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Post by salopstick on Jul 6, 2023 12:07:14 GMT
Anyone watched the Tour De France series on Netflix yet? It's very good! one of the best cycling documentaries ive watched top tip watch it in french with subtitles the dubbing is then better.
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Post by chuffedstokie on Jul 6, 2023 15:15:54 GMT
Day off, this is fantastic.
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Post by salopstick on Jul 6, 2023 15:22:54 GMT
Brilliant stage
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Post by Bod on Jul 6, 2023 21:23:56 GMT
Stage 6.
First summit finish. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Breakaways. Normal service is resumed. WVA and MVDP are in it. WVA probably as a team ploy and MVDP because he gets bored. Powless was there though, which was smart as he needs to get back into contention for the mountains jersey. Standard mountains day early on and the break gets a 3 and a half minute lead and everyone is content. BORA are making pace in the peloton and Hindley being in yellow allows us to see the magnificent sight of Patrick Gamper’s luxurious moustache/mullet combo. It is a thing of such sheer awfulness that it veers into earning legendary status. Australians look at it with longing and envy, whilst the Italians refuse to believe that it is actually real. Oh it is real my friends. The break formed after them hammering it during the opening 15/20 mins, averaging around 53km. That is shifting.
On the Aspin, there was the slightly strange sight of Jumbo making the pace after moving to the front and almost simultaneously WVA starts to pull the break along at a real pace. Curiouser and curiouser. ‘Confused? You won’t be, after this episode of Soap.’ Or, as is logical, WVA will be there as a bridge for Vingegaard later. That’s not as exciting as ‘Jumbo internal warfare. Belgium and Denmark on the brink of bloodshed.’
Powless took the mountains points at the top of the Aspin and the break had a lead of 4 mins 25 on the bunch. Sweeping descent then onto the beastly Tourmalet. WVA keeps pulling, savage turns, and MVDP is unsurprisingly dropped. Back in the ‘Bunch’ Jumbo just drilled it. Insane pace and with 4km to go for the yellow jersey group it was action stations. Jumbo were suddenly down to two riders (Kuss and Vingegaard,) accompanied by Pogacar and Hindley. Well, until Hindley went ‘Pop’ and it was just the two Jumbo riders and Pog. Out front, WVA kept riding and the gap to the Vingegaard ‘group’ was 2 mins. Meanwhile, Hindley, Gall, Bernal, Buchmann, Yates brothers and the other main GC men were distanced by almost 1 minute by Vingegaard, Kuss and Pogacar as they approached the top of the Tourmalet. Not exactly lacking in action again today.! Vingegaard decides it’s attack time but can’t drop Pogacar. It’s only stage 6! We want more attacking but should be careful what we wish for. Will no-one remember the cursory tale of Charlton? 50km to go. Meintjes spotted✔️ It’s all over the place and Pogacar and Vingegaard have put 2 mins into the remnants of the leading GC group by the top of the Tourmalet. WVA waits from the break, paces Vingegaard on the descent and on the valley road and they join the leading group and off we go again. It’s a straightforward case of 8 breakaway riders (Vingegaard and Pogacar being the primaries) and a chase group of all the other contenders (including the maillot jaune) at the foot of the Cauterets and the gap is 2 mins 40 seconds. 4.7km to go and WVA has an expression on his face that is rarely seen; absolute agony. He swings off and Vingegaard launches but Pogacar is on his wheel. Can’t decide if it was flat out or not though. WVA almost falls off his bike and grinds to a halt and has to be pushed to get moving again.
2.5km to go, Pogacar goes. And goes like a fucking rocket! Vingegaard can’t go with him. This is what we, as fans, want. Two heavyweights battering each other. Pogacar though, oof. He is on the rivet and his face is contorted. He puts 15 secs into the Dane and then it stabilises. Damn though, Pogacar is absolutely on the limit. The tuft of helmet hair is still present too, so kudos for consistency. 24s behind at the finish is Vingegaard. Pogacar is collapsed over his bike but has taken the stage and good time on Vingegaard.
Hindley has recovered somewhat and comes in with Rodriguez and Simon Yates at 2 mins 39.
Easier to sum it up in statistics.
Stage
Pogacar Vingegaard at 24 seconds
Yellow - Vingegaard Points - Philipsen Mountains - Powless Young rider - Pogacar
GC
Vingegaard Pogacar at 25s Hindley at 1 min 34s Simon Yates at 3 mins 14 Rodriguez at 3 mins 30s
Winners
Everyone of us who viewed this. We want racing that isn’t ‘160km and then an attack in the final 800m’ and damn, these guys are delivering. Pogacar and Vingegaard give us what we clamour for and attack, attack, attack.
Pogacar - rewind his attack on the final climb. Watch it again. Do it 10 times and it gets better on each viewing. Blistering.
Hindley - seems perverse but I think he rode exceptionally well and if he finishes third overall in Paris that would be a huge result. Being the next best after two generational riders is legitimately a sign of quality.
INEOS - Rodriguez is cultivating a leadership role, Bernal rode himself into the ground in support, Kwiatkowski was solid in the break and Pidcock is riding a very impressive race for me.
O’Connor - easing himself stealthily up the GC.
Losers
Vingegaard. Fastest recorded ascent of the Tourmalet, takes the yellow jersey and comes second on the first summit finish. Yet, it felt like a defeat. He couldn’t go with Pogacar and so any time that happens is a loss psychologically.
Skeljmose - slipped down 13 places on GC and lost almost 5 and a half minutes on the top 10 contenders.
Ciccone - yesterday caught up with him and he lost 8 mins on his main rivals in the GC.
Woods - came in 23 minutes behind Pogacar. Frustratingly inconsistent.
I try to inject minuscule attempts at humour when I write these, but there is simply no need today. The racing spoke for itself. Marvellous viewing.
Junior Soprano would have been more harsh though, noting that ‘Alexey Lutsenko never had the makings over a Varsity athlete.’
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Post by teenagefanclub on Jul 8, 2023 14:45:20 GMT
Noooooooooooooooooooo
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Post by salopstick on Jul 8, 2023 15:10:18 GMT
Absolutely gutted I thought at some stage the sprinters would have helped him win They should have done it earlier
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Post by teenagefanclub on Jul 8, 2023 15:21:03 GMT
Got all my Cav clobber to go and watch the tour tomorrow, got my big chalks for writing on the road. Might just stay by the pool now.
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Post by salopstick on Jul 8, 2023 16:01:43 GMT
Such a sad end to the greatest of careers
You could only dream of having half the career he has had
Green jerseys All three grand tour leaders jerseys Record stage wins in France plus vins in Italy and Spain Word champion world race Plus the rest of his wins
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Post by Bod on Jul 8, 2023 18:59:06 GMT
Stage 8
Libourne - Limoges (200.7km)
Lumpy (ish) but it seems that the sprint teams are interested which means that the three man escape party (Turgis, Declerq and Delaplace) are destined to suffer the same fate as Roger in ‘The Great Escape’ but without the murder.
Sadly not Cavendish though who has crashed. So near and yet so far. Surely this can’t be it and he can squeeze in another year? Or even a contract just to the end of the 2024 TdF? He has shown that he can still mix it so it’s not like he’s making up the numbers. Wishful thinking on my part, as that is that it appears.
Alpecin, Lidl-Trek and TJV clearly like the look of the final 50km which roll along and so do most of the pulling. Everyone else is happy that they are not in mountains, but 31°C temperatures make it not tarmac-melting, but hot enough when you’re riding in it for 5 hours
Not super hilly terrain at the back end of the race, but heavy enough roads to make it a bit gnarly. MVDP and WVA are certainly eyeing up this stage. As are Pedersen and Girmay too. Leaders holding steady at 25km to go with a lead of 1 min 30s. Asgreen breaks from the peloton to pursue the leading three. Mild befuddlement given that he has a teammate up the road and surely Jakobsen needs everyone around him back in the bunch? Or was it always going to be too tough a finish for Jakobsen (spoiler, it certainly was, but he was dropped well before then.) What I know about tactics is constantly proved to be incorrect, so maybe it’s some type of Lefevre master plan and Remco appears out of the bushes wearing a man Asgreen mask and they perform a switcheroo? Declerq stops working in the breakaway as he has Asgreen in pursuit. Hmm. The majority of breaks fail in the final 10-15km. By refusing to work, Declerq decreases the chance of the break succeeding. Asgreen is caught by the peloton and SQS shit tactics manual adds another page to its list. No way were Alpecin and TJV going to let SQS get two men in the lead group. In the scheme of things even if Asgreen had bridged to the front, it is highly likely that the break would have still been caught, but Asgreen’s attack was so poorly timed (at the point when the bunch were really shifting to pull back the break) that it was bordering on surrealist where the doomed breakaway de jour was chased by an even more doomed individual break from the bunch. The ‘Doomedometer’ (copyright me) was working overtime.
15km to go and the break implodes on one of the rises and Turgis was alone at the head of the race. On his day, Turgis is an excellent one day racer but isn’t quite quick enough to contest the pure sprints and on a seriously stiff finish, he hasn’t got the legs, but he’s certainly not an also-ran.
10km to go and Jumbo go nuclear up the final rise. Sprinters being shot out of the back. ‘Decimation’ was the word used by McEwen on commentary. Apt. Groenewegen has hung in though, somehow. Given that he can’t usually climb the stairs, this was impressive. Jayco had entered him in some very tough mountainous races that had no spring opportunities in his preparation so perhaps that’s paid off.
8km to go and Turgis is caught and moves back through the remains of the bunch like a Lycra enema. 6km to go and chute!! Simon Yates down, Landa down too, as is Stef Cras who has to abandon.
S Yates is chasing like a lunatic. Lidl-Trek (make sure you say Leeedle, and not Liddle or their MD will find you in the style of Liam Neeson in Taken) have taken on the work and Pedersen wants this. Long, drawn out hilly sprint in the last 400 metres and Pedersen just edges Philpsen. WVA got boxed at around 250m by his own man (Laporte) and had to start his sprint again, managing to take third. WVA finished like a train and must be seething as he had the legs today.
Stage
Pedersen Philipsen WVA
Yellow - Vingegaard Points - Philipsen Mountains - Powless Young rider - Pogacar
GC
Vingegaard Pogacar at 25s Hindley at 1min 34s
Winners
Pedersen. Almost certainly a stage which he had pencilled in as soon as the route was announced. His team did exactly what he asked of them and seeing Skejlmose and Kirsch going shoulder to shoulder with Alpecin in the run in was akin to a flyweight taking on a heavyweight, but the smaller guys triumphed.
Losers
WVA - He was the strongest in the sprint, yet still didn’t win due to a clusterfuck with Laporte. Last year every bit of good fortune seemed to be with him but this year he seems to be either not supported enough, not interested (green jersey as he may not finish the rate due to his partner being pregnant) or a screw-up.
Girmay
Really well placed, yet again, in the final km and then completely mistimed his kick and ended up 35th. This finish suited Girmay and I expected more of him. Last year he was so impressive and was in that tier below WVA and MVDP, but he can’t quite get it together on the big stage. He’s not had ideal preparation but his legs look good. Tactically though, he is lacking.
Cavendish
Had to abandon and he is only a loser for that reason. Very, very sad end if this is it for him. No one earns a proper swan song in sport. It is not the nature of it, but I hope that this is not the last we see of him.
S Yates and Landa.
Got caught up in the same crash at 6km to go and lost 47 seconds overall. Frustrating for them both but unavoidable. Yates drops two places to sixth and is 4 mins 01s in arrears and Landa is now fourteenth rather than eleventh, 6 mins 36s down.
Cras
Had been having a Meintjes-esque GC ride but Crassing out in the incident which impacted Landa and Yates. Had to abandon which made things even bleaker for Total-Energies. That’s saying something, as they are a team who are as dynamic as a used wet wipe.
Eurosport’s post-race coverage.
A few weeks ago, Gino Mader tragically passed away. Today, Cav didn’t finish the race but is physically fine (relatively.) The way in which his abandonment was covered was almost a eulogy and sat really uneasily with me.
Edit 1 - someone who I know off the board (in real life, imagine that) who is cyclist said ‘I’ve read what you wrote, you just repeat what they say on commentary.’ In the most polite way I can, I’ll say what I said to you directly ‘Fuck off. I can come up with my own ramblings without parroting them.’ If the views overlap, that’s probably likely given that we both state the obvious.
Edit 2 - no report yesterday as I was in A and E and didn’t watch the stage until this morning.
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Post by str8outtahampton on Jul 8, 2023 21:25:20 GMT
Stage 8 Libourne - Limoges (200.7km) Lumpy (ish) but it seems that the sprint teams are interested which means that the three man escape party (Turgis, Declerq and Delaplace) are destined to suffer the same fate as Roger in ‘The Great Escape’ but without the murder. Sadly not Cavendish though who has crashed. So near and yet so far. Surely this can’t be it and he can squeeze in another year? Or even a contract just to the end of the 2024 TdF? He has shown that he can still mix it so it’s not like he’s making up the numbers. Wishful thinking on my part, as that is that it appears. Alpecin, Lidl-Trek and TJV clearly like the look of the final 50km which roll along and so do most of the pulling. Everyone else is happy that they are not in mountains, but 31°C temperatures make it not tarmac-melting, but hot enough when you’re riding in it for 5 hours Not super hilly terrain at the back end of the race, but heavy enough roads to make it a bit gnarly. MVDP and WVA are certainly eyeing up this stage. As are Pedersen and Girmay too. Leaders holding steady at 25km to go with a lead of 1 min 30s. Asgreen breaks from the peloton to pursue the leading three. Mild befuddlement given that he has a teammate up the road and surely Jakobsen needs everyone around him back in the bunch? Or was it always going to be too tough a finish for Jakobsen (spoiler, it certainly was, but he was dropped well before then.) What I know about tactics is constantly proved to be incorrect, so maybe it’s some type of Lefevre master plan and Remco appears out of the bushes wearing a man Asgreen mask and they perform a switcheroo? Declerq stops working in the breakaway as he has Asgreen in pursuit. Hmm. The majority of breaks fail in the final 10-15km. By refusing to work, Declerq decreases the chance of the break succeeding. Asgreen is caught by the peloton and SQS shit tactics manual adds another page to its list. No way were Alpecin and TJV going to let SQS get two men in the lead group. In the scheme of things even if Asgreen had bridged to the front, it is highly likely that the break would have still been caught, but Asgreen’s attack was so poorly timed (at the point when the bunch were really shifting to pull back the break) that it was bordering on surrealist where the doomed breakaway de jour was chased by an even more doomed individual break from the bunch. The ‘Doomedometer’ (copyright me) was working overtime. 15km to go and the break implodes on one of the rises and Turgis was alone at the head of the race. On his day, Turgis is an excellent one day racer but isn’t quite quick enough to contest the pure sprints and on a seriously stiff finish, he hasn’t got the legs, but he’s certainly not an also-ran. 10km to go and Jumbo go nuclear up the final rise. Sprinters being shot out of the back. ‘Decimation’ was the word used by McEwen on commentary. Apt. Groenewegen has hung in though, somehow. Given that he can’t usually climb the stairs, this was impressive. Jayco had entered him in some very tough mountainous races that had no spring opportunities in his preparation so perhaps that’s paid off. 8km to go and Turgis is caught and moves back through the remains of the bunch like a Lycra enema. 6km to go and chute!! Simon Yates down, Landa down too, as is Stef Cras who has to abandon. S Yates is chasing like a lunatic. Lidl-Trek (make sure you say Leeedle, and not Liddle or their MD will find you in the style of Liam Neeson in Taken) have taken on the work and Pedersen wants this. Long, drawn out hilly sprint in the last 400 metres and Pedersen just edges Philpsen. WVA got boxed at around 250m by his own man (Laporte) and had to start his sprint again, managing to take third. WVA finished like a train and must be seething as he had the legs today. Stage Pedersen Philipsen WVA Yellow - Vingegaard Points - Philipsen Mountains - Powless Young rider - Pogacar GC Vingegaard Pogacar at 25s Hindley at 1min 34s Winners Pedersen. Almost certainly a stage which he had pencilled in as soon as the route was announced. His team did exactly what he asked of them and seeing Skejlmose and Kirsch going shoulder to shoulder with Alpecin in the run in was akin to a flyweight taking on a heavyweight, but the smaller guys triumphed. Losers WVA - He was the strongest in the sprint, yet still didn’t win due to a clusterfuck with Laporte. Last year every bit of good fortune seemed to be with him but this year he seems to be either not supported enough, not interested (green jersey as he may not finish the rate due to his partner being pregnant) or a screw-up. Girmay Really well placed, yet again, in the final km and then completely mistimed his kick and ended up 35th. This finish suited Girmay and I expected more of him. Last year he was so impressive and was in that tier below WVA and MVDP, but he can’t quite get it together on the big stage. He’s not had ideal preparation but his legs look good. Tactically though, he is lacking. Cavendish Had to abandon and he is only a loser for that reason. Very, very sad end if this is it for him. No one earns a proper swan song in sport. It is not the nature of it, but I hope that this is not the last we see of him. S Yates and Landa. Got caught up in the same crash at 6km to go and lost 47 seconds overall. Frustrating for them both but unavoidable. Yates drops two places to sixth and is 4 mins 01s in arrears and Landa is now fourteenth rather than eleventh, 6 mins 36s down. Crass Had been having a Meintjes-esque GC ride but Crassing out in the incident which impacted Landa and Yates. Had to abandon which made things even bleaker for Total-Energies. That’s saying something, as they are a team who are as dynamic as a used wet wipe. Eurosport’s post-race coverage. A few weeks ago, Gino Mader tragically passed away. Today, Cav didn’t finish the race but is physically fine (relatively.) The way in which his abandonment was covered was almost a eulogy and sat really uneasily with me. Edit 1 - someone who I know off the board (in real life, imagine that) who is cyclist said ‘I’ve read what you wrote, you just repeat what they say on commentary.’ In the most polite way I can, I’ll say what I said to you directly ‘Fuck off. I can come up with my own ramblings without parroting them.’ If the views overlap, that’s probably likely given that we both state the obvious. Edit 2 - no report yesterday as I was in A and E and didn’t watch the stage until this morning. Ha, I wouldn’t care even if you were just repeating what was on the commentary. It’s really entertaining. Not that I do, btw. Agree on Cavendish. Gutting for him and his fans. But from the ITV4 coverage you could be forgiven for thinking that he’d died.
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Post by Bod on Jul 9, 2023 0:29:11 GMT
Stage 9
Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat - Puy de Dôme (182.4km)
In short, get to the top of the volcano.
First HC finish of the race and on a summit which is painful just to describe. Eddy Merckx was (in)famously punched in the kidneys by a spectator here in 1975. The pictures of him lying down afterwards would not look out of place on a Suede album cover in 1993. I understand the desire and importance of acknowledging legends of the sport, but allowing a designated ‘Punch a rider in the kidneys’ zone by way of tribute to king Eddy on the Puy de Dome seems a little excessive…
Please feel free to spot a lengthy stretch of flat roads on this stage because if you can, you’ll have done well. It just rolls and dips and climbs and will be sapping for anyone who isn’t interested in the GC and also those who are.
The order of the day is 4th cat, 4th cat, 3rd cat, HC finish. Puy de Dome hasn’t been used for 25 years and is something of a logistical nightmare for organisers I believe. For 90% of riders, the climb itself is the stuff of nightmares. It gets more difficult the further you ascend. 13 in length, with the first 4km at 7.5%, with a much easier section for 3km at 3%, before 1km at 5.4% and then the remaining 5km at 11%. Ouch. Sometimes you can’t be flowery. Simply put, it will be grim. No spectators in the final four km or team vehicles due to the narrow nature of the road. Neutral service/race vehicles only is currently the plan.
TJV will have to control the breakaway I would think, but conversely, given the bonus seconds, it would not hurt TJV if a non-threatening break stays away. Pogacar, all things being equal (which is a rather fanciful idea) is going to best Vingegaard in a two up finish to a summit, so someone else taking bonus seconds removes the danger of that happening. However, if Vingegaard is feeling good, he might want to hit back at Pogacar after what happened at Cauterets. In other words, all bets are off.
Powless eased off the gas sooner than needed to on stage 8 to save himself, so I wonder whether he will be hoping to get away and pick up a few point or just be content with with what he has. It would be a lot of effort for fairly low points on the assumption that he doesn’t make it to the Puy de Dome well enough placed to score decent points.
Predictions are not my forte, but there is a rest day on Monday and then a few transitional stages immediately following that so I hope for some GC guys attempting to move around a little as someone will have a bad day and that will need to be capitalised upon.
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Post by Bod on Jul 9, 2023 20:25:04 GMT
Stage 9
Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Mount Doom.
Hotter than Hades. As the flag dropped you could see, albeit through squinted eyes, sprinters clutching rosary beads and praying silently ‘Don’t go from the gun, don’t go from the gun, don’t go from the gun.’ MVDP is rocking a frame set for the ages with a paint job featuring his grandfather, who was a passable cyclist I suppose!
14 riders go away and the peloton are happy with the composition of the group and their lead builds and builds. A combination of strongmen (Campanaerts, Mohoric) and climbers/all rounders (Woods, Latour, Powless and Lutsenko - who couldn’t have had a worse Tour so far if he had ridden it on a bike with square wheels.) An example excellent working break. The peloton was nodding in approval that there was no-one who had slipped in like a cycling Raffles.
The lead is in excess of 11 minutes and the break have the stage in the bag, but it’s a matter of when it kicks off behind. 65km to go (227-6 and an enormous no-hall from Murphy followed by a sumptuous cut for four by Brook.) Cycling on the laptop for now, cricket on the TV.
Jumbo are pulling but they have no need to do anything other than maintain a reasonable deficit as no-one in the break is a GC threat. BORA help with the pace too and in the break the first attempts at splitting it are underway. Lutsenko is driving the break but in a group of 14 so many riders can skip turns, hide, etc that it’s possible to stay relatively fresh. The race for the stage is fascinating and hopefully the GC action matches it but Puy de Dome is an intimidating climb for a reason so I’ll temper my enthusiasm.
(Brook is out. It could have been calamitous for Australia if Cummins and Starc had properly collided in taking the catch. Bollocks.)
Peloton at 12 minutes 15s. Little is happening though as of yet there.
(Wood puts Cummins over the ropes for a maximum. The fact that he put it directly over Smith made it all the sweeter. Not quite watching through fingers. Yet. We need 11 to win.)
The break are now throwing in small attacks, with the politicking beginning to come to the fore. ‘I’m not chasing’ being the familiar cry.
(Four through the covers from Wood. 7 needed. A high wide follows and then a two through the covers again. 4 needed. Absolute ricket by Carey who goes for a catch that was Boland’s all day long. Schoolboy stuff. Scrambled single. 3 needed. Quick single. 2 required. Cut for one by Wood. Scores are level. Woakes creams it square for four. We win by three wickets! Yes!!!!! All done before the final climb starts too. Bazball cooperating with the cycling in a sporting stars aligning moment.)
The escapees are attacking each other constantly. Some of these guys are going to suffer on Puy de Dome after these efforts. Jorgenson, stung by a bee earlier (too easy to reference Muhammed Ali but I really wanted to) puts in a serious dig and gains a 10 second gap but this may cost him later. It’s 45km to go and it would take a miracle to have the strength to hold this solo. On the plus side it confirms that Movistar are actually still in the race. So many permutations to factor here. Everyone is thinking of the stage win and on one of the endless rides, the decisive splits start to appear with three leading groups now established but Lutsenko’s legs go ‘Bang’ (yes, with a capital ‘P’ and he is done or so it seemed but he somehow got back into one of the chase groups after dousing himself in water.) Peloton at 14 mins.
Powless smartly gets in the second group on the road in pursuit of Jorgenson but the Movistar rider holds Powless, Mohoric, De La Cruz and Burgeaudau at 20 seconds with 25km left of the day.
15 mins 30s to the peloton who have not been on screen since Moses wore short pants as Corrado Soprano would have said. 12km descent before they reach the foot of the Puy de Dome. Woods has missed out here and finds himself in the third group on the road, 1 min 10s behind Jorgenson. I’ve been a fan of Woods for years but tactically he frustrates me. As I type this, he ships his chain as they sweep down and has to have a bike change after a failed attempt by a mechanic to remove his own fingertips during an 80km/h chain adjustment.
At the foot of the Puy de Dome, Jorgenson has a 1 minute lead on the polka dot jersey trio and is holding his lead with what looks like ease and into a headwind too. Meanwhile, back in the peloton (remember them? Big group of riders, have been eating Solero’s and getting a tan today) TJV, Ineos and DSM are all trying to get to the start of the climb in prime position. Fingers crossed that in the Movistar cars they are offering Jorgenson their wisdom which usually consists of mentioning ‘Having balls’ and little else of substance. At the moment though, advice (utterly useless or otherwise) is irrelevant as the lead remains at 60s. The gap to the peloton is 15 mins, but it is now not really a peloton. It’s more of a pel. They are 6km further down the mountain than Jorgenson.
4km to go and no spectators from this point and it’s slightly eerie when the wall of sound evaporates within a matter of a few metres. O’Connor is dropped early on the climb and his return to form seems to have been fleeting. Pogacar sits, as ever, on Vingegaard’s wheel.
Somehow, Woods has jumped across to Powless and dropped him but is third on the road behind Jorgenson and Mohoric. The Canadian is on for a decent finish after all. Pierre Latour is hovering around too.
The GC favourites are 13 mins down and it is simmering metaphorically and literally and Pogacar has teammates pouring water on him to cool him.
Mohoric is clawing Jorgenson back with 1.5km to go, with a deficit of 40s but suddenly Woods catches the Slovenian and is hunting Jorgenson.
Further back, the pack has disintegrated and it’s down to Kuss, Vingegaard, Pogacar, Simon Yates, Adam Yates, Pidcock and Rodriguez.
Woods can now see Jorgenson and this could be cruel.
Woods catches, passes, mentally destroying Jorgenson and Canada take it from the USA. As do France, as Latour also catches Jorgenson and then Mohoric too. The American finishing fourth in the end. Savage sport is this.
Simon Yates goes, drops his brother and Kuss but Hindley is creeping his way back incrementally. Vingegaard is now on Pogacar’s wheel with 1.5km remaining. Pog attacks. Vingegaard loses a length, then two, then three and starts to look back for Kuss but the Dane eases his way back to Pogacar. Almost. It’s a gap of 8 seconds. Pogacar has that pain face on again. This is big effort for minimal* gain but it’s a bloody entertaining finish because the rest of the climb was attritional rather than spectacular. Ultimately, Pogacar gained 8 seconds on Vingegaard and 51s on Simon Yates and Pidcock, 60s on Rodriguez and 67s on Hindley.
*Pogacar knows about the importance of ‘Every second counts’ though.
Stage
Woods Latour Mohoric Jorgenson
Yellow - Vingegaard Points - Philipsen Mountains - Powless Young rider - Pogacar
GC
Vingegaard Pogacar at 17s Hindley at 2 mins 40s Rodriguez at 4 mins 22s A Yates at 4 mins 39s
Winners
Woods - Was in the break, had a mechanical and lost his position in the group chasing Jorgenson, had to battle to join another chase group and methodically picked every rider apart on the Puy de Dome. He’s still frustrating though because I always expect more from him which is really unfair of me.
Pidcock - consistent and for someone is still not in the pure climber bracket, that was a hell of a ride today. You can’t fluke that finish when you’re in the group of favourites. Not sure whether he can be afforded absolute support by Ineos in the future but he is not doing himself any harm. I don’t want him to lose his Classics ability though.
Pogacar - Whether the effort will come to nothing remains to be seen, but it’s another climb where he has dropped Vingegaard, albeit minimally. For a rider who is supposed to struggle in the heat, he coped well with 34°C and is prepared to turn himself inside out to win this race.
Bilbao - should be clearly seen as the leader of Bahrain now but Landa is a bit of a thumb-sucker so we shall see.
Fans of funicular railways - the trains were painted in TdF colours and if you can’t respect a polka-dot attired carriage on the side of a volcano then all hope is lost for humanity.
Jorgenson - came out of the day with nothing but combativity but it was still his day in many respects. He made the attack which shattered the break to brick dust and went at around 50km to go which is brave. Said he lost communication with the team car when they reached the section where no vehicles were allowed, so that was also a win for him.
Losers
O’Connor - appeared to be riding himself into form after a woeful opening few days, but slipped to 18th on GC today, losing 8 mins on Pogacar on the stage.
Skejlmose - perhaps it’s churlish to have him as a loser, but he finished the day 28 minutes behind Woods, in a group with Ewan and Girmay. He’s a young man and a three week tour seems to have been too much for him this year. Hopefully he can ride for stages now.
Groupama - a top 10 for Gaudu or Pinot is the best they can hope for outside of a stage win. Too much faith placed in their GC riders and Demare got shabbily treated. A Groupama rider was not going to win the TdF in any universe or multiverse. If every other rider had to pull out, Pinot would still find a way to end up off the podium.
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Post by salopstick on Jul 9, 2023 21:22:08 GMT
Excellent summary bod
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Post by Bod on Jul 10, 2023 21:16:48 GMT
After a first week of racing which lived up to, and probably exceeded, expectations, it’s back to it tomorrow. I’ve read a few pieces about how it potentially being a duel between Vingegaard and Pogacar for the overall could be on the dull side and it made me wonder if whoever wrote it takes a lot of crack or they only started recently. Until a little under three weeks ago we had no clue what racing shape Pogacar was in, whether his wrist could handle the consecutive long days in the saddle and if he would have to alter his approach on the basis of that. The fact that it is looking like a straight fight between the two most dominant three week racers is something to be applauded. I hate the term, but ‘Generational’ talents are rare by definition, so to have a pair of them in peak condition is special.*
*Asterix required for when Pogacar’s wrist shatters and/or his legs go in the final week due lack of racing miles.
Rest day chatter has been thin on the ground which is no bad thing as the alternative is usually doping related. Evenepoel is now down for the Vuelta which I am sure has pleased Roglic immensely. If Vingegaard doesn’t win the TdF then Jumbo could end up with the rough end of a ragman’s trumpet. (I still miss David Duffield on commentary.) Jakobsen is leaving SQS for DSM as their evolution from one-day deities to three-week mainstays continues. All in for Evenepoel may sound like a shit 80’s sitcom but that’s the plan. It’s such a shift for them. They’ve not really gone in full GC mode since Rominger and Olano in the 90’s (assuming that we accept the lineage from Mapei-Clas to Soudal Quick Step.) Evenepoel has the talent and the swagger but it’s still immense pressure.
Onwards though to stage 10.
Stage 10 - Vulcania-Issoire (167.2km)
A hideous day to follow a rest day. Uphill as soon as the neutralised zone ends and logic combined with history says that a breakaway takes the day, the start will be chaotic and riders will get dropped early from the peloton. They may well get back on but it won’t be pleasant. Always interesting to see who comes out of the rest day refreshed and who has the demeanour of a recalcitrant child on the first day of term.
The profile is lumpy all day with heavy, rolling roads and no real respite. Not a hilly finish (it’s actually pretty much a descent for 25km to the finish,) but a series of both unclassified and classified rises are littered throughout the whole stage. This could hurt the sprinters more than a traditional mountain stage because so many riders will have had the friendly arm on their shoulder from a DS passively aggressively reminding them that they are elite racers at the premier race and have thus far been less visible than Jack Griffin. Thus, lots of full gas efforts at the start of the day seems a real likelihood.
The stiffest ascent in purely statistical terms is a second cat test at 67km elapsed (6km at 6.4%) but the real suffering may well be on the lesser classified climbs later in the race due to cumulative fatigue. It has to be a day for the rouleurs, although maybe a few of the GC guys who are hovering around the top 15 may try to make into a break. Tricky, but not impossible although their presence won’t be welcomed as it would likely lead to them being chased down by any team who has a rider around similar positions on the GC.
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Post by Bod on Jul 11, 2023 19:34:23 GMT
Stage 10
From. The. Gun.
Frison and Jakobsen exit via the back door on the first climb as the GC guys get a little cheeky and try and form a break and off we go. It wasn’t super cheeky, but Dick Emery would have approved.
Leading group of 21 and if you are anyone who is anyone, you are in it, including agent Meintjes. However, no Pidcock or Rodriguez, no monsieur. Oops. Not to worry though as no break can actually effectively form because it is carnage. If race radio didn’t exist, this is the type of day when someone important loses the race. A single team couldn’t control this and it was futile to try. If you find a compete list of riders left in the race and pick a name at random then there is a chance that they tried to get in an early break today (unless they were clinging onto the metaphorical banjo string of the peloton, like Jakobsen was.)
This race is all over the place. I can’t keep up. Gaudu is dropped and Groupama are working overtime to put him back in the main bunch but this is a lot of effort early on. The peloton slows a little and lets yet another break go but that allows the bunch to reform behind and Gaudu gets back in but that could cost him. It’s like an explosive was dropped as the flag dropped and the sprinters are the collateral damage, removing bidon shrapnel as they pedal maniacally. Most, but not all fast men are 11 minutes down after only 60km of the stage. Holy autobus Batman.
Finally an air of calm reigns for now and the break has a gap of 2 mins on the bunch. The GC guys of note are safely in the fragmented peloton, apart from one Basque who is on a mission. Main names in the break are Bilbao (Señor Mission,) Skeljmose, Barguil and Chaves. They are being pursued by Alaphilippe, Kwiatowski, O’Connor and Perez. Bilbao is currently 11th on GC at 7 mins 37s and so that means that the break are never going to be given a double digits lead. O’Connor bridges to the leaders and now, he’s say with minimal confidence, surely that’s the pattern of the day sorted? 7 riders ahead, main group at 2 mins 45s. Alaphilippe’s group join the leaders after a hard chase, but canny/headless chicken riding by Chaves who accelerates as soon as the Frenchman makes the junction and he rides off the front. It’s a question of whether Chaves wanted someone else to go with him but no-one accepted the invitation. For the sake of Colombia, he slinks back to the leaders, tail between his legs and much like Philip Schofield, he wants to forget that his indiscretion ever happened.
65km to go and the gap is 2 mins 50s but Alpecin and Jayco are beginning to pull in the peloton. MVDP looking at the descent possibly? The relative certainty of the break taking the stage is suddenly feeling shakier. It appears that Philipsen is in the peloton. ‘Merde,’ bellows the breakaway. 50km to go, gap is at 2 mins 27s. The race is on. Maybe. Perhaps? Who knows?
40km to go and MVDP and WVA clip off the front of the peloton on another of the countless descents and put 30s into them and start to hunt down the leaders. Now, I’m a huge fan of the two supermen but if they managed to get across to the leaders, it would be up there with some of their most impressive achievements.
Final (classified) climb of the day. 6.6km at 5.5% with a 3 min lead on the peloton and 2 mins 30 to WVA and MVDP. Breakaway group are in drilling mode. MVDP sits up, WVA drifts back to the peloton and Neilands flies off the front of the escapees.
25km to go. Neilands has 30s on the group behind containing Bilbao and 3 mins 30s on the peloton. Sprinters (majority of them) are nineteen minutes further down the course, practically in another region. Onto the final descent and Bilbao gonna Bilbao and the gap comes down to Neilands by 15 seconds. Alaphilippe’s group are still chasing frantically behind too, almost within touching distance of Bilbao et al.
Bilbao is storming up the GC and Ineos are chasing because the places of Pidcock and Rodriguez are under threat from Bilbao and Bilbao is the steadiest of steady Eddie’s on most terrains and won’t be easy to shift if he gets into a competitive GC place.
15km to go
Neilands - Bilbao, O’Connor, Chaves, Pedrero, Zimmerman at 17 seconds - Alaphilippe, Skeljmose, Barguil, Kwiatowski at 32 seconds
Jakobsen/Ewan group are 27 minutes down. For once my prediction about the stage had an a element of accuracy.
7km to go and Neilands is suffering. Shoulders rocking, head bobbing, vomit building, giving sneaky looks behind under the crook of his arm like a trackie. Only he was so tired that the glances were as subtle as him shouting ‘I’m blowing out of my arse.’
3km and Neilands is caught. The Bilbao group should take it provided that they don’t finesse. If they do that, Alaphilippe’s merry men will be on them.
Into the final km and the bunch is at 3 mins 10s, with the leading group are working well until O’Connor attacks and Bilbao jumps on his wheel. Big efforts to get on his wheel but they succeed. Zimmerman goes and then Bilbao goes over the top of him. O’Connor pursues and almost, tantalisingly closes. Bilbao rounds Zimmerman and takes the stage from the ICW rider. Bloody good stage was that. Deep breaths needed for viewers as it was non-stop.
Behind, the peloton come in with a deficit of 2 mins 53.
Bilbao is a wreck in the press conference. Emotional overload after Mader’s death plus adrenaline of the win. Bahrain take their first win of the race, O’Connor continues his rollercoaster form ride and that racing will have hurt a lot of people today.
Winners
Bilbao.
Stage win, up to fifth on GC, a wonderful tribute to Gino Mader and more money raised for the BaSOS organisation.
Viewers.
A frenetic day where a single pair of eyes couldn’t do justice to the action. Attack, counter-attack, attack, counter-attack. The first 50km played out like the final 50km of a single day race in a lot of ways.
The riders in the break and the group behind them.
There was minimal glass-cranking, everyone was doing turns, cooperating and generally epitomising how to make a break stick.
Losers
Me. I keep referring to Intermarche as IWG (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) when they are actually ICW (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty.) What a bellend. I’m clearly trapped a year in the past.
(Even though a number of sprinters came in 30 mins down, I can’t have them as losers. They actually seem like the wise ones given that tomorrow could be a day for them, but equally, it could go crazy again.)
Yellow - Vingegaard Green - Philipsen Mountains - Powless Young rider - Pogacar
GC
Vingegaard Pogacar at 17s Hindley at 2 mins 40s Rodriguez at 4 mins 22s Bilbao at 4 mins 34s
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Post by str8outtahampton on Jul 11, 2023 20:27:09 GMT
Question for Bod. I really like the ITV4 coverage, sometimes the highlights. Why do the commentators (who by football standards always seem knowledgeable and restrained) so often suggest that a lone breakaway has a chance of a stage win? I mean it can happen but it hardly every does. Seemed obvious to me today, even 20 or 30 km out that Niedlands (sp?) would be caught by the chasing group.
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Post by Bod on Jul 11, 2023 20:47:04 GMT
Question for Bod. I really like the ITV4 coverage, sometimes the highlights. Why do the commentators (who by football standards always seem knowledgeable and restrained) so often suggest that a lone breakaway has a chance of a stage win? I mean it can happen but it hardly every does. Seemed obvious to me today, even 20 or 30 km out that Niedlands (sp?) would be caught by the chasing group. They treat it like any form of entertainment and build tension or attempt to. I would say that the TdF viewership is comprised to a sizeable degree by people who don’t watch any other races. I don’t want to say ‘Casual’ viewer as it sounds condescending but people who are perhaps more interested in the spectacle than a protracted discussion on gear ratios. If you admit that a break will be caught, you’re effectively telling the audience they can switch off and tune in again later. On Eurosport Rob Hatch is guilty of this in a slightly different way. He overhypes to an infuriating degree at times. He described today as ‘A stage for the ages.’ It wasn’t that at all. It was enjoyable, chaotic, demanding and intriguing but it wasn’t some kind of epic.
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Post by str8outtahampton on Jul 11, 2023 20:57:10 GMT
Question for Bod. I really like the ITV4 coverage, sometimes the highlights. Why do the commentators (who by football standards always seem knowledgeable and restrained) so often suggest that a lone breakaway has a chance of a stage win? I mean it can happen but it hardly every does. Seemed obvious to me today, even 20 or 30 km out that Niedlands (sp?) would be caught by the chasing group. They treat it like any form of entertainment and build tension or attempt to. I would say that the TdF viewership is comprised to a sizeable degree by people who don’t watch any other races. I don’t want to say ‘Casual’ viewer as it sounds condescending but people who are perhaps more interested in the spectacle than a protracted discussion on gear ratios. If you admit that a break will be caught, you’re effectively telling the audience they can switch off and tune in again later. On Eurosport Rob Hatch is guilty of this in a slightly different way. He overhypes to an infuriating degree at times. He described today as ‘A stage for the ages.’ It wasn’t that at all. It was enjoyable, chaotic, demanding and intriguing but it wasn’t some kind of epic. Ta muchly. I am definitely a casual viewer!
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Post by stokienorthants on Jul 12, 2023 17:01:13 GMT
Always enjoy ITV4 coverage of Le Tour but why does one of the interviewers insist on wearing a mask? I thought all of that bollocks was behind us.
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Post by Bod on Jul 12, 2023 20:56:18 GMT
Stage 11.
Clermont-Ferrand- Moulins (179.8km)
‘They have raced like a shower of bastards since day one, so if there is a chance of a sprint finish, we are taking it.’ That was the war cry of the fast men and today was sprint city. Although the profile looked a little up and down, it really wasn’t in reality and so it was not going to be a classic, let alone a Classic.
Three rider breakaway and nothing to do but wait for it to be caught. Oss, Amador and Louvel are today’s sacrificial offerings. I have t-shirts which are older than Louvel.
It’s Odd to see Oss so far from Sagan as I had thought that their link was an umbilical one. When Sagan retires my assumption is that Oss will go and live with him as some type of houseboy.
Eventually the trio lost two members and Oss remained as the sole rider up the road, performing his role as Total Energies’ designated cannon folder for the day with aplomb. Oss always has the look of a man who is riding a bike that could belong to a ten-year-old child. When that is combined with his hair metal tribute barnet he is a sight for the eyes. Making helmets compulsory was an action that the UCI should be applauded for on a number of fronts, the most salient of which was to deprive our delicate eyes from exposure to hairdos which are liable to cause offence.
The maximum advantage of the three out front was 4 minutes but generally the gap just sat at a couple of minutes until it was time to put them out of their misery. ‘What happened to the breakaway?’ ‘Oh, they went to live on a farm.’ ‘That’s wonderful.’ Cut to a still image of Amador, Louvel and Oss being bludgeoned at the roadside by their respective team owners.
Oss, as the last-man standing from the escapees is caught with 13.5km to go due to the moisture in the air causing his life-affirming perm to roll up like a set of Crocodile garage doors. Viewers of daytime ITV channels will be familiar with such products, unless they are too busy arranging their own funeral or worrying about a bout of shingles.
Rain starts to fall and Alpecin, SQS, Bahrain and Lotto Soudal are all putting the hurt on the riders behind. There are rumours that WVA is going home to be present at the birth of his child so that’s maybe why he is going to contest a lights out flat sprint today? His lack of interest in the green jersey is a little more disappointing given the lack of competition that Philipsen has at the minute. If WVA was contesting the rolling stages and prepared to sprint for minor places rather than win or bust on all the flat days, then it could have been an arm wrestle.
This is a sprint stage by numbers. If the numbers were written in excrement and thrown against the wall by chimpanzees who would rather be watching repeats of Lovejoy on Drama. Instead the Hominidae have to settle for another showing of the Jasper Philipsen show. The clear king takes his fourth stage and this one he did with no lead out whatsoever. Groenewegen looked good as the sprint opened but it was just an illusion. Uno-X lead out the sprint at around 600m,, Groenewegen jumped into third wheel, whilst behind them WVA and Bauhaus put their shoulders into each other and WVA just bounced off and lost two places. Bauhaus was not up for taking any shit. Any idea of a win for Wout was gone then. The reality is that Philpsen would have beaten him anyway. Groenewegen passed the two knackered Uno-X riders and lead out the sprint and Philipsen sat behind for an instant and then rounded the Dutchman for another me easy win.
A dud of a stage but shouldn’t complain as the stinkers have been very much the exception.
Winners
Adam Blythe
Came dressed as Ray Bloody Purchase from Toast of London.
Sagan
Took eight place on his sixty-seventh birthday. The only rider in the peloton who can say that he rode when jerseys were still woollen and having blood like gravy was still de rigeur.
Losers
Anthon Charmig
The missing consonant in his surname makes me boil with rage.
Jumbo
It’s alright bullying riders in races like lbert Achterhes Profronde van Drenthe but if you can’t even set up a proper lead out for your main man then… Let’s be clear here too, Wout is the main man. Vingegaard is the man, but that’s not enough. If you had the choice of keeping one, who would it be? For the sake of using statistics to prove a point that shouldn’t be demonstrated statistically though, Wout has only won a single race this year. That is equal with Yannis Voisard.
Van der Poel.
There, I said it. The genie is out of the bottle. The most exciting rider in the world is now a lead out man. He is the Gian-Matteo Fagnini of the 2020’s. I’m not upset, I’m just disappointed. He’s let me down, but more importantly he’s let himself down. Not to mention how he’s dishonouring the Alpecin brand. Maybe he no longer likes his hair? Some people would say that he’s actually further cemented his credibility due to his selflessness and realistic expectations. Good for them, but if I wanted that type of rationality I would listen to Katie Hopkins give advice on how to introduce counter-inflationary measures whilst growing the economy.
Stage
Philpsen Groenewegen Bauhaus Coquard Pedersen I’m
Yellow - Vingegaard Green - Philipsen Mountains - Powless Young rider - Pogacar
GC
Vingegaard Pogacar at 17s Hindley at 2 mins 40s Rodriguez at 4 mins 22s Bilbao at 4 mins 34s
12) Meintjes at 8 mins 50s. It’s a gag that only amuses me but he does it every year!
Tomorrow has potential. Breakaway but lots of potential for a bit of chaos.
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Post by Bod on Jul 14, 2023 21:36:13 GMT
Stage 13 Châtillon-Sur-Chalaronne - Grand Colombier (137.8km)
As the old advert used to say ‘Don’t take away my Breakaway.’ Today was not so much a stage of two halves and more a stage of 120km and then a monster ‘Kick you in the nads’ summit finish. Bastille Day into the bargain and only two Frenchmen in the break. Bernard Hinault is going to kill someone for that lack of patriotism.
A break formed comfortably early on and rumbled along as UAE and Bora took on chase responsibilities. No-one in the lead group was a GC danger (hence why it formed in such uncomplicated fashion) but it still had some handy riders in a break situation like Zimmerman, Van Gils, Mohoric, Kwiatkowski, Wright, Tejada. Shaw and Wright. After yesterday when Jumbo engaged in some type of tactical short circuit by just sending riders up the road and seemed to forget the small matter of Vingegaard being the leader and needing a full team around him, today UAE offered stability.
Two minutes was held as the deficit at 50km to go as they ground up the Col de La Lebe, before the swoop down to the foot of the Grand Colombier and then it was 17km uphill and collective anal tightening for 70% of the riders remaining in the race. The gap by that point had grown to almost 4 minutes but that was unlikely to be enough given the severity of the finish and the desire for a stage victory by the GC men and climbers behind. The Grand Colombier has three real steps to it and it is a stiff start. Once they swing around the left-handed, it’s front wheels to the sky.
15km to go and Haller’s mullet looms into view. Its majesty undimmed in spite of the heat and his workload. He is an undeniable asset to the world of Lycra and chamois cream but a potentially devastating loss to the 1970’s porn star cosplay circuit. It is Bora’s gain though.
UAE have three riders piloting Pogacar but out ahead, Quentin Pacher has left the break and is 3 mins 45s ahead. A bit of a surprise that the UAE powerhouses are not reeling the break in but Van Gils finds his climbing legs, rejoins and passes Pacher, with Shaw and Tejada for company. Kwiatkowski then emerges after being shelled from the break earlier and catches and passes the three leaders. Aerial shots of the climb are mouth-watering and Soler is literally salivating as he applies the hammer at the head of the yellow jersey group.
UAE are burying themselves but are making no inroads into the lead of Kwiatkowski. 3 mins 15s is the gap from the leader to the Poggegaard group, which is now down to twenty or so riders. Soler swings off, Groschartner hits the front for UAE in his place as he often does, looks mildly terrifying. Pinot is dropped though. As is Buchmann. Adam Yates starts to slip a little too and Landa falls away. 6.5km remain. Meintjes sighted and mentioned in commentary! That’s double Meintjes bonus bubble. If you had that on your bingo card, you are a legend of the game. Yates gets back on. The gap is now 2 mins 20s from the lone Pole to the maillot jaune posse.
Adam Yates attacks, Kuss responds, but everyone of note closes the gap and in an instant Bilbao and Gall get lashed! The race for the stage is done as Kwiato is breezing it. Nothing happening as off yet by Vingegaard or Pogacar. Yates is now pulling for UAE and it’s all gone a bit stale behind until Pogacar goes all in but it’s so late that he takes 4 seconds from Vingegaard plus 4 bonus seconds.
The favourites did put some time into other GC guys but they are not the focus. A damp squib as Del Boy would have said. It was an explosive all or nothing attack by Pogacar after a day where UAE took the reins for the whole stage, but it seemed underwhelming. It served a purpose though and yearning for stages of huge attacks and even greater time gaps is perhaps unrealistic. Pog is chipping away at Jonas and we shall see if that’s because it’s all he can do or if he feels that is the most effective strategy.
Winners
Kwiatkowski and Ineos
They came here with no clear leader and at the moment have taken a stage in decisive fashion and are sitting fourth and eighth on GC. Perhaps more importantly, Rodriguez is only twenty two and Pidcock a single year his senior. Maybe it could be promising for them, if they temper expectations because if Vingegaard and Pogacar stay healthy, they are the GT masters.
Shaw
Fifth on the stage to Cambasque and seventh today. Shows that he has a mixture of strong legs and cajones. Should be signed by Movistar, who believe that using balls is the ultimate in tactical advice.
Losers
Pinot
Lost in excess of two minutes again to his theoretical rivals like Simon Yates. Unless he or Gaudu win a stage, the decision to leave Demare at home looks increasingly worse.
Bardet.
Finished in a group with Pinot, Martin and Landa. Four very mercurial talents, where ‘Mercurial’ can be substituted for ‘Fist-gnawingly frustrating.’
France
No French winner on Bastille Day. Again. Their best placed rider was Gaudu, who was sixteenth. Not only did the riders let down that great nation, so did the fans. There were ample opportunities to hurl bags of stale urine at Pidcock but even those French traditions are dying out. It’s an ever changing world in which we live in. Rock on Wings.
Ewan.
Didn’t finish. He has ridden 11 GT’s and finished three. When you are Cipollini, who in some years would abandon the Giro for fun when the mountains were approaching, you can get away with abandoning thought, as you have won 42 Giro stages, for example. Or in the TdF when you ride eight of them and don’t finish any, but win 12 stages.
Stage
Kwiatowski Van Gils Pogacar Vingegaard Shaw
Yellow - Vingegaard Green - Philipsen Mountains - Powless Young rider - Pogacar
GC
Vingegaard Pogacar at 9s Hindley at 2 mins 51s Rodriguez at 4 mins 48s A Yates at 5 mins 03s
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Post by Bod on Jul 16, 2023 9:10:11 GMT
Stage 14 Annemasse - Morzine les Portes du Soleil (151.8km)
From the gu… Wait a minute. Not from the gun at all. Small speculative attacklets, with all the force of a soggy cloth but nothing of note. The greatest item of note was Pinot having a mechanical just after the start and then gesticulating so wildly afterwards that he appeared to be auditioning for a role in a movie as ‘Stereotypical Frenchman number 3.’
Chuté!! Carnage and chaos and the race is neutralised. It was in a small sweeping right hand bend on a descent and a pack of riders are down. Most are back up with superficial injuries, thankfully, but Pedrero abandons on a stretcher (broken bones?) and Petit from ICW has a hefty gash on his right leg but is up and going again. Hindley also down with cuts, but ‘seems’ OK. Devastatingly, Meintjes has a broken collarbone and is out too. Genuinely pissed off about this. Hard bastards, let’s never forget it, not that we do. The only positive from this is that the on-screen graphic when the race is neutralised of a ‘Pause’ button always makes me nod in approval.
15 minute delay as riders are tended to, then it’s off again. Powless is trying to get into every break to protect his polka dots as there as there are, ahem, mountains of points available today but a lot of people want in the break and there will be others who have their eye on taking that jersey too. Petit goes out the back of the bunch and he is torn to pieces with cuts and grazes and simultaneously, Chaves abandons due to his crash injuries. The stage is only 15km old and it’s already leaving a trail of woe in its wake. On cue, Bardet and Shaw both crash on the next descent and ThIs IS mADneSs. Bardet is helped to his feet and can barely stand, looking like he’s on punchy legs but inevitably has to abandon.
A large break eventually forms and the main point of interest within it is the battle for the mountain’s classification. Powless is in it, Ciccone is too and is clearly keen on picking up points as is Martinez. The Jumbo-lead peloton don’t look keen on giving them more than one minute
65km to go and onto the Col de La Ramaz. 13.8km of hard gradients and the peloton, still driven by Jumbo are at 35 seconds. Ciccone and Woods ease away from the rest of the break and are aiming for maximum mountain points at the top of the Ramaz. 8km to the top of the climb and the peloton is complete again after hoovering up the break. Meanwhile, Powless has imploded and is 5 minutes behind the peloton.
55km to go, 5km to the summit and Pidcock is swinging off the back. This is either going to be a very long day for him or he’ll ride it out (pardon the pun.) This is tricky to watch as Pidcock is clinging on but I wonder if he should just ease off a touch as this could cost him in the final 25km. Pidcock dropped 1km from the top. Balls. Jumbo have really strangled this stage so far with this crazy pace and over the top and on the descent, Pidcock is 2 mins down. I would knock it right back now and put myself out of any type of GC/top 10 contention and focus on stages.
Foot of the Joux Plane and Jumbo still on the front. There are 16 riders in the group and 9 out of the top 10 on GC are present, with Pidcock the only absentee. Joux Plane translates into English as ‘Bastard of a climb.’ It’s very hard at the start, it’s very hard at the top and it’s hard all the way up. Great to watch, brutal to race. Majka goes to the front and as he does, he jettisons WVA and Kelderman from Jumbo, whilst Gaudu, Martin, Bilbao and Simon Yates are suffering now. UAE have three riders left and Jumbo have two. It is game on now and there are still 10km to go to the summit and then a 12km descent to the finish.
The gloves are off, literally for Pogacar. Seven in the lead group. Kuss setting the pace. Hindley sits in the middle of the group, shorts and jersey ripped after the earlier crash. Simon Yates and Bilbao are trying to limit their losses behind but they are not getting back onto the leaders it seems.
5.5km to the top and Gall starts to get distanced and Pogacar loses a bidon, appearing ready to throttle someone as he does. Hindley then starts to yo-yo and slides off the back. Five remain in the lead. Pogacar gives A Yates the nod, who then takes to the front and Kuss is dropped, as is Rodriguez. Yates, Vingegaad and Pogacar are the leading trio.
3.7km to the summit and Pogacar goes. Booooom. Vingegaard can’t close it immediately. He saw Pog go, knew what was happening but could do nothing to respond. Yet, the gap doesn’t extend to the Dane. Fascinating stuff. An arm wrestle as Vingegaard creeps back to Pogacar, but can’t quite close the gap. It’s a five second gap. There is an 8 second bonus at the top of the Joux Plane though. Vingegaard does close the gap! 1.7km to the top. Bloody hell. Great, great stuff. Pogacar absolutely knocks off the pace, as does Vingegaaard and they behind to crawl along. Vingegaard wary of getting mugged for the time bonus, but both are probably in the red and need some respite.
500m to the top and Pog attacks for the bonus seconds but is blocked by the TV motos. Shabby. Pog is now in front and has lost the prime position and Vingegaard takes the bonus! He will be ready to find those moto pilots later, but Pogacar played that poorly. Onto the descent and A Yates and Rodriguez are almost back with the leaders. Rodriguez catches passes and solos on the descent to the finish. Pogacar is second, Vingegaard third.
Behind this, riders are everywhere.A Yates takes fourth, Kuss fifth, Hindley sixth, Gall seventh and Bilbao eighth. Pidcock came in twelfth, 8 mins 40s down.
A batshit crazy day, which when it’s broken down into its sum can be seen as a solitary second gain for Vingegaard. The component parts though were phenomenal.
Impossible to compile a list of winners and losers as it would take all day, but it was a breathless stage. Seven riders abandoned due to the crash. Prior to that only eleven had climbed off during the rest of the race.
Yellow - Vingegaard Points - Philpsen Mountains - Vingegaard (tied with Powless) Young rider - Pogacar
Stage
Rodriguez Pogacar Vingegaard A Yates Kuss
GC Vingegaard Pogacar at 10s Rodriguez at 4 mins 43s Hindley at 4 mins 44s A Yates at 5 mins 20s
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Post by str8outtahampton on Jul 16, 2023 9:50:09 GMT
Stage 14 Annemasse - Morzine les Portes du Soleil (151.8km) From the gu… Wait a minute. Not from the gun at all. Small speculative attacklets, with all the force of a soggy cloth but nothing of note. The greatest item of note was Pinot having a mechanical just after the start and then gesticulating so wildly afterwards that he appeared to be auditioning for a role in a movie as ‘Stereotypical Frenchman number 3.’ Chuté!! Carnage and chaos and the race is neutralised. It was in a small sweeping right hand bend on a descent and a pack of riders are down. Most are back up with superficial injuries, thankfully, but Pedrero abandons on a stretcher (broken bones?) and Petit from ICW has a hefty gash on his right leg but is up and going again. Hindley also down with cuts, but ‘seems’ OK. Devastatingly, Meintjes has a broken collarbone and is out too. Genuinely pissed off about this. Hard bastards, let’s never forget it, not that we do. The only positive from this is that the on-screen graphic when the race is neutralised of a ‘Pause’ button always makes me nod in approval. 15 minute delay as riders are tended to, then it’s off again. Powless is trying to get into every break to protect his polka dots as there as there are, ahem, mountains of points available today but a lot of people want in the break and there will be others who have their eye on taking that jersey too. Petit goes out the back of the bunch and he is torn to pieces with cuts and grazes and simultaneously, Chaves abandons due to his crash injuries. The stage is only 15km old and it’s already leaving a trail of woe in its wake. On cue, Bardet and Shaw both crash on the next descent and ThIs IS mADneSs. Bardet is helped to his feet and can barely stand, looking like he’s on punchy legs but inevitably has to abandon. A large break eventually forms and the main point of interest within it is the battle for the mountain’s classification. Powless is in it, Ciccone is too and is clearly keen on picking up points as is Martinez. The Jumbo-lead peloton don’t look keen on giving them more than one minute 65km to go and onto the Col de La Ramaz. 13.8km of hard gradients and the peloton, still driven by Jumbo are at 35 seconds. Ciccone and Woods ease away from the rest of the break and are aiming for maximum mountain points at the top of the Ramaz. 8km to the top of the climb and the peloton is complete again after hoovering up the break. Meanwhile, Powless has imploded and is 5 minutes behind the peloton. 55km to go, 5km to the summit and Pidcock is swinging off the back. This is either going to be a very long day for him or he’ll ride it out (pardon the pun.) This is tricky to watch as Pidcock is clinging on but I wonder if he should just ease off a touch as this could cost him in the final 25km. Pidcock dropped 1km from the top. Balls. Jumbo have really strangled this stage so far with this crazy pace and over the top and on the descent, Pidcock is 2 mins down. I would knock it right back now and put myself out of any type of GC/top 10 contention and focus on stages. Foot of the Joux Plane and Jumbo still on the front. There are 16 riders in the group and 9 out of the top 10 on GC are present, with Pidcock the only absentee. Joux Plane translates into English as ‘Bastard of a climb.’ It’s very hard at the start, it’s very hard at the top and it’s hard all the way up. Great to watch, brutal to race. Majka goes to the front and as he does, he jettisons WVA and Kelderman from Jumbo, whilst Gaudu, Martin, Bilbao and Simon Yates are suffering now. UAE have three riders left and Jumbo have two. It is game on now and there are still 10km to go to the summit and then a 12km descent to the finish. The gloves are off, literally for Pogacar. Seven in the lead group. Kuss setting the pace. Hindley sits in the middle of the group, shorts and jersey ripped after the earlier crash. Simon Yates and Bilbao are trying to limit their losses behind but they are not getting back onto the leaders it seems. 5.5km to the top and Gall starts to get distanced and Pogacar loses a bidon, appearing ready to throttle someone as he does. Hindley then starts to yo-yo and slides off the back. Five remain in the lead. Pogacar gives A Yates the nod, who then takes to the front and Kuss is dropped, as is Rodriguez. Yates, Vingegaad and Pogacar are the leading trio. 3.7km to the summit and Pogacar goes. Booooom. Vingegaard can’t close it immediately. He saw Pog go, knew what was happening but could do nothing to respond. Yet, the gap doesn’t extend to the Dane. Fascinating stuff. An arm wrestle as Vingegaard creeps back to Pogacar, but can’t quite close the gap. It’s a five second gap. There is an 8 second bonus at the top of the Joux Plane though. Vingegaard does close the gap! 1.7km to the top. Bloody hell. Great, great stuff. Pogacar absolutely knocks off the pace, as does Vingegaaard and they behind to crawl along. Vingegaard wary of getting mugged for the time bonus, but both are probably in the red and need some respite. 500m to the top and Pog attacks for the bonus seconds but is blocked by the TV motos. Shabby. Pog is now in front and has lost the prime position and Vingegaard takes the bonus! He will be ready to find those moto pilots later, but Pogacar played that poorly. Onto the descent and A Yates and Rodriguez are almost back with the leaders. Rodriguez catches passes and solos on the descent to the finish. Pogacar is second, Vingegaard third. Behind this, riders are everywhere.A Yates takes fourth, Kuss fifth, Hindley sixth, Gall seventh and Bilbao eighth. Pidcock came in twelfth, 8 mins 40s down. A batshit crazy day, which when it’s broken down into its sum can be seen as a solitary second gain for Vingegaard. The component parts though were phenomenal. Impossible to compile a list of winners and losers as it would take all day, but it was a breathless stage. Seven riders abandoned due to the crash. Prior to that only eleven had climbed off during the rest of the race. Yellow - Vingegaard Points - Philpsen Mountains - Vingegaard (tied with Powless) Young rider - Pogacar Stage Rodriguez Pogacar Vingegaard A Yates Kuss GC Vingegaard Pogacar at 10s Rodriguez at 4 mins 43s Hindley at 4 mins 44s A Yates at 5 mins 20s Excellent summary of an amazing stage. Even ITV4 showed the whole thing! But can you explain why the riders put up with the utter tosspots who get in their faces on the narrow mountain climbs? Really grinds my gears (pun intended). I would make them do the ascent. In temperatures around 40. On an ancient cast iron bike. Stark bollock naked. With no water. And no saddle. And the descent. With no brakes. Blindfold.
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Post by Bod on Jul 16, 2023 14:03:17 GMT
Stage 14 Annemasse - Morzine les Portes du Soleil (151.8km) From the gu… Wait a minute. Not from the gun at all. Small speculative attacklets, with all the force of a soggy cloth but nothing of note. The greatest item of note was Pinot having a mechanical just after the start and then gesticulating so wildly afterwards that he appeared to be auditioning for a role in a movie as ‘Stereotypical Frenchman number 3.’ Chuté!! Carnage and chaos and the race is neutralised. It was in a small sweeping right hand bend on a descent and a pack of riders are down. Most are back up with superficial injuries, thankfully, but Pedrero abandons on a stretcher (broken bones?) and Petit from ICW has a hefty gash on his right leg but is up and going again. Hindley also down with cuts, but ‘seems’ OK. Devastatingly, Meintjes has a broken collarbone and is out too. Genuinely pissed off about this. Hard bastards, let’s never forget it, not that we do. The only positive from this is that the on-screen graphic when the race is neutralised of a ‘Pause’ button always makes me nod in approval. 15 minute delay as riders are tended to, then it’s off again. Powless is trying to get into every break to protect his polka dots as there as there are, ahem, mountains of points available today but a lot of people want in the break and there will be others who have their eye on taking that jersey too. Petit goes out the back of the bunch and he is torn to pieces with cuts and grazes and simultaneously, Chaves abandons due to his crash injuries. The stage is only 15km old and it’s already leaving a trail of woe in its wake. On cue, Bardet and Shaw both crash on the next descent and ThIs IS mADneSs. Bardet is helped to his feet and can barely stand, looking like he’s on punchy legs but inevitably has to abandon. A large break eventually forms and the main point of interest within it is the battle for the mountain’s classification. Powless is in it, Ciccone is too and is clearly keen on picking up points as is Martinez. The Jumbo-lead peloton don’t look keen on giving them more than one minute 65km to go and onto the Col de La Ramaz. 13.8km of hard gradients and the peloton, still driven by Jumbo are at 35 seconds. Ciccone and Woods ease away from the rest of the break and are aiming for maximum mountain points at the top of the Ramaz. 8km to the top of the climb and the peloton is complete again after hoovering up the break. Meanwhile, Powless has imploded and is 5 minutes behind the peloton. 55km to go, 5km to the summit and Pidcock is swinging off the back. This is either going to be a very long day for him or he’ll ride it out (pardon the pun.) This is tricky to watch as Pidcock is clinging on but I wonder if he should just ease off a touch as this could cost him in the final 25km. Pidcock dropped 1km from the top. Balls. Jumbo have really strangled this stage so far with this crazy pace and over the top and on the descent, Pidcock is 2 mins down. I would knock it right back now and put myself out of any type of GC/top 10 contention and focus on stages. Foot of the Joux Plane and Jumbo still on the front. There are 16 riders in the group and 9 out of the top 10 on GC are present, with Pidcock the only absentee. Joux Plane translates into English as ‘Bastard of a climb.’ It’s very hard at the start, it’s very hard at the top and it’s hard all the way up. Great to watch, brutal to race. Majka goes to the front and as he does, he jettisons WVA and Kelderman from Jumbo, whilst Gaudu, Martin, Bilbao and Simon Yates are suffering now. UAE have three riders left and Jumbo have two. It is game on now and there are still 10km to go to the summit and then a 12km descent to the finish. The gloves are off, literally for Pogacar. Seven in the lead group. Kuss setting the pace. Hindley sits in the middle of the group, shorts and jersey ripped after the earlier crash. Simon Yates and Bilbao are trying to limit their losses behind but they are not getting back onto the leaders it seems. 5.5km to the top and Gall starts to get distanced and Pogacar loses a bidon, appearing ready to throttle someone as he does. Hindley then starts to yo-yo and slides off the back. Five remain in the lead. Pogacar gives A Yates the nod, who then takes to the front and Kuss is dropped, as is Rodriguez. Yates, Vingegaad and Pogacar are the leading trio. 3.7km to the summit and Pogacar goes. Booooom. Vingegaard can’t close it immediately. He saw Pog go, knew what was happening but could do nothing to respond. Yet, the gap doesn’t extend to the Dane. Fascinating stuff. An arm wrestle as Vingegaard creeps back to Pogacar, but can’t quite close the gap. It’s a five second gap. There is an 8 second bonus at the top of the Joux Plane though. Vingegaard does close the gap! 1.7km to the top. Bloody hell. Great, great stuff. Pogacar absolutely knocks off the pace, as does Vingegaaard and they behind to crawl along. Vingegaard wary of getting mugged for the time bonus, but both are probably in the red and need some respite. 500m to the top and Pog attacks for the bonus seconds but is blocked by the TV motos. Shabby. Pog is now in front and has lost the prime position and Vingegaard takes the bonus! He will be ready to find those moto pilots later, but Pogacar played that poorly. Onto the descent and A Yates and Rodriguez are almost back with the leaders. Rodriguez catches passes and solos on the descent to the finish. Pogacar is second, Vingegaard third. Behind this, riders are everywhere.A Yates takes fourth, Kuss fifth, Hindley sixth, Gall seventh and Bilbao eighth. Pidcock came in twelfth, 8 mins 40s down. A batshit crazy day, which when it’s broken down into its sum can be seen as a solitary second gain for Vingegaard. The component parts though were phenomenal. Impossible to compile a list of winners and losers as it would take all day, but it was a breathless stage. Seven riders abandoned due to the crash. Prior to that only eleven had climbed off during the rest of the race. Yellow - Vingegaard Points - Philpsen Mountains - Vingegaard (tied with Powless) Young rider - Pogacar Stage Rodriguez Pogacar Vingegaard A Yates Kuss GC Vingegaard Pogacar at 10s Rodriguez at 4 mins 43s Hindley at 4 mins 44s A Yates at 5 mins 20s Excellent summary of an amazing stage. Even ITV4 showed the whole thing! But can you explain why the riders put up with the utter tosspots who get in their faces on the narrow mountain climbs? Really grinds my gears (pun intended). I would make them do the ascent. In temperatures around 40. On an ancient cast iron bike. Stark bollock naked. With no water. And no saddle. And the descent. With no brakes. Blindfold. Mild torture as punishment? I’m nodding. I can see that. There has to be a penalty, but there rarely is. Today, once again, an inattentive spectator causes a crash. The desire to record the moment rather than live the moment becomes paramount. For the riders, they have no choice but to put up with it. You operate on a system of faith that they will part and you will have a gap to proceed through. The claustrophobia, even for the most focused of them must be unreal at times. The proximity, the heat, the noise, etc must lead to sensory overload at times.
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Post by salopstick on Jul 16, 2023 19:43:02 GMT
The fans make the race. Unfortunately these things happen but are rare Three great hilly stages just. Brilliant racing. Bod you missed off WVA coming back from the dead to control matters on the final climb yesterday. Lazarus would be proud
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Post by Bod on Jul 16, 2023 23:47:09 GMT
Stage 15 Les Gets les Portes du Soleil - Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc (179km)
Another uphill start, another summit finish. ‘It’s a race within a race.’ It certainly is. Ciccone wants the mountains jersey. Powless wants to keep it of course, but the American’s legs have looked a little heavy as they approach the third week. Hindley and Rodriguez are coveting the final step on the podium and Uno-X are trying to remind ASO why they were given a wildcard.
Within all the insanity of yesterday it’s worth noting that Stephane Heulot (manager of Lotto-Soudal) effectively called Ewan a high maintenance mard arse for abandoning on stage 13. It was perhaps unprofessional of Heulot to do so, but it made for good drama and he’s not really incorrect in what he says. He claimed that Ewan always wants a full team at his disposal but doesn’t deliver. I do wonder when Ewan’s contract is up… Heulot is rumoured to have shouted ‘They at rayt nesh youth’ at Ewan.
It takes an hour before the break forms and when it does, there’s a decent-sized crash in the peloton behind after clipping someone who was taking a fucking photo from the roadside. Van Hooydonck is the rider who comes off pretty badly. The bunch slow down to allow the affected riders to get back on and that allows the break to get a lead of 2 mins 15s. ‘You are not the show. You are not the spectacle. The riders are the spectacle. Don’t be part of it. Enjoy it.’ Thus said Jens Voigt and that perhaps relates to what str8outtahampton was saying. 70km to go and the break have a 6mins 30s lead. 36 riders in there and Marco Haller, moustache glimmering in the sun is the lone leader with the rest of the break 30s behind. For a cyclist, Haller is certainly something of a unit, so in reality he will be reed thin with transparent skin and single digit body fat. Rui Costa bridges across to Haller and drops him. It then becomes pure attrition as the break splits in two, with Powless in the second group and they are drifting back towards what is left of the peloton. State of play at 50km to go is the Powless group are 4 mins behind the leaders and the GC group two minutes further down. Can’t decide if the break will make it or not, but Ciccone will be satisfied as he’s racking up the mountain points
Soler, who is the lead group, attacks for reasons which my meagre brain cannot compute. He crests the Aravis solo before WVA, Poels and Neilands join him on the descent. Neilands then crashes after a tangle with a moto pilot who was handing out water and it was all a bit bizarre. He appeared to touch the front wheel of the motorbike which sent him over his bars and into the tarmac hard. He seemed relatively OK (in that he was sitting up) but it wasn’t pretty.
28km to go. Leading trio are 55s ahead of the chase group and 7 mins ahead of the GC group. Jumbo have been making tempo in there all day and are happy to let riders takes bonus seconds which prevents Pogacar from potentially taking any.
WVA and Poels distance Soler on the final major descent of the day and he has to really dig in to get back on as the road climbs again and it’s 17% for 2km! Ouch. Poels has a lead of 31s over Soler with WVA a few seconds further back. The GC group hit the foot of the 17% section and UAE swamp Jumbo and take on the pacing. 8km to go. Pidcock is struggling a little, as is Bilbao and Pidcock loses contact with the small GC group. Yesterday was tough and he hasn’t got his legs back yet. However, he gets back on on a small descent and at the same moment, Rodriguez goes off the front of the GC group but only fleetingly.
4km remain for Poels. WVA is 60s behind. GC group are at 6km to go and S Yates, Bilbao, Hindley and Pidcock all lose the wheels of the main men. This could get messy. Rodriguez drops off the back, then Kuss. A Yates, Pogacar and Vingegaard are all that remain from the GC group. Cumulative fatigue, the man with the hammer, call it what you want but it’s GC explosion.
3km to go and Dutch fans are wearing the Euro 88 kit and Gullit wigs. Rodriguez gets back on at 2km to go and Pogacar looks fallible as A Yates has ridden off and left him or is there a plan? Weird shenanigans as Vingegaard is constantly looking over his shoulder waiting for the Pog attack. They look at each other and, and, and, nothing happens.
Poels has already finished as Pogacar attacks at 1km to go, but the yellow jersey closes it easily. Very easily. Pog’s plan A is not working here and with an absence of bonus seconds, it looked a little futile. A Yates was seemingly a bit rogue and afterwards cited ‘Radio failure.’ That is the cycling equivalent of ‘The dog are my homework.’
Yellow - Vingegaard Green - Philpsen Mountains - Ciccone Young rider - Pogacar
Stage
Poels WVA Burgaudeau Craddock Landa (Yes, he still exists. Clearly has no intention of helping Bilbao whatsoever though.)
GC
Vingegaard Pogacar at 10s Rodriguez at 5 mins 21s A Yates at 5 mins 40s Hindley at 6 mins 38s
Winners
Poels
Smart riding by an intelligent rider. He played his part to perfection and took WVA and Soler apart on the road to Mont Blanc. He put in one savage acceleration and didn’t look back. Another good day for Bahrain.
Jumbo.
Pogacar can’t dent them and he seems to be running out of ideas. Late attacks for gains of a handful of seconds may not be enough. If the TT goes in favour of Jonas it may force a Pog rethink.
Rodriguez
Clearly into third now, in spite of A Yates gaining time today. Riding consistently and confidently.
Welsford
During the crash involving the spectator early in the stage, he hits the brakes, locks the rear wheel, controls the skid, does a tiny endo and avoids ploughing into the mass of riders ahead of him. Skills!
Kuss
Gets tagged by a fan taking a selfie, takes a really heavy fall and still finishes ahead of Hindley, Bilbao, Rodriguez, Gaudu, Gall, S Yates and Hindley. I think, much like Geraint Thomas, that he is impossible to dislike.
Gaudu
Somehow finished ahead of Hindley, Gall and S Yates after looking like he was going to finish in the bus with the sprinters earlier in the stage. Mind you, he’s had a distinctly average TdF, but today he gets a pass.
Losers
Selfie-taking wankers.
No-one cares about you. Your photo would have been one of 10,000 other insignificant ones taken on the tour today. If you’re going to do it, at least employ some spatial awareness. Luckily everyone was unscathed to a large extent, but that’s more by good fortune than anything else. If Kuss had ended up with a fractured skull, would it have been worth it?
Pogacar
Ridiculous isn’t it? Second place, in a tier way above everyone else bar Vingegaard but he cannot shake the Dane off and keeps repeating the same act. Vingegaard was just looking at him, waiting for the attack. Something off script may be required. Or perhaps he’s so confident of winning the TT that he is happy with life?
Hindley
Suffering from the effects of the crash yesterday or just struggling with the relentless pace? Lost almost 2 minutes on the big two in a very short period of time and they spent a he best part of the final km and a half having eased off the pace.
Neilands
Crashed after colliding with a moto on a descent. Don’t think it’s entirely fair to blame the moto pilot on reflection. I’ve watched it back half a dozen times and it was a somewhat bizarre place to try to take a bottle at speed.
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Post by chuffedstokie on Jul 17, 2023 5:55:37 GMT
Stage 14 Annemasse - Morzine les Portes du Soleil (151.8km) From the gu… Wait a minute. Not from the gun at all. Small speculative attacklets, with all the force of a soggy cloth but nothing of note. The greatest item of note was Pinot having a mechanical just after the start and then gesticulating so wildly afterwards that he appeared to be auditioning for a role in a movie as ‘Stereotypical Frenchman number 3.’ Chuté!! Carnage and chaos and the race is neutralised. It was in a small sweeping right hand bend on a descent and a pack of riders are down. Most are back up with superficial injuries, thankfully, but Pedrero abandons on a stretcher (broken bones?) and Petit from ICW has a hefty gash on his right leg but is up and going again. Hindley also down with cuts, but ‘seems’ OK. Devastatingly, Meintjes has a broken collarbone and is out too. Genuinely pissed off about this. Hard bastards, let’s never forget it, not that we do. The only positive from this is that the on-screen graphic when the race is neutralised of a ‘Pause’ button always makes me nod in approval. 15 minute delay as riders are tended to, then it’s off again. Powless is trying to get into every break to protect his polka dots as there as there are, ahem, mountains of points available today but a lot of people want in the break and there will be others who have their eye on taking that jersey too. Petit goes out the back of the bunch and he is torn to pieces with cuts and grazes and simultaneously, Chaves abandons due to his crash injuries. The stage is only 15km old and it’s already leaving a trail of woe in its wake. On cue, Bardet and Shaw both crash on the next descent and ThIs IS mADneSs. Bardet is helped to his feet and can barely stand, looking like he’s on punchy legs but inevitably has to abandon. A large break eventually forms and the main point of interest within it is the battle for the mountain’s classification. Powless is in it, Ciccone is too and is clearly keen on picking up points as is Martinez. The Jumbo-lead peloton don’t look keen on giving them more than one minute 65km to go and onto the Col de La Ramaz. 13.8km of hard gradients and the peloton, still driven by Jumbo are at 35 seconds. Ciccone and Woods ease away from the rest of the break and are aiming for maximum mountain points at the top of the Ramaz. 8km to the top of the climb and the peloton is complete again after hoovering up the break. Meanwhile, Powless has imploded and is 5 minutes behind the peloton. 55km to go, 5km to the summit and Pidcock is swinging off the back. This is either going to be a very long day for him or he’ll ride it out (pardon the pun.) This is tricky to watch as Pidcock is clinging on but I wonder if he should just ease off a touch as this could cost him in the final 25km. Pidcock dropped 1km from the top. Balls. Jumbo have really strangled this stage so far with this crazy pace and over the top and on the descent, Pidcock is 2 mins down. I would knock it right back now and put myself out of any type of GC/top 10 contention and focus on stages. Foot of the Joux Plane and Jumbo still on the front. There are 16 riders in the group and 9 out of the top 10 on GC are present, with Pidcock the only absentee. Joux Plane translates into English as ‘Bastard of a climb.’ It’s very hard at the start, it’s very hard at the top and it’s hard all the way up. Great to watch, brutal to race. Majka goes to the front and as he does, he jettisons WVA and Kelderman from Jumbo, whilst Gaudu, Martin, Bilbao and Simon Yates are suffering now. UAE have three riders left and Jumbo have two. It is game on now and there are still 10km to go to the summit and then a 12km descent to the finish. The gloves are off, literally for Pogacar. Seven in the lead group. Kuss setting the pace. Hindley sits in the middle of the group, shorts and jersey ripped after the earlier crash. Simon Yates and Bilbao are trying to limit their losses behind but they are not getting back onto the leaders it seems. 5.5km to the top and Gall starts to get distanced and Pogacar loses a bidon, appearing ready to throttle someone as he does. Hindley then starts to yo-yo and slides off the back. Five remain in the lead. Pogacar gives A Yates the nod, who then takes to the front and Kuss is dropped, as is Rodriguez. Yates, Vingegaad and Pogacar are the leading trio. 3.7km to the summit and Pogacar goes. Booooom. Vingegaard can’t close it immediately. He saw Pog go, knew what was happening but could do nothing to respond. Yet, the gap doesn’t extend to the Dane. Fascinating stuff. An arm wrestle as Vingegaard creeps back to Pogacar, but can’t quite close the gap. It’s a five second gap. There is an 8 second bonus at the top of the Joux Plane though. Vingegaard does close the gap! 1.7km to the top. Bloody hell. Great, great stuff. Pogacar absolutely knocks off the pace, as does Vingegaaard and they behind to crawl along. Vingegaard wary of getting mugged for the time bonus, but both are probably in the red and need some respite. 500m to the top and Pog attacks for the bonus seconds but is blocked by the TV motos. Shabby. Pog is now in front and has lost the prime position and Vingegaard takes the bonus! He will be ready to find those moto pilots later, but Pogacar played that poorly. Onto the descent and A Yates and Rodriguez are almost back with the leaders. Rodriguez catches passes and solos on the descent to the finish. Pogacar is second, Vingegaard third. Behind this, riders are everywhere.A Yates takes fourth, Kuss fifth, Hindley sixth, Gall seventh and Bilbao eighth. Pidcock came in twelfth, 8 mins 40s down. A batshit crazy day, which when it’s broken down into its sum can be seen as a solitary second gain for Vingegaard. The component parts though were phenomenal. Impossible to compile a list of winners and losers as it would take all day, but it was a breathless stage. Seven riders abandoned due to the crash. Prior to that only eleven had climbed off during the rest of the race. Yellow - Vingegaard Points - Philpsen Mountains - Vingegaard (tied with Powless) Young rider - Pogacar Stage Rodriguez Pogacar Vingegaard A Yates Kuss GC Vingegaard Pogacar at 10s Rodriguez at 4 mins 43s Hindley at 4 mins 44s A Yates at 5 mins 20s Excellent summary of an amazing stage. Even ITV4 showed the whole thing! But can you explain why the riders put up with the utter tosspots who get in their faces on the narrow mountain climbs? Really grinds my gears (pun intended). I would make them do the ascent. In temperatures around 40. On an ancient cast iron bike. Stark bollock naked. With no water. And no saddle. And the descent. With no brakes. Blindfold. I'd pay to watch that. 😄
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Post by chuffedstokie on Jul 18, 2023 15:21:48 GMT
Enjoying this TT.
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Post by thepremierbanksy on Jul 18, 2023 15:39:50 GMT
Those time gaps are insane. For Pogacar to almost catch his 2 minute man, put 1'13" into WVA and still lose 1'38" to Vingegaard is almost unthinkable. Jonas didn't even look that tired at the end!
Ropey bike change from Pog must have cost him 15 seconds though.
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Post by chuffedstokie on Jul 18, 2023 15:47:05 GMT
Those time gaps are insane. For Pogacar to almost catch his 2 minute man, put 1'13" into WVA and still lose 1'38" to Vingegaard is almost unthinkable. Jonas didn't even look that tired at the end! Ropey bike change from Pog must have cost him 15 seconds though. He just dismantled the opposition completely didn't he. Total commitment.
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