Tour de France 2022

[TheoG]

58 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

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.

Thanks for that perspective John, make a lot of sense.

[edgarblount]

1 hour ago, J Wakefield said:

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 Tadej to be in.

Same as Pogi surfing the Jumbo-Visma wave the last 3 Tours? It takes skill and talent to be able to use other teams to do the work for you.

 

Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion and I am in no way connected to any WT team. I am a massive Jumbo-Visma fan but also a fan of Tadej.

[J Wakefield]

22 minutes ago, TheoG said:

Thanks for that perspective John, make a lot of sense.

Where this benefits both jumbo and UAE is that with Louis now in top 10 it will make teams like Movistar, Bora etc add to the chase when required cause they will want to hold onto that 5-10th on GC should Louis be a danger up the road of moving them down further on GC. 
 

so within a GC battle there are other battles taking place which will add to dynamics 

[J Wakefield]

11 minutes ago, edgarblount said:

Same as Pogi surfing the Jumbo-Visma wave the last 3 Tours? It takes skill and talent to be able to use other teams to do the work for you.

 

Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion and I am in no way connected to any WT team. I am a massive Jumbo-Visma fan but also a fan of Tadej.

2 Tours we only in the 3rd now and last year, wasn’t so so much. Same as any rider on any of the other teams - Movistar, Bora, ineos, EF etc when you have a GC team controlling the race.

more when sprinters surf QS lead out train as example: 
 

if you control and show strength, you need to make it work. If UAE drop Tadej off at 5-7km to go and know he will be on, job is done and the domestiques sit up and recover longer and easy to the top, this is a benefit going forward into the next day and days ahead. 
 

sometimes there is a plan in a plan.

[TheoG]

8 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Where this benefits both jumbo and UAE is that with Louis now in top 10 it will make teams like Movistar, Bora etc add to the chase when required cause they will want to hold onto that 5-10th on GC should Louis be a danger up the road of moving them down further on GC. 
 

so within a GC battle there are other battles taking place which will add to dynamics 

I suppose Ineos will also watch Louis very closely now since he is a danger for their top 10 positionS.

Edited July 19, 2022 by TheoG

[edgarblount]

2 minutes ago, TheoG said:

I suppose Ineos will also watch Louis very closely now since he is a danger for their top 10 positionS.

The next few days are going to be epic. Ineos will have to look behind them while also trying to look in front of them. Ineos will have to decide what is more importanter, 3 in the top 10 or 1 in yellow. Me thinks we are going to see the best last week ever in Le Tour history.

[TheoG]

Just now, edgarblount said:

The next few days are going to be epic. Ineos will have to look behind them while also trying to look in front of them. Ineos will have to decide what is more importanter, 3 in the top 10 or 1 in yellow. Me thinks we are going to see the best last week ever in Le Tour history.

Agree, I'm not a Ineos fan, but if we get good quality racing, I'm all for it ....

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, J Wakefield said:

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.

exactly.

I think we all want Maincheese to achieve something here, but let's not lose perspective. He was only given rope because he had lost 12 minutes the day before when TP cracked and wasn't seen as a GC threat. I think we're kidding ourselves if we think he is in the condition to outride the main GC guys now that he is up there. 

More than happy to be wrong here, I'm excited he has found a place to shine again and is actually attacking and making moves after always being a following type rider. A battle for the polka would be an incredible challenge and make another race within the race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shebeen]

23 minutes ago, edgarblount said:

The next few days are going to be epic. Ineos will have to look behind them while also trying to look in front of them. Ineos will have to decide what is more importanter, 3 in the top 10 or 1 in yellow. Me thinks we are going to see the best last week ever in Le Tour history.

I don't think Ineos are in it to come 3rd or 4th (they now sponsor the All Blacks for that privilige).

While it is mostly out of their control what happens between Tadej and JV, they have two cards to play and if the chips fall nicely I can see them trying to work a way for GT to pounce. Relying on a strong ITT from AY probably discounts him as the main option. Forget Jumbo Visma, Ineos have easily got the strongest lineup going into this final week. 

 

 

[edgarblount]

9 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

I don't think Ineos are in it to come 3rd or 4th (they now sponsor the All Blacks for that privilige).

While it is mostly out of their control what happens between Tadej and JV, they have two cards to play and if the chips fall nicely I can see them trying to work a way for GT to pounce. Relying on a strong ITT from AY probably discounts him as the main option. Forget Jumbo Visma, Ineos have easily got the strongest lineup going into this final week. 

 

 

Ineos might try and bait Tadej and Jonas with Yates or Pidcock the same way Jumbo did with Primoz. The problem is if Tadej and Jonas stick to a Yates or Pidcock and ride away from Geraint. 

Going to be interesting the next few days!

 

[TheoG]

16 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

I don't think Ineos are in it to come 3rd or 4th (they now sponsor the All Blacks for that privilige).

While it is mostly out of their control what happens between Tadej and JV, they have two cards to play and if the chips fall nicely I can see them trying to work a way for GT to pounce. Relying on a strong ITT from AY probably discounts him as the main option. Forget Jumbo Visma, Ineos have easily got the strongest lineup going into this final week. 

 

 

Yea, somehow JV always get more than their fair share of bad lack compared to Ineos ... .

[Shebeen]

2 minutes ago, edgarblount said:

Ineos might try and bait Tadej and Jonas with Yates or Pidcock the same way Jumbo did with Primoz. The problem is if Tadej and Jonas stick to a Yates or Pidcock and ride away from Geraint. 

Going to be interesting the next few days!

 

I don't think they will die wondering. Since bernal/GT got 1st/2nd they have returned a 3rd and a 13th on GC. 

Ineos winning this would be one helluva story

[Jewbacca]

The best part is they have cards to play. 

They managed to keep those players in the game into week 3, so realistically have quite a few tactical options to throw up the road.

The next 3 days should be pretty cool. 

I'm excited

[TheoG]

3 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

I don't think they will die wondering. Since bernal/GT got 1st/2nd they have returned a 3rd and a 13th on GC. 

Ineos winning this would be one helluva story

I simply cant see any of them getting on top of JV or TP, unless there is some more serious bad luck ....

[Jakkals.]

48 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

exactly.

I think we all want Maincheese to achieve something here, but let's not lose perspective. He was only given rope because he had lost 12 minutes the day before when TP cracked and wasn't seen as a GC threat. I think we're kidding ourselves if we think he is in the condition to outride the main GC guys now that he is up there. 

More than happy to be wrong here, I'm excited he has found a place to shine again and is actually attacking and making moves after always being a following type rider. A battle for the polka would be an incredible challenge and make another race within the race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you are wrong

[Plentipotential]

It certainly is shaping up to be a great last week. Waiting for Ineos to light things up might be a bit much, I just cannot see GT having the fire power. The new TDF contenders have so much explosive power in the climbs and expose riders like Thomas and poor Louis over the short accelerations, put two of them head to head and the gap opens up on GT very quickly. JV do seem to have less luck than Ineos but that may be because Ineos play it safe, too safe. But... it's been hot with more hot to come, there are some tough climbs this week and then an ITT, let's see who can survive. If I were Steve Cummings I'd put Pidcock over the first climb and let him loose on the descent, see who chases. Watching Pidcock going downhill is like watching ballet on a bicycle.