Tour de France 2024

[DieselnDust]

4 hours ago, TheoG said:

I think the fact that Tadej could not properly drop Jonas have broken his spirits somewhat.

He is for sure not the same guy that did the exact same thing to Primoz Roglic a few years ago.

If he was in that state of mind, I'm sure he would have been a lot closer to Jonas yesterday.

Edit:  Also in hind sight, swapping bikes was a mistake which increased the deficit to Jonas.

Breaking his arm in a spring classic is probably the elephant in the  room

[Bub Marley]

Pretty much confirms again that on these really long climbs, Tadej is much weaker than Jonas. Happened last year and happened again this year. 
 

Well done to Jonas. He deserves all the success as he’s been the strongest at the hardest parts of the race. Pogi needs to work on those longer climbs for next year. Also for someone that has no preparation going into the tour, he’s actually done fantastic to keep up with Jonas given the level he’s at right now. 

[Jewbacca]

 

[NotSoBigBen]

On 7/17/2023 at 1:18 AM, OVERDRIVE said:

I think the tours over unless Jonas crashes 

 

[OVERDRIVE]

1 hour ago, NotSoBigBen said:

 

I told everyone...don't even bother to watch the highlights. Just go to cycling weekly and can then watch other stuff. 

[Shebeen]

On 7/18/2023 at 8:40 PM, DJuice said:

Pogocar to pull off a Landis ride tomorrow.

Well he did pull a Landis. Dropped 5mins+ is very much what Floyd did, but then the neeeeext day is what got spicey

[DJuice]

1 minute ago, Shebeen said:

Well he did pull a Landis. Dropped 5mins+ is very much what Floyd did, but then the neeeeext day is what got spicey

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Colnago please give Teddy an all white bike and Pissei some matching white shorts.

If you cant win, have some style😂

[DieselnDust]

3 hours ago, Bub Marley said:

Pretty much confirms again that on these really long climbs, Tadej is much weaker than Jonas. Happened last year and happened again this year. 
 

Well done to Jonas. He deserves all the success as he’s been the strongest at the hardest parts of the race. Pogi needs to work on those longer climbs for next year. Also for someone that has no preparation going into the tour, he’s actually done fantastic to keep up with Jonas given the level he’s at right now. 

I think you’re trying to separate two things that are linked.

climbing and preparation.

you can either climb or you cant. It’s a power to weight game.

If you don’t prefer as Well as the other guy  well then you will fall short. Tadej did a great job of limiting his losses this tour but that early peak for the spring classic would only have worked for tour prep if he didn’t break his wrist. It’s not just time off the bike but also energy the body needs to heal. 
will he be ready for worlds? I doubt it but I’ll never write him off. 

the enticing prospect is we have two riders now fighting for Tour de France victory. Next year it will be first to 3 tours that joins the greats of the la grand boucle.

 

[Shebeen]

8 hours ago, mecheng89 said:

It would be interesting to know who on the team OK'd this. I think one, maybe 2 others besides TP changed bikes. I think that's a sign of how stupid the idea was. Jonas was going to much faster, even in the TT position.

It really was a masterclass from Jonas on how to perform under pressure. He knew he wasn't the no.1, but the cycling world can no longer deny his prowess.

I know I'm a day late on this, but this image is still very appropriate to this comment.

 

8 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

the enticing prospect is we have two riders now fighting for Tour de France victory. Next year it will be first to 3 tours that joins the greats of the la grand boucle.

This year GC has only been Pog vs JV (and UAE vs the other JV*). It has been incredible to watch, even if it is probably (surely) only academic in the result now. Pog could have had a better build up, and it really seems that racing hard in the first week for minimal gains is not helping the third week (sample set = 2). I'd be happy to see these two mega teams duke it out again for 21 stages with their leaders in tip top shape.

The wildcard, is Ratcliffe happy with podiums only? He can throw stupid amounts of money at it still, but he needs a leader on their level and that can only be Remco (unless Bernal is still on some upward curve that is far from evident from my tv screen). 

The other teams. jirre their poor GC leaders just seem so close yet so far.

 

*the other other JV is just happy to have had polka dots for a fee days.

 

[Frosty]

10 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

The wildcard, is Ratcliffe happy with podiums only? He can throw stupid amounts of money at it still, but he needs a leader on their level and that can only be Remco 

If you listen to Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe (Watts Occuring Podcast) talk about Remco not being selected for the Tour. They say everything at the Tour is on another level, which he hasn’t experienced yet. Even our resident WT coach, here, has said so too, the Tour is next level compared to other events.

Remco has a lot to learn, and he’s not there to learn, or gain the experience. I can’t see him being a Tour contender unless something happens to these two.

[Meezo]

12 hours ago, OVERDRIVE said:

I told everyone...don't even bother to watch the highlights. Just go to cycling weekly and can then watch other stuff. 

You must be fun at party's 

[Mongoose!]

[Vetplant]

27 minutes ago, Mongoose! said:

In a parallel universe, Crosswinds appear today and Pogi makes the front split, wins the TDF by 5s in Paris...

He subsequently receives the nickname of "Zombie".

[Bub Marley]

11 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

I think you’re trying to separate two things that are linked.

climbing and preparation.

you can either climb or you cant. It’s a power to weight game.

If you don’t prefer as Well as the other guy  well then you will fall short. Tadej did a great job of limiting his losses this tour but that early peak for the spring classic would only have worked for tour prep if he didn’t break his wrist. It’s not just time off the bike but also energy the body needs to heal. 
will he be ready for worlds? I doubt it but I’ll never write him off. 

the enticing prospect is we have two riders now fighting for Tour de France victory. Next year it will be first to 3 tours that joins the greats of the la grand boucle.

 

I wonder if Pogi might have some sort of illness or some problem. Not looking for excuses but his face just hasn’t been what it normally is and this going back before the time trial. There was one stage where he cant follow Rodriguez on the descent and doesn’t get the win which is very unlike Pogi. The next day Yates sets a super hard tempo and maybe he was bluffing but his face just looked terrible and to finish it off, Jonas ends the stage next to him and almost gives him that look after he couldn’t drop him. Then the TT, he gets destroyed by Jonas. And today he was just completely ******. Maybe his lack of preparation because of the injury is catching up on him or perhaps hes picked up some sort of illness. 

[wattnow]

Or perhaps he is just not upto the level of Jonas in the high mountains.... Pog still managed a second place in the TT so he is not exactly in shocking form. To be 2nd in the tour is still an unbelievable achievement so I highly doubt he is ill.

Jonas has just given him a PK. Lets give the little man some credit. He has been flawless.

[Meezo]

7 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

I wonder if Pogi might have some sort of illness or some problem. Not looking for excuses but his face just hasn’t been what it normally is and this going back before the time trial. There was one stage where he cant follow Rodriguez on the descent and doesn’t get the win which is very unlike Pogi. The next day Yates sets a super hard tempo and maybe he was bluffing but his face just looked terrible and to finish it off, Jonas ends the stage next to him and almost gives him that look after he couldn’t drop him. Then the TT, he gets destroyed by Jonas. And today he was just completely ******. Maybe his lack of preparation because of the injury is catching up on him or perhaps hes picked up some sort of illness. 

not Jonas just being better (prepared physically and mentally) and having a stronger team collectively ?

i think it was mentioned earlier, JV made the call in Dec last year they'll stay on the TT bike. This shows you that for Jonas and the team it was all about winning the TDF.

Pogacar has had an amazing season before his crash, winning some of the classics and then still to be 2nd at TDF.

I(MO) just think Jonas is better and such in yellow