Tour de France 2024

[Mook]

27 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

Bloody amateur, in the old days they stopped for a quick shag in the bushes.... nowadays I suspect so many fans pose a problem for privacy.

The woke movement have screwed up everything. You can never know for sure which bush is the right one 🤷‍♂️

[DieselnDust]

45 minutes ago, Mook said:

The woke movement have screwed up everything. You can never know for sure which bush is the right one 🤷‍♂️

You need to be more concerned about what’s hiding behind the bush because fynbos ain’t fynbos anylonger 

[Bub Marley]

2 hours ago, mecheng89 said:

Enjoyable to watch yesterday.

Some suspected a shakeup in GC, but this did not happen.

It was a bit strange to see Remco getting dropped consistently on the gravel. His annoyance with Pogi and FishFingers was not justified, they understand that there are 2 weeks left. 

I think he overshot a turn or something. Didn’t really get dropped besides the last effort of Pogi. All in all though, I think he looked quite strong. I do think though, he will get lose big time in the high mountains. I think Roglic will overtake him as well.

 

Jonas is such an intelligent rider and is very cool and calm. I think his support structure is the same. Yesterday, despite Remco and Pogi enticing him, he just completely refused. He knows come the mountains, he will do damage. 

 

I think Pogi would have hoped for a bit more time before the big mountains come. For Pogi though, it’s all about overcoming this mental block. The last 2 years, once hes cracked he has cracked big time. He needs to overcome this if he’s gonna beat Jonas. Everyone has a bad day but he needs to be able to limit his losses better. His team is gonna be key for this as well to protect him. Ayuso, Almeida and Yates are gonna have to protect him somehow and I think it helps that Kuss isn’t there for Jonas because I dont think Jorgensen is gonna be able to protect him as much as Kuss did. 

 

I/m really curious to see how UAE play this in the mountains. To they go aggressive and try to isolate Jonas and risk burning Pogi as well. Or do they go defensive and rather let Pogi follow Jonas.

[Irvin85]

1 hour ago, Bub Marley said:

I think he overshot a turn or something. Didn’t really get dropped besides the last effort of Pogi. All in all though, I think he looked quite strong. I do think though, he will get lose big time in the high mountains. I think Roglic will overtake him as well.

 

Jonas is such an intelligent rider and is very cool and calm. I think his support structure is the same. Yesterday, despite Remco and Pogi enticing him, he just completely refused. He knows come the mountains, he will do damage. 

 

I think Pogi would have hoped for a bit more time before the big mountains come. For Pogi though, it’s all about overcoming this mental block. The last 2 years, once hes cracked he has cracked big time. He needs to overcome this if he’s gonna beat Jonas. Everyone has a bad day but he needs to be able to limit his losses better. His team is gonna be key for this as well to protect him. Ayuso, Almeida and Yates are gonna have to protect him somehow and I think it helps that Kuss isn’t there for Jonas because I dont think Jorgensen is gonna be able to protect him as much as Kuss did. 

 

I/m really curious to see how UAE play this in the mountains. To they go aggressive and try to isolate Jonas and risk burning Pogi as well. Or do they go defensive and rather let Pogi follow Jonas.

I have yet to see Pogi ride defensively, his attacking nature will not allow this to happen. He will only ride defensively if he has reached or is close to his limit. He will continue to attack and try and get a proper lead before the final 3 stages. 

Jonas has really been impressive so far considering his poor lead up to the race. If he gets stronger during the race I expect the 3rd week to be fireworks. 

Edited July 8 by Irvin85

[mecheng89]

24 minutes ago, Irvin85 said:

I have yet to see Pogi ride defensively, his attacking nature will not allow this to happen. He will only ride defensively if he has reached or is close to his limit. He will continue to attack and try and get a proper lead before the final 3 stages. 

Jonas has really been impressive so far considering his poor lead up to the race. If he gets stronger during the race I expect the 3rd week to be fireworks. 

I'm very concerned for Stage 21. Yes, Remco didn't gain a truckfull of seconds in the first ITT, but he gained. If the gap between Pogi and Remco remains tight, a major slipup from Pogi will lose him the tour. 

It's about time that the final stage of the biggest bike race in the world plays a bigger role than just a parade and a small sprint at the end.

Edited July 8 by mecheng89
Spelling

[Irvin85]

17 minutes ago, mecheng89 said:

I'm very concerned for Stage 21. Yes, Remco didn't gain a truckfull of seconds in the first ITT, but he gained. If the gap between Pogi and Remco remains tight, a major slipup from Pogi will lose him the tour. 

It's about time that the final stage of the biggest bike race in the world plays a bigger role than just a parade and a small sprint at the end.

I might be completely wrong, but from past races Remco does not have it in him yet to stick to the top climbers in the High Mountains. A realistic 5th place would be great for him, anything better is a major Win.  

['Dale]

It’s finally a rest day. What a week of racing Jonas racing with ice in his veins, arguably riding himself into form. Excellent team work by Jorgensen, Wout and the Euro jersey to keep the Dane out of the wind.

Remco and Pogačar, covered by Vingegaard, bridging to the breakaway was one of the most surreal moments in what was, effectively, one helluva one-day race.

Red-Bull Hans’ seems under the pressure with Roglič falling off the back and somehow recovering.

Michael Mørkøv to retire at the end of the year. What a bike rider and lead out man.

RIDE ON IN PEACE, ANDRÉ DREGE

[DieselnDust]

42 minutes ago, Irvin85 said:

I have yet to see Pogi ride defensively, his attacking nature will not allow this to happen. He will only ride defensively if he has reached or is close to his limit. He will continue to attack and try and get a proper lead before the final 3 stages. 

Jonas has really been impressive so far considering his poor lead up to the race. If he gets stronger during the race I expect the 3rd week to be fireworks. 

What sort of magic is people expecting for Jonas to get better in the third week? 
last year people said Pog will lose  the tour due to a challenged build to the tour after a fractured wrist. This loss occurred in week 3

this year everyone is waiting in anticipation for stage 14 where Jonas will find form ( either from a pharmaceutical product or miracle) and win the tour after a challenging build up due to severe injuries more extensive than The Pog suffered 

 

do we even listen to ourselves…?

[nathrix]

2 hours ago, Bub Marley said:

I think he overshot a turn or something. Didn’t really get dropped besides the last effort of Pogi. All in all though, I think he looked quite strong. I do think though, he will get lose big time in the high mountains. I think Roglic will overtake him as well.

 

Jonas is such an intelligent rider and is very cool and calm. I think his support structure is the same. Yesterday, despite Remco and Pogi enticing him, he just completely refused. He knows come the mountains, he will do damage. 

 

I think Pogi would have hoped for a bit more time before the big mountains come. For Pogi though, it’s all about overcoming this mental block. The last 2 years, once hes cracked he has cracked big time. He needs to overcome this if he’s gonna beat Jonas. Everyone has a bad day but he needs to be able to limit his losses better. His team is gonna be key for this as well to protect him. Ayuso, Almeida and Yates are gonna have to protect him somehow and I think it helps that Kuss isn’t there for Jonas because I dont think Jorgensen is gonna be able to protect him as much as Kuss did. 

 

I/m really curious to see how UAE play this in the mountains. To they go aggressive and try to isolate Jonas and risk burning Pogi as well. Or do they go defensive and rather let Pogi follow Jonas.

And let's not forget

 

[Irvin85]

1 minute ago, DieselnDust said:

What sort of magic is people expecting for Jonas to get better in the third week? 
last year people said Pog will lose  the tour due to a challenged build to the tour after a fractured wrist. This loss occurred in week 3

this year everyone is waiting in anticipation for stage 14 where Jonas will find form ( either from a pharmaceutical product or miracle) and win the tour after a challenging build up due to severe injuries more extensive than The Pog suffered 

 

do we even listen to ourselves…?

Point of view is from what Jonas and his team expect. Not my personal opinion, they expected him to lose around 2 minutes in the first week but believe he will be able to claw back the time in the third week where the climbs is more suited to his strengths. 

[Shebeen]

17 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

What sort of magic is people expecting for Jonas to get better in the third week? 
last year people said Pog will lose  the tour due to a challenged build to the tour after a fractured wrist. This loss occurred in week 3

Agreed, but they race very differently. Pog actually lost over a minute to Jonas on Stage 5 2023, after racing balls to the wall since day 1 picking up sprint bonus seconds.

17 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

this year everyone is waiting in anticipation for stage 14 where Jonas will find form ( either from a pharmaceutical product or miracle) and win the tour after a challenging build up due to severe injuries more extensive than The Pog suffered 

 

do we even listen to ourselves…?

This tour is better poised on the rest day than when Pog blew all away up the Galibier.

Pog races flatbar all out to the max. He has the Giro in his legs, Let's not forget that winning these two together is supposed to be even more unlikely than when this was written. 

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/the-giro-tour-double-cyclings-elusive-feat/

 

Pog has pushed where he can, but only has a 33sec gap to Remco so I suspect he will continue to race fullgas in week2. Roglic has been quite subdued, but there he sits just 1:36 behind. Jonas has been on the defensive the whole time, letting others burn their matches. Maybe it's strategy maybe it's the level he is at.

If Pog can keep this up from 3 weeks then he will walk to yellow. But one has to wonder whether the juice is worth the squeeze and the ones chasing him seem to be a lot more calculating in their efforts. 

 

 

 

 

 

[peepeekaitjie]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

What sort of magic

copium is one helluva drug.

if Jonas doesn’t win it’s because of his suboptimal preparation. There is no possible scenario where anyone could be better than him and all of Denmark have my back on this. Any non-Jonas win will have an asterisk and basically doesn’t count

 

 

[DieselnDust]

33 minutes ago, peepeekaitjie said:

copium is one helluva drug.

if Jonas doesn’t win it’s because of his suboptimal preparation. There is no possible scenario where anyone could be better than him and all of Denmark have my back on this. Any non-Jonas win will have an asterisk and basically doesn’t count

 

 

Well said 

[Mountain Bru]

Oddly, I think the person who would be most unhappy with these standings on the first rest day is Pogacar. He animated so many stages and attacked so many times, and I think UAE would have been hoping for bigger gaps after 9 stages. 1:36 to Roglic is pretty negligible considering how things have gone.

[Chadvdw67]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/uRxfgdtKGi5RoGtJ/?mibextid=V2iOCx

[Meezo]

16 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

Oddly, I think the person who would be most unhappy with these standings on the first rest day is Pogacar. He animated so many stages and attacked so many times, and I think UAE would have been hoping for bigger gaps after 9 stages. 1:36 to Roglic is pretty negligible considering how things have gone.

yeh, i'm of the same opinion... Jonas has been here before i think he's in for the long game. I enjoy the interview below... which may be telling mentally for Jonas the question the reporter asks around him smiling at the end

... make no mistake Pogacar is pure entertainment and i can't wait for him to beat Cavendish's record.
 

... i don't think this tour is done yet , atleast i hope!!