Tour de France 2022

[Jakkals.]

the best tour since 2003, pity about the crashes and injuries, but I suppose its all part of racing.

[worriesnot]

42 minutes ago, Jakkals. said:

the best tour since 2003, pity about the crashes and injuries, but I suppose its all part of racing.

Yep... proper mano e mano racing coming up with discounted UAE & J-V teams for Tadej and Jonas. AND watching Maincheese riding with some gusto is just the cherry on top for me.

[shova1]

Pretty sure Ineos are plotting an ambush, probably Thursday, but may test the waters tomorrow or Wednesday if the lads are feeling good.

[eddy]

I know it doesn't count as after Alpe D'huez  they would never have let him get away again on stage 14, but I did back of a cigarette pack calculation .......

On the cobbles of stage 5, Louis lost the bunch that contained everyone else in the GC top 10. Tadej took 3:21 off him and the rest, including JV, 3:08.

But for that one stage (and yes I know) Louis would be in second, trailing JV by 1:16 and leading the one TP by 1:19 and the other TP by 7:43

Not bad for a lone ranger against the big teams.

[SwissVan]

37 minutes ago, eddy said:

I know it doesn't count as after Alpe D'huez  they would never have let him get away again on stage 14, but I did back of a cigarette pack calculation .......

On the cobbles of stage 5, Louis lost the bunch that contained everyone else in the GC top 10. Tadej took 3:21 off him and the rest, including JV, 3:08.

But for that one stage (and yes I know) Louis would be in second, trailing JV by 1:16 and leading the one TP by 1:19 and the other TP by 7:43

Not bad for a lone ranger against the big teams.

 

Why a lone ranger...?

He has the whole peloton riding for him most days?

Seriously tho, Inter Marche still have a full complement of 8 riders so i'm not sure why you would call him the lone ranger

[TheoG]

20 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

 

Why a lone ranger...?

He has the whole peloton riding for him most days?

Seriously tho, Inter Marche still have a full complement of 8 riders so i'm not sure why you would call him the lone ranger

Simply because you hardly ever see his team mates around him and assisting .... 🤷‍♂️

[Jewbacca]

hahahaha

The last 2 years everyone praising Pogacar for being able to win the TDF while being isolated most of the race.... Meintjies does a similar thing and suddenly the peleton is doing the work for him.... 

I think IWGM have been brilliant in their execution. The stage Louise pulled all that time back he went across the gap with a team mate to join another team mate.

The 3 of them did a great job together.

[Shebeen]

30 minutes ago, TheoG said:

Simply because you hardly ever see his team mates around him and assisting .... 🤷‍♂️

you kidding? 

A huge part of him getting the 2nd place on Alp d'huez and the time back on the GC boys was getting into the break.

Thanks to Zimmerman for towing him to it.

 

[TheoG]

11 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

you kidding? 

A huge part of him getting the 2nd place on Alp d'huez and the time back on the GC boys was getting into the break.

Thanks to Zimmerman for towing him to it.

 

True, you 100% correct, I missed that one.  The majority of the time though you see him all on his own with no team mates. 

[Shebeen]

back to Main cheese,

Here is the current polka standings.

While Geschke has worked hard to get into it, and defended well - I doubt he will hold it to Paris without some luck. (LM got all his points on a single stage, as did ciccone and Powless). The last 3 years the GC winner has taken it, the fight for yellow in the mountains brings the points. Geschke will be praying for a break in the big mountains where he has no GC companions and can hoover up some points.

Can Meintjes work a plan here? Not really in 7th place @4:24 now. He's too much of a threat to get any rope, so will have to do it the hard way by climbing better than the GC guys.

 

next three stages will decide the jersey for sure,

2 xHC, 5x cat1

 

 

 

['Dale]

2nd rest day, aarggghhhhhhh!!

Reminiscing about endless summer days in the Pyrenees a few seasons ago before The Big Pause - birds chirping, softer summer sun, not too much wind. Bliss! Must. Go. Back. 🥰

Tweetiebird sauce: 2 gogga test positive results on the 2nd rest day. Neither are in the top 20 of the GC classification.

Edited July 18, 2022 by 'Dale

[DieselnDust]

5 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

hahahaha

The last 2 years everyone praising Pogacar for being able to win the TDF while being isolated most of the race.... Meintjies does a similar thing and suddenly the peleton is doing the work for him.... 

I think IWGM have been brilliant in their execution. The stage Louise pulled all that time back he went across the gap with a team mate to join another team mate.

The 3 of them did a great job together.

Spot on!

They've been doing a very decent job of protecting him too. Except for the day on the cobbles where it was just a ****  show, they've been keeping him very quietly in the main race. Possibly the most underated team of 2022

['Dale]

K O M jersey classification, yoh

Geschke - 46
Meintjes - 39
Powless - 37
Vingegaard - 36
Ciccone - 35
Latour - 35

Going to make the daily breakaway dynamics very exciting

[OVERDRIVE]

On 7/17/2022 at 8:29 PM, Jewbacca said:

What do you mean?

Vingegaard crashed with like 55km to go (I think? ish)

He rode back to the Peleton and finished with the group?

The stage was too flat for Pog to really attack and get anything from it. Especially as he also has a bit of a withered team.

They will all be thankful of the rest day tomorrow and start planning for 3 pretty big days to come next week.

I learn, I learn...thought with the crash he'd find something. Lookslike its over then unless Vingegaard has a flat or blows? Looking at his form right now. 

[Spinnekop]

9 hours ago, OVERDRIVE said:

I learn, I learn...thought with the crash he'd find something. Lookslike its over then unless Vingegaard has a flat or blows? Looking at his form right now. 

It's never over.

Take a minute back in the next 3 days over the high mountains.
Take the rest back on the last TT.

 

 

[J Wakefield]

17 hours ago, TheoG said:

True, you 100% correct, I missed that one.  The majority of the time though you see him all on his own with no team mates. 

the team is not there only for Louis, they there to win a stage, go in breaks and Louis would be free to GC hunt. They will help yes, but lets me clear here, Louis has never been fully supported for a GC top 10 on any team he has, top riders know he wont win the Tour so are happy for him to surf and benefit of others.

Its a great position for Louis to be in.