|
Post by teenagefanclub on Jul 10, 2024 15:01:54 GMT
Off to watch Thursdays stage in Gourdon for the sprint.
|
|
|
Post by misterj on Jul 11, 2024 10:37:20 GMT
Quick question - I’m interested in watching Friday 19 July as it’s a part of France I spend time in ski ing most years - how can I watch it?
|
|
|
Post by deeside2 on Jul 11, 2024 11:09:19 GMT
Quick question - I’m interested in watching Friday 19 July as it’s a part of France I spend time in ski ing most years - how can I watch it? If you're going to be in the U.K. it'll be live on Eurosport and ITV4
|
|
|
Post by misterj on Jul 11, 2024 11:14:18 GMT
Quick question - I’m interested in watching Friday 19 July as it’s a part of France I spend time in ski ing most years - how can I watch it? If you're going to be in the U.K. it'll be live on Eurosport and ITV4 Thankyou deeside!
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 11, 2024 11:35:50 GMT
Col du ornon and the villard notre dame
Smashed
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 11, 2024 23:13:44 GMT
Stage 12 - Aurillac - Villeneuve-sur-Lot (203.6km)
The final stage in excess of 200km and it’s a breakaway by the numbers before the inevitability of a sprint looms into view. After yesterday’s shenanigans*** it’s a controlled race, with everyone knowing their roles and fulfilling them with aplomb. Hot day in the saddle, with temperatures around 35°C. Four man break (Abrahamsen and Madouas [searching for KoM points,] Turgis and Pacher.
The four escapees build a lead which is never going to be sufficient, but it got them on TV and Abrahamsen secured enough points to be in joint first place in the mountains classification again. They are reeled in with 42km remaining.
Crash at 12km to go as Lutsenko hit the traffic island in the middle of the road and down around a dozen went like Lycra covered dominoes. Hard to fully fathom what happened behind, but Roglic ended up on the ground (for what seems to be the 357th time this year) and 75s behind the peloton. The race is fully on so there will be no truces and patrons flexing authority. It looks bleak for Roglic. He has teammates with him but cannot close the gap. Visma realise that Primoz is in trouble and repay by upping the pace and stringing the bunch out even more.
Roglic slips further back and the run in has road furniture, tight turns and all those ingredients necessary for a fraught final few km. The Slovenian is in pain and the chase to get him back is more like a cajoling and nursing effort than a flat out pursuit. Under the red kite and EF, Arkea and Bahrain are the most visible teams. A messy, messy sprint but Girmay bides his time and takes it on the line from WVA and Demare in the slightly uphill finish. Demare and Cavendish (who was provisionally fifth) both subsequently get relegated to the final two places in the leading group. Demare for blocking in WVA on the barriers, although WVA appears to have a fetish for sprinting so close to the barrier on the right of the road. Cav can consider himself unfortunate. He had to take evasive action to avoid Demare’s lead out man (Mclay) who effectively sat up at 250m to go in the middle of the finish straight and Cavendish’s only option was to veer around him.
*** No write up for stage 11. I usually write bits and pieces as I watch and flesh it out as the stage progresses but I was glued to the race yesterday and just enjoyed the spectacle rather than noting anything. Wank effort by me, shameful shit.
Winners
Girmay - 3 stage wins, huge lead in the points competition and out kicks all the pure sprinters once again, with minimal team assistance.
Almeida and Rodriguez - leapfrog over Roglic in the GC without having to do the donkey work of dropping him. That’s a perfect scenario.
Abrahamsen - refuses to give up the polka dots without a serious fight and still had the energy to be doing significant turns on the front for Kristoff at 2km to go.
Losers
Roglic - ended the day in sixth place on GC with a deficit of 4 mins 42 on Pogacar and is now 20 seconds behind Almeida and Rodriguez who are immediately ahead of him. Really felt for him today.
WVA - for someone so gifted, he has been squeezed out on the barriers three times in this race so far. Diminishing returns and all that.
Bilbao and Jakobsen were both DNF. Lots of talk about COVID being rife within the Bahrain team, whilst Jakobsen just looked fucked, which I believe is the technical term. Bilbao was in my fantasy team too and so my pain is dagger-like.
Fedorov, Kragh Andersen and Rickaert - all finished outside the time limit due to crashes earlier in the stage. Philipsen is now missing two lead out men.
GC Pogacar Evenepoel at 1.06 Vingegaard at 1.14
Points Girmay (328pts) Philipsen (221pts)
Mountains Pogacar (36pts) Abrahamsen (36pts)
Youth Evenepoel
Team UAE
3/10 Chanel’s
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 12, 2024 11:39:05 GMT
I’m done
Col de la Croix de Fer Smashed
|
|
|
Post by marylandstoke on Jul 12, 2024 12:11:49 GMT
Vicious winds. Check Violent chase. Check
Todays looking a bit tasty.
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 12, 2024 21:56:54 GMT
Stage 13 - Agen- Pau (165.3km)
Mad bastard start as it feels like with the mountains looming a whole lot of riders have decided that it’s time get a result or at least try, before they get their heads kicked in on Bastille Day. If anyone is going to get their heads kicked in on Bastille Day, it will be at the bidding of the French authorities and not a skeletal Dane and a smiling Slovenian assassin. Ayuso is dropped really early on and is clearly unwell. His American accent really throws me when he speaks, so my sympathy is muted somewhat.
The first hours are fascinating. A large break of 22 goes and has some absolute engines in there and smuggled within them is Adam Yates. They gain a lead of 60s which forces Visma to work and what looked like being an average day leapt into life immediately. Visma play a little poker and then INOES and Soudal join them at the front but the gap holds steady at 50s. This has an old school feel to it. Far less controlled and a GC contender sneaking into a break is definitely a welcome throwback and seeing some mild panic in the top GC teams is always good. Listening to the race radios veers between being intriguing and hilarious. ‘Keep going, you’re in the shape of your life’ = looks fucked. ‘Stick with it, you’ve almost made the junction’ = you’ve got no chance at all.
The break is splitting, the peloton is splitting, the wind is causing havoc and a hugely reduced peloton closes the gap to the leaders and riders from the break are flying out of the back, including Yates. It looks calm with 40km remaining but it just relentless pace and attacks for km after km. Frenetic and almost uncontrollable. Cavendish, Gaviria and Groenewegen have long since been dropped and at 10km to go no team has the numbers to get everyone to calm the fuck down and follow the script of ‘Sprint day.’
At 5km left, Girmay, Philpsen, WVA and De Lie are all in the front group. Abrahamsen launches an attack because he is incapable of just sitting in the wheels. It comes to nothing, but he’s certainly entertaining, which almost takes the focus away from his polka-dots, but not quite. Intermarche, out of nowhere, put three riders on the front and into the final km it’s scrappy. A heavy crash (Van Gils tries for an impossible gap, but Capiot as final Arkea lead out rider has to be a bit more attentive) blocks De Lie and for once Girmay gets his positioning slightly off. Laporte gives WVA a lead out from the world’s shittest lead out manual and Philipsen takes the win with Wout missing out again. On the plus side, he didn’t pin himself against the barriers, so it’s little victories and all that.
Winners
Philipsen - second stage win, looked strong all day and suddenly the green jersey gap is at 75 points and it feels slightly more like a contest. Intermediate sprints could get very active as the number of sprint opportunities remaining is dwindling. That could have the knock on of neutralising breaks as Alpecin need those points.
WVA - he wanted a win, but he has had little racing for months and is showing form as he heads towards the Olympics.
De Lie - somehow managed to avoid running over the head of Capiot during the crash. I’ve watched it half a dozen times and still not sure how.
Losers
Roglic - DNS. A man who is so familiar with tarmac that it is almost fetishistic. He would not have won the race barring implosions, COVID, accidents or lightning strikes, but I like him. He doesn’t have the quality of Vingegaard or Pogacar but he is (for me) still a hair above Remco in GT’s. Often looks uncomfortable when he’s digging very deep and it’s humanising.
Ayuso - DNF. Another member of the peloton struck down by some type of lurgy that certainly isn’t COVID. I don’t think it will impact Pogacar too much but Almeida’s voodoo doll can be put back in its bag for now.
Lead out riders - LaPorte left WVA twisting in the wind and Arkea has been involved in two incidents in two days which haven’t been great. Today’s was certainly down to Van Gils too, who did drop a shoulder, but being that final lead out man has implicit safety responsibilities. Just seen that Van Gils was fined 1500 CHF and docked 60 UCI points for shoulder-barging Capiot during the sprint so maybe I misread it.
GC Pogacar Evenepoel at 1.06 Vingegaard at 1.14
Points Girmay (346pts) Philipsen (271 pts)
Mountains Pogacar (36pts) Abrahamsen (36pts)
Youth Evenepoel
Team UAE
7/10 Petain’s
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 13, 2024 11:22:29 GMT
Pidcock is out with Covid. I don’t do predictions but I think Alpecin won’t want to let a break go until after the intermediate sprint. The break will feature Madouas, Healy, Soler, Abrahamsen and Barguil and a shit load of others. I’m convinced Madouas will be going for it though.
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 13, 2024 16:30:25 GMT
Pidcock is out with Covid. I don’t do predictions but I think Alpecin won’t want to let a break go until after the intermediate sprint. The break will feature Madouas, Healy, Soler, Abrahamsen and Barguil and a shit load of others. I’m convinced Madouas will be going for it though. Great stage
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 13, 2024 21:45:42 GMT
Stage 14 - Pau - Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet (151.9km)
Confucius said that when the race enters the Pyrenees then the pie-eating sprinters will weep.
3-2-1 go! Bang. When you have a day like this coming up and the instant the flag drops you see it has gone ballistic. The sprinters are praying to assorted Gods that a break goes and settles but it’s just attack after attack. Capiot abandons due to his injuries from yesterday whilst almost simultaneously Van Gils attacks off the front. Irony or some such shit. Just to add another layer to the merde sandwich, the Arkea car is full and so Capiot has to ride in the broom wagon.
How much time I can invest in today is up in the air. I am used to tempering expectations but today and tomorrow promise much and yet so did Palacios. If Healy played poker he’d be an overnight pauper. Everything would be all in, every hand. Today though, no-one wants to let a break go because they want to be in it or don’t like who is in it. That’s often the case but that’s magnified hugely today. No break can form but I cross everyone that Movistar can get three riders in a lead group and then absolutely bollocks up the finish because if they do that, then all is well with life. It’s a an element of consistency that I cling to in times of darkness.
Finally, with 95km to go a break goes clear and a 2 min lead is allowed as the Tourmalet approaches. Abrahamsen missed the break, tried to rectify it by bridging across but got a grade A bollocking because Pog had stopped due to micturition issues. There are not enough verbal kickings handed out to the yoof these days and as someone who was wearing a full polka dot ensemble, it’s fair to say that Abrahamsen had it coming. As I watch everyone on the Tourmalet I remember just how much I bloody love cycling. I don’t love football. My interest is in us, but as a whole my interest in football dwindled years ago.
Half way up the Tourmalet and the break has 4 minutes. My cockles warm because our band of escapees featured Van der Poel and Agent Meintjes. This was not a drill and my mind could not cope with these two polar opposites. I was worried that it would lead to some type of temporal event. The fans on the Tourmalet are as mad as always. Meintjes sits on the back of the break, like a hunched full stop.
4 mins over the top of the Tourmalet turns into 3 minutes at the foot of the Ancizan and subsequently 1 mins 30s as they begin the ascent to Pla d’Adet. Private Frazer’s words are ringing in my ears for the break, of whom only five remain, including Meintjes and another rider who is the anti-Meintjes, Ben Healy. Healy is clearly the strongest and ends up solo, pursued by Almeida who is pulling for UAE. Almeida’s head up riding style does give him the look of an irate neighbour attempting to peer into an adjoining garden to see who is responsible for the cricket ball in the bergonias.
Adam Yates clips off the front to reel in Healy, which he does within a few km and Visma have to take on the pacing. Yates looks behind so frequently in expectation of Pogacar making the junction to him, which he does with the usual Pog explosiveness. Now it’s a two-up UAE time mountain time trial. Yates is so gaunt but powerful but the gap to Vingegaard and Evenepoel does not really open and then Yates blows, sort of, and Pog is out front alone. Remco can’t hold Vingegaard. Good racing, exciting and Pogacar is full gas but still checking behind him. The clock shows 20s between the two leaders with Remco 15s behind them and Rodriguez another 6 seconds down the road. At 2km to go, Pogacar gets a packet of crisps thrown in his face and then so does Vingegaard. As the late, great David Duffield used to say, ‘Hopefullt the authorities will take them away and give them a kicking.’ The speed that Pog is going up these 8% sections is batshit.
Pogacar wins in dominant fashion and leaves Vingegaard 39 seconds behind him at the line. Remco comes in at 1 min 10s and Rodriguez at 1min 15s.
Winners
Pogacar - UAE played it perfectly and Pog put in the initial attack to make the gap, consolidated and then kicked twice more. He put 15 seconds into Vingegaard in the final km alone. It was a visceral attack and was probably necessary to quieten a few doubters and also to put Visma back in the lot box for now.
Healy - didn’t win the stage or even finish in the top ten but he’s an animator of races and not just for the sake of it. He is a contender on most terrains and rides like a slight throwback. The effort he has put in getting into breaks in this edition has been outstanding.
Lazkano - has made it his mission to get into break upon break and carry the esteemed Movistar banner with pride and a chin so magnificent that people from far and wide come to marvel at it.
Losers
Vingegaard. A deficit of 43 seconds on the stage was not what he would have expected and he simply could not follow Pogacar. Whether he is up to race fitness or not, he was swinging a bit in the final km.
Evenepoel - dropped from second to third and any thoughts of really challenging for the overall, although remote, have been eradicated today. He didn’t ride badly at all and is comfortable in third place, but he will be judged a little harshly because he was aiming higher.
Abrahamsen - lost the joint lead in the mountains classification and got the smacketh laid down upon him for being a naughty boy.
GC Pogacar Vingegaard at 1.57 Evenepoel at 2.22
Points Girmay (353pts) Philipsen (277pts)
Mountains Pogacar (56pts.) Vingegaard (43pts)
Youth Evenepoel
Team UAE
8/10 Cognac’s
|
|
|
Post by deeside2 on Jul 15, 2024 6:56:46 GMT
The Tour's been decided for days/weeks now but yesterday just absolutely confirmed it failing an unforeseen accident or illness. Brilliant yet again by Pog.
I wonder if he fancies doing the Vuelta to try to win all three Grand Tours in the same year ?
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 15, 2024 8:20:13 GMT
The Tour's been decided for days/weeks now but yesterday just absolutely confirmed it failing an unforeseen accident or illness. Brilliant yet again by Pog. I wonder if he fancies doing the Vuelta to try to win all three Grand Tours in the same year ? of course he will. hes amazing. Obviously Jonas is not as good this year due to his injuries but im glad hes at least trying to win it
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 15, 2024 20:53:30 GMT
Stage 15** (work yesterday so watched it today.) Loudenvielle - Plateau de Beille (197.7km.)
Remco has been chatting a bit of smack about being as strong as Vingegaard. Pogacar is telling people that he rides how he rides and that won’t change. Visma is saying that Vingegaard wasn’t bad yesterday it’s just that Pogacar had diamonds in his legs. A small bit of needle, but it’s still welcomed. This all unravels when Remco backtracks and says he racing for third place. Pick a lane. You’re either going straight gangster or you aren’t.
Today is grim. Steep and grim. Steep, hot and grim. Steep, hot, sapping and grim. However, fuck all that, it’s Bastille Day and so the crowds are huge, a conservative estimate says that 86% of them are inebriated - and that’s includes the children. Ice and water are on the menu for the riders though as the heat is oppressive and bidon after bidon is being poured over heads, arms and anywhere else you can think of. No crisps being added though as some type of drunken spectator’s aggressive meal deal. Mas, Aranburu and Romo in the early break. Three Movistar? Be still my beating heart. Meintjes is there too and seeing both Mas and Meintjes in the same break requires a cerebral rebalancing. Two invisible men in the break of the day is a script that Christopher Nolan would have rejected as too complex.
Breakaway goes, splinters, reforms until it has an almost three minute lead which builds to four and oscillates on a stage which can only be described as brutal. The elevation gain is enough to make all but the top 20 riders wish they were lottery winners and the laughing group are already 25 minutes down with 30km remaining. Sir Cav is 36 mins in the hole. Holy time limit Batman!
We are left with a situation with two climbs to go of five riders in the lead (Hindley, De Plus, Carapaz, Johanassen and Mas) with a lead of 2 mins 45 on a an elite yellow jersey group of all the favourites. Alpe d’Huez is iconic, Galibier is historic but Plateu de Beille is hellish in difficulty. It doesn’t have the cache of other storied ascents, but there is no respite and at the end of a stage like today it will be doubly cruel.
Visma has driven on the front for the majority of the stage. Can’t decide if they are trying to assert some type of dominance and send out a message to UAE or if there is a plan afoot. Probably a hybrid. I know I am verging on self-parody but Mas drives me nuts. He’s in the lead group but won’t do a pull for longer than a few seconds without swinging off and looking around. It destroys the rhythm every time. It’s no wonder he’s only ever won six races, which for a rider of his ability (which I don’t doubt) is very poor.
The cameras linger on Unzue in the back of the Movistar car and I am reminded that Movistar do actually have people who are in charge of them and so the tactics that they come up with seem to originate from an actual human being. Unzue was the DS when Indurain won 5 fucking Tours so he must have had some nous at some point. Or he’s a nepo baby. The Movistar Netflix documentary is a work of genius. Rider advice is based around showing balls and dealing with grudges involving riders from other teams.
At the foot of the Plateau, the lead is 2.20 and Visma is down to two riders whilst UAE has three. Vingegaard is wearing the polka dots on behalf of Pogacar and Jorgenson is riding at a pace which cuts 50s off the lead within 1km. The pace is incomprehensible. Carapaz attacks, Mas follows and almost comically Mas nearly stacks it when he starts looking behind to see who else has followed. Hindley attacks and Mas easily closes the gap and then immediately pulls out of the line. I hope her never wins another race. He is an anti-racer. Vaughters sums it up by saying ‘This is garbage racing.’
Almeida and Ciccone lose contact with the yellow jersey group but Almeida climbs at such a steady, consistent pace that he generally meets up with others as they get dropped. Mas then attacks and completely out of character keeps his nose in the wind for longer than 5 seconds. Buitrago and Rodriguez get distanced from Pog’s group and once again we question what exactly INEOS is?
At 11km to go, Jorgenson swings off and it’s all on Vingegaard and Pogacar now. They mop up the leaders on the road and the onus is all on the Dane as Pog can ‘just’ sit in. There would be no way that I would go near the front at all, natural attacker or not. Vingegaard needs to fry himself here. Rest day tomorrow and the temptation must be to jump Vingegaard nearer to the summit.
5.3km to go. Vingegaard’s shoulders visibly drop and he turns and looks at Pogacar. Pog doesn’t give him a turn and attacks. Not sure if Pogacar could believe it and was sure it was some type of Scandinavian skullduggery. It wasn’t. Vingegaard’s shoulders are rolling, but still Pog looks back with suspicion. No need for doubt though. It’s all gravy for Tadej who just romps away leaving a trail of carbon carnage behind him. He was 1 min 08s ahead of Vingegaard and 2 mins 51s of Evenepoel.
Winners
The Pogninator - let Visma do all the chasing, easily marked Vingegaard and sat on him until he red lined and then stomped a hole in him and walked it dry.
Carapaz - Rode like a warrior all day in the breaks and was still managed to finish in the top 10 on the stage.
Cavendish - made the time cut by a bollock hair and could barely move afterwards. Given that there are two potential sprint stages left, that was an effort and then some. His team were phenomenal here too.
Neutral
Vingegaard - it doesn’t matter if he’s not race fit, he came to win, regardless of what he said and is getting weaker rather than stronger relative to Pogacar. He is clearly the second best rider here by some margin though and something of a miracle that he’s competitive at all.
Losers
Rodriguez - lost a packet in relative terms and dropped down to 6th on GC. Maybe he knows that INEOS were doing sending the team to support him that they did.
The final break of five riders - arsed around, didn’t cooperate, attacked each other when they didn’t have much of a lead to play with. Pathetic, especially by Mas.
Visma - blew out the majority of their riders chasing a break that could have been ignored. Trying to show strength is all well and good but when it negatively impacts the end goal it is pointless.
GC Pogacar Vingegaard at 3.09 Evenepoel at 5.19
Points Girmay (363pts) Philipsen (277pts)
Mountains Pogacar (77pts) Vingegaard (58pts)
Youth Evenepoel
Team UAE
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 16, 2024 5:44:22 GMT
Stage 15** (work yesterday so watched it today.) Loudenvielle - Plateau de Beille (197.7km.) Remco has been chatting a bit of smack about being as strong as Vingegaard. Pogacar is telling people that he rides how he rides and that won’t change. Visma is saying that Vingegaard wasn’t bad yesterday it’s just that Pogacar had diamonds in his legs. A small bit of needle, but it’s still welcomed. This all unravels when Remco backtracks and says he racing for third place. Pick a lane. You’re either going straight gangster or you aren’t. Today is grim. Steep and grim. Steep, hot and grim. Steep, hot, sapping and grim. However, fuck all that, it’s Bastille Day and so the crowds are huge, a conservative estimate says that 86% of them are inebriated - and that’s includes the children. Ice and water are on the menu for the riders though as the heat is oppressive and bidon after bidon is being poured over heads, arms and anywhere else you can think of. No crisps being added though as some type of drunken spectator’s aggressive meal deal. Mas, Aranburu and Romo in the early break. Three Movistar? Be still my beating heart. Meintjes is there too and seeing both Mas and Meintjes in the same break requires a cerebral rebalancing. Two invisible men in the break of the day is a script that Christopher Nolan would have rejected as too complex. Breakaway goes, splinters, reforms until it has an almost three minute lead which builds to four and oscillates on a stage which can only be described as brutal. The elevation gain is enough to make all but the top 20 riders wish they were lottery winners and the laughing group are already 25 minutes down with 30km remaining. Sir Cav is 36 mins in the hole. Holy time limit Batman! We are left with a situation with two climbs to go of five riders in the lead (Hindley, De Plus, Carapaz, Johanassen and Mas) with a lead of 2 mins 45 on a an elite yellow jersey group of all the favourites. Alpe d’Huez is iconic, Galibier is historic but Plateu de Beille is hellish in difficulty. It doesn’t have the cache of other storied ascents, but there is no respite and at the end of a stage like today it will be doubly cruel. Visma has driven on the front for the majority of the stage. Can’t decide if they are trying to assert some type of dominance and send out a message to UAE or if there is a plan afoot. Probably a hybrid. I know I am verging on self-parody but Mas drives me nuts. He’s in the lead group but won’t do a pull for longer than a few seconds without swinging off and looking around. It destroys the rhythm every time. It’s no wonder he’s only ever won six races, which for a rider of his ability (which I don’t doubt) is very poor. The cameras linger on Unzue in the back of the Movistar car and I am reminded that Movistar do actually have people who are in charge of them and so the tactics that they come up with seem to originate from an actual human being. Unzue was the DS when Indurain won 5 fucking Tours so he must have had some nous at some point. Or he’s a nepo baby. The Movistar Netflix documentary is a work of genius. Rider advice is based around showing balls and dealing with grudges involving riders from other teams. At the foot of the Plateau, the lead is 2.20 and Visma is down to two riders whilst UAE has three. Vingegaard is wearing the polka dots on behalf of Pogacar and Jorgenson is riding at a pace which cuts 50s off the lead within 1km. The pace is incomprehensible. Carapaz attacks, Mas follows and almost comically Mas nearly stacks it when he starts looking behind to see who else has followed. Hindley attacks and Mas easily closes the gap and then immediately pulls out of the line. I hope her never wins another race. He is an anti-racer. Vaughters sums it up by saying ‘This is garbage racing.’ Almeida and Ciccone lose contact with the yellow jersey group but Almeida climbs at such a steady, consistent pace that he generally meets up with others as they get dropped. Mas then attacks and completely out of character keeps his nose in the wind for longer than 5 seconds. Buitrago and Rodriguez get distanced from Pog’s group and once again we question what exactly INEOS is? At 11km to go, Jorgenson swings off and it’s all on Vingegaard and Pogacar now. They mop up the leaders on the road and the onus is all on the Dane as Pog can ‘just’ sit in. There would be no way that I would go near the front at all, natural attacker or not. Vingegaard needs to fry himself here. Rest day tomorrow and the temptation must be to jump Vingegaard nearer to the summit. 5.3km to go. Vingegaard’s shoulders visibly drop and he turns and looks at Pogacar. Pog doesn’t give him a turn and attacks. Not sure if Pogacar could believe it and was sure it was some type of Scandinavian skullduggery. It wasn’t. Vingegaard’s shoulders are rolling, but still Pog looks back with suspicion. No need for doubt though. It’s all gravy for Tadej who just romps away leaving a trail of carbon carnage behind him. He was 1 min 08s ahead of Vingegaard and 2 mins 51s of Evenepoel. Winners The Pogninator - let Visma do all the chasing, easily marked Vingegaard and sat on him until he red lined and then stomped a hole in him and walked it dry. Carapaz - Rode like a warrior all day in the breaks and was still managed to finish in the top 10 on the stage. Cavendish - made the time cut by a bollock hair and could barely move afterwards. Given that there are two potential sprint stages left, that was an effort and then some. His team were phenomenal here too. Neutral Vingegaard - it doesn’t matter if he’s not race fit, he came to win, regardless of what he said and is getting weaker rather than stronger relative to Pogacar. He is clearly the second best rider here by some margin though and something of a miracle that he’s competitive at all. Losers Rodriguez - lost a packet in relative terms and dropped down to 6th on GC. Maybe he knows that INEOS were doing sending the team to support him that they did. The final break of five riders - arsed around, didn’t cooperate, attacked each other when they didn’t have much of a lead to play with. Pathetic, especially by Mas. Visma - blew out the majority of their riders chasing a break that could have been ignored. Trying to show strength is all well and good but when it negatively impacts the end goal it is pointless. GC Pogacar Vingegaard at 3.09 Evenepoel at 5.19 Points Girmay (363pts) Philipsen (277pts) Mountains Pogacar (77pts) Vingegaard (58pts) Youth Evenepoel Team UAE Great stage. Pog is awesome and massive respect to jonas for at least trying. Last week jonas dad was on same campsite as me at Oisans. Told him to get out the way of the tele for the Holland game ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/800541/images/0m0lbCuTEBzaRn6f8QaM.gif)
|
|
|
Post by deeside2 on Jul 19, 2024 14:50:30 GMT
Stage 19 - Pogacar, just wow (yet again) !
|
|
|
Post by Bod on Jul 21, 2024 0:05:56 GMT
Stage 20 - Nice-Col de la Couillole (132.8km)
Work got in the way again for a few stages and so had to play catch up but suffice to say, Pogacar has kicked everyone’s heads in, Vingegaard cried at the end of a stage and breakaways are treated like errant children who need to be disciplined and put in line. Eurosport have gone big on the ‘Pog is the best rider ever’ narrative. I may agree with it, but it’s been fun to see them try to nurture this.
Into week 3 and Pogacar will get weaker and Vingegaard will come to the fore was being said by a number of well/respected observers. Perhaps in a season where Vingegaard had perfect preparation, but not this year. When he probably still has culvert remnants lodged in his transparent body. You could see him physically slump when Pogacar attacked in this TdF in most cases, powerless to do anything. I have to say that I enjoyed it. There is something about Visma that I just don’t like and I can’t clearly explain as to why that is.
Penultimate stage, with 4600m of climbing and high temperatures, it is what is technically known as a reet bastard. It should be a day to let a break go and then the GC men towards the bottom of the top ten could fight it out to move around in the classification. That would be in a standard TdF but this has been a strange one.
Evenepoel clearly sees a weakness in Vingegaard and gets Soudal working from 60km out. Time trial coming up tomorrow favours Remco and so he has little to lose by attempting to exert some pressure on the leaders who have held a four minute lead for a couple of hours.
Landa rode like a man possessed on the final climb in pursuit of Mas and Carapaz (who were the remaining escapees) chopping seconds off the 2 minute deficit in short order. Landa is on the drops, face contorted and in full Evenepoel support mode. Carapaz puts a stinging attack in at 7km to go, and then behind, Remco does likewise and the gap to the front is down to 80 seconds. Remco doesn’t drop Vingegaard, so his interest wanes and so does the pace and Almeida takes over the pacing on the front in the 4 man group.
Mas, to his credit, bares his teeth and attacks fucking hard at 5km to go and once again, Remco does the same, at the same moment but 50s further down the climb. Vingegaard counters, Remco is dropped and then it’s just Carapaz and Mas out in the lead and Vingegaard and Pogacar chasing. Pog says ‘No thank you’ when requested to do a turn. I desperately hope Pog does him over… Tis going to be another sad day to be a breakaway rider. ‘Pas de cadeaux’ as Armstrong once said. That doesn’t make him less of a prick though.
Mas and Carapaz are caught with 2.5km to go. Vingegaard keeps looking at Pog like ‘When are you going to do me over?’ Bide tour time Jonas, your reaming will arrive soon enough. Carapaz’s polka dots are shifting in one direction, his gold cross in the other and I know he’s tempted to say ‘The power of Christ compels you’ to try and remove the source of Pogacar’s power. Mas gets dropped. I tear up my Enric Mas ultra trading card. Carapaz is sitting on the duo though, Pog evacuates a nostril and it’s under the flamme rouge and the energy of the polka dots deserts the wearer and he slips backwards. A gendarme on a moto gives a lairy fan a Di Canio on Durkin level push.
Vingegaard attempts to kick and he is countered and crushed by Pogacar in a dozen pedal strokes. It was brutal, but as Pogacar said afterwards ‘We race to win. I was happy if the break stayed away but a chance of a victory will always be taken in a situation like this.’
Winners
Carapaz - full polka dots and a gold bike. Zero shits given by him. Pure rizz as the kids would say.
The spectator with the sign which said ‘RIP suspense.’ He wasn’t wrong, but I’m happy with the outcome.
Pogacar - ‘I am the Alpha’ was the subtext.
Mas - got in the break, worked hard, closed down some escapes but and out in some monster attacks. Him and Carapaz going at it was excellent racing.
Soudal and Evenepoel - Remco lost time but at least they tried something and accepted that aiming for second and failing was a risk with taking. Landa rode like a beast.
Losers
Jorgenson - Competing for KoM points for no reason which managed to piss off Carapaz and more importantly UAE, who had unofficially agreed not to challenge Carapaz. Dick move by the American and tactically idiotic too.
Rodriguez - has deteriorated as the race has progressed. He has almost Meintjesed himself into seventh place. Shocking TdF for INEOS.
GC Pogacar Vingegaard at 5.14 Evenepoel at 8.04
Points Girmay (387pts) Philipsen (354pts)
Mountains Carapaz (127pts) Pogacar (97pts)
Youth Evenepoel
Team UAE
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 21, 2024 6:13:44 GMT
Stage 20 - Nice-Col de la Couillole (132.8km) Work got in the way again for a few stages and so had to play catch up but suffice to say, Pogacar has kicked everyone’s heads in, Vingegaard cried at the end of a stage and breakaways are treated like errant children who need to be disciplined and put in line. Eurosport have gone big on the ‘Pog is the best rider ever’ narrative. I may agree with it, but it’s been fun to see them try to nurture this. Into week 3 and Pogacar will get weaker and Vingegaard will come to the fore was being said by a number of well/respected observers. Perhaps in a season where Vingegaard had perfect preparation, but not this year. When he probably still has culvert remnants lodged in his transparent body. You could see him physically slump when Pogacar attacked in this TdF in most cases, powerless to do anything. I have to say that I enjoyed it. There is something about Visma that I just don’t like and I can’t clearly explain as to why that is. Penultimate stage, with 4600m of climbing and high temperatures, it is what is technically known as a reet bastard. It should be a day to let a break go and then the GC men towards the bottom of the top ten could fight it out to move around in the classification. That would be in a standard TdF but this has been a strange one. Evenepoel clearly sees a weakness in Vingegaard and gets Soudal working from 60km out. Time trial coming up tomorrow favours Remco and so he has little to lose by attempting to exert some pressure on the leaders who have held a four minute lead for a couple of hours. Landa rode like a man possessed on the final climb in pursuit of Mas and Carapaz (who were the remaining escapees) chopping seconds off the 2 minute deficit in short order. Landa is on the drops, face contorted and in full Evenepoel support mode. Carapaz puts a stinging attack in at 7km to go, and then behind, Remco does likewise and the gap to the front is down to 80 seconds. Remco doesn’t drop Vingegaard, so his interest wanes and so does the pace and Almeida takes over the pacing on the front in the 4 man group. Mas, to his credit, bares his teeth and attacks fucking hard at 5km to go and once again, Remco does the same, at the same moment but 50s further down the climb. Vingegaard counters, Remco is dropped and then it’s just Carapaz and Mas out in the lead and Vingegaard and Pogacar chasing. Pog says ‘No thank you’ when requested to do a turn. I desperately hope Pog does him over… Tis going to be another sad day to be a breakaway rider. ‘Pas de cadeaux’ as Armstrong once said. That doesn’t make him less of a prick though. Mas and Carapaz are caught with 2.5km to go. Vingegaard keeps looking at Pog like ‘When are you going to do me over?’ Bide tour time Jonas, your reaming will arrive soon enough. Carapaz’s polka dots are shifting in one direction, his gold cross in the other and I know he’s tempted to say ‘The power of Christ compels you’ to try and remove the source of Pogacar’s power. Mas gets dropped. I tear up my Enric Mas ultra trading card. Carapaz is sitting on the duo though, Pog evacuates a nostril and it’s under the flamme rouge and the energy of the polka dots deserts the wearer and he slips backwards. A gendarme on a moto gives a lairy fan a Di Canio on Durkin level push. Vingegaard attempts to kick and he is countered and crushed by Pogacar in a dozen pedal strokes. It was brutal, but as Pogacar said afterwards ‘We race to win. I was happy if the break stayed away but a chance of a victory will always be taken in a situation like this.’ Winners Carapaz - full polka dots and a gold bike. Zero shits given by him. Pure rizz as the kids would say. The spectator with the sign which said ‘RIP suspense.’ He wasn’t wrong, but I’m happy with the outcome. Pogacar - ‘I am the Alpha’ was the subtext. Mas - got in the break, worked hard, closed down some escapes but and out in some monster attacks. Him and Carapaz going at it was excellent racing. Soudal and Evenepoel - Remco lost time but at least they tried something and accepted that aiming for second and failing was a risk with taking. Landa rode like a beast. Losers Jorgenson - Competing for KoM points for no reason which managed to piss off Carapaz and more importantly UAE, who had unofficially agreed not to challenge Carapaz. Dick move by the American and tactically idiotic too. Rodriguez - has deteriorated as the race has progressed. He has almost Meintjesed himself into seventh place. Shocking TdF for INEOS. GC Pogacar Vingegaard at 5.14 Evenepoel at 8.04 Points Girmay (387pts) Philipsen (354pts) Mountains Carapaz (127pts) Pogacar (97pts) Youth Evenepoel Team UAE I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to see that copper whack a fan ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/800541/images/0m0lbCuTEBzaRn6f8QaM.gif)
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 21, 2024 17:46:51 GMT
Great TT A worthy winner. Looking forward to a fit jonas v pog next year
|
|
|
Post by thepremierbanksy on Jul 22, 2024 12:07:54 GMT
Binge watched the last 3 stages' highlights last night as I was away camping all weekend. Enjoyable finish to the race even though it was a hat-trick to Pog who was utterly dominant.
Stage 19 in particular was tactically fascinating - I was initially confused as to why UAE were pacing when there was the chance Vingegaard was going to try and bridge to his team mates up the road - surely leaving a big gap for him to bridge (I realise the rider in front can slow down) and then keeping your domestiques fresh in the event that he does jump would have been the better strategy I thought, but then I realised Pog wanted the stage and had no fear of Jonas.
But then once Pogacar had gone, why the heck was Remco pacing for the rest of the climb? Surely the onus is on Jonas to pace?
Hopefully the top 2 go into next year's tour in full form and fitness - credit to Jonas for keeping this one competitive until stage 14.
Terrible tour for Ineos.
|
|
|
Post by salopstick on Jul 22, 2024 13:56:57 GMT
Binge watched the last 3 stages' highlights last night as I was away camping all weekend. Enjoyable finish to the race even though it was a hat-trick to Pog who was utterly dominant. Stage 19 in particular was tactically fascinating - I was initially confused as to why UAE were pacing when there was the chance Vingegaard was going to try and bridge to his team mates up the road - surely leaving a big gap for him to bridge (I realise the rider in front can slow down) and then keeping your domestiques fresh in the event that he does jump would have been the better strategy I thought, but then I realised Pog wanted the stage and had no fear of Jonas. But then once Pogacar had gone, why the heck was Remco pacing for the rest of the climb? Surely the onus is on Jonas to pace? Hopefully the top 2 go into next year's tour in full form and fitness - credit to Jonas for keeping this one competitive until stage 14. Terrible tour for Ineos. you always want the next one to start as this one finishes pog is amazing, i think hes trained well but knew from the start he would beat a half cooked jonas next year jonas will be back fit and i think this has been a massive learning experience for Remco i just dont think he has the team to compete. it was interesting to hear them compare ineos to man utd. once dominant and nw left behind. no more marginal gains they just dont have the personnel. i cant see pog risking the giro next year as he will really need to be at his best. im defo booking my annual french trip to catch some stages next year
|
|
|
Post by chuffedstokie on Sept 5, 2024 10:26:21 GMT
Watching the rolling start of today's stage of the tour of Britain, it's lashing down in Yorkshire but more significantly, state of the bloody roads!!.
|
|