too... France would probably have a big cheesy meltdown and it'd be great!

or Quintana...? yesterday was a good day for him and he's looking good. Knows the climbs well, but with so many kms left to race, who will bet it all early?

As for Moho... 3 HC climbs today may be a bit too much. I'm going for a Moho Discontinuity today... (that's the best geological joke you'll hear for a while I expect)

[Frosty]

For those not on GCN, they just mentioned that Kruiswijk is not wearing his number upside down, but rather that it's printed upside-down #13

[Frosty]

19 hours ago, lechatnoir said:

for added fun, play Carlton-Kirby-bingo each time he mentions the final time trial when there's more than a week to go...

Does it count if the others in conversation count? Like Dan (he's said it three times on top of Carlton's 4

[Frosty]

Meanwhile, Louis giving another go to get away

[Frosty]

Wout leading the way
 

While Louis gets some TV time