Van Aert may be going home tomorrow for birth of baby.
I reckon Pog will win anyway, but this is gonna hurt Vingegaard … he wouldn’t have won last year if it hadn’t been for Wout.
I can see Van Aert leaving Jumbo this season, not been looked after in this Tour.
Has felt a repeat of Cav's time with Team SKY.
Jumbo arent a team that go for Sprint victories, its pointless him being there.
That’s an interesting point ref WVA - a made a similar comparison to Cav at Sky to them.
I suppose the difference is that WVA is a classics rider and has a strong team to support him in one day races. That said he’s “only” won one monument - lags well behind his nemesis MVP and Pog in that department.
The question for WVA is does he see more of a future in chasing the green jersey at the Tour and want to have a dedicated team around him as opposed to a team split between points and GC?
Enjoyed today’s stage and watched most of it live. As others have said very sad to lose so many riders and in particular feel sorry for Bardet, have heard from someone who was connected to his team that he is a really nice guy and it must be extra heartbreaking for a French rider to leave the tour early and especially someone who is heading towards a career as a nearly man.
So far it has been a great race this year, but I am slightly concerned about how it might progress. With there being only two real contenders so early after some serious early climbing. If anything happens to one of them that forces an abandon the rest of the tour could become one rider just riding cautiously to limit any loses to win.
That was one crazy stage today. Big crash, WVA coming to a stop before flicking the nitro switch, a track race up a mountain, loads of tactics at play, Pog's burst getting blocked by a bike then Vinny getting the jump on him over the top but neither catching the new kid on the block on the descent. All in an amazing setting.
I don't know why more people don't watch it. Not one of my friends or colleagues is into it, yet it's a sporting must watch of my year.
Quite a couple of days for James Shaw. Yesterday in the mix for the stage win and being talked up as a future British star (and quite rightly so, from the little I've seen of him). Today crashing out after 25km.
It's a great race, but does anyone else feel conflicted about who they want to win? On the one hand I think that Pogacar is more of an entertainer. He seems a more fun and likeable guy. From that perspective I'd want him to win, but for one thing. That one thing? He just seems too good. Cynical me finds it hard to believe that anyone can be that good without artificial help. Of course, I do have not have one shred of evidence that he's done anything wrong; just a suspicious mind fuelled by the knowledge that many others in the past who seemed too good to be true, were just that. So, that leaves me wanting Vingegaard to win. But, there's a contradiction in my logic, isn't there? If Pogacar is too good for me to support and I think Vingegaard can beat him (as he did last year), then surely he too is too good for me to support as well. Does anyone else struggle with this? Can anyone offer a solution to this conundrum?
It's a great race, but does anyone else conflicted about who they want to win? On the one hand I think that Pogacar is more of an entertainer. He seems a more fun and likeable guy. From that perspective I'd want him to win, but for one thing. That one thing? He just seems too good. Cynical me finds it hard to believe that anyone can be that good without artificial help. Of course, I do have not have one shred of evidence that he's done anything wrong; just a suspicious mind fuelled by the knowledge that many others in the past who seemed too good to be true, were just that. So, that leaves me wanting Vingegaard to win. But, there's a contradiction in my logic, isn't there? If Pogacar is too good for me to support and I think Vingegaard can beat him (as he did last year), then surely he too is too good for me to support as well. Does anyone else struggle with this? Can anyone offer a solution to this conundrum?
Are they dopping like Armstrong and the Eastern European athletes almost certainly not. Are they "clean"? Almost certainly not. Are they technically cheating? No idea.
I said the same when SKY looked like they were put for a Sunday afternoon bike ride yet were spitting GC racers out the back of the pelaton day after day.
12 of the best of the best were left half way up the last climb, 8 of them from the same two teams...when it's almost certain someone not with them is dopping.
I now watch it on face value and enjoy it for what it's worth, the same way I enjoy watching the football teams that push the dopping rules to the limit, even if they never get caught braking them.
Pidcock: “I need to evaluate a little bit, but I think I just didn't have enough energy,” he said. “Yesterday was a late stage, a late dinner and I just couldn't really eat enough it wasn't complicated.”
Given Pidcock’s propensity for riding aggressively and having fallen out of the top 10 there is a case for unleashing the Yorkshireman to chase stage wins.
However, Ineos Grenadiers deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth seemed to think that would be unwise. “The original plan was to not come out of the GC fight,” he said. “He has got to put himself in the place where he’s getting stretched like he was today.”
Ellingworth emphasised that there really weren’t any downsides to doing so. “What I've always said is that these two guys [Pidcock and Rodríguez] can’t fail because every day they have, they learn. Tom has lost time but he can't fail, it’s just about learning for the future.”
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I suppose the difference is that WVA is a classics rider and has a strong team to support him in one day races. That said he’s “only” won one monument - lags well behind his nemesis MVP and Pog in that department.
Wasnt napping with Pogi attacked right at the end, and he couldnt quite keep up with those two, but its an improvement
Pidcock just about hanging on, really hope he can survive until the descent, as he should be able to smash it.
Makes tomorrow all the more intriguing.
Very sad to have lost so many riders today, though.
I don't know why more people don't watch it. Not one of my friends or colleagues is into it, yet it's a sporting must watch of my year.
I just hope that the way that Sport has progressed with nutrition etc. is the answer rather than anything else.
On that basis want Pogacar to win
I dont like Vingegaard, seems a bit wooden for me - Didnt like either how he didnt support van Aert for a stage win at the start of the Tour.
I said the same when SKY looked like they were put for a Sunday afternoon bike ride yet were spitting GC racers out the back of the pelaton day after day.
12 of the best of the best were left half way up the last climb, 8 of them from the same two teams...when it's almost certain someone not with them is dopping.
I now watch it on face value and enjoy it for what it's worth, the same way I enjoy watching the football teams that push the dopping rules to the limit, even if they never get caught braking them.
Given Pidcock’s propensity for riding aggressively and having fallen out of the top 10 there is a case for unleashing the Yorkshireman to chase stage wins.
However, Ineos Grenadiers deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth seemed to think that would be unwise. “The original plan was to not come out of the GC fight,” he said. “He has got to put himself in the place where he’s getting stretched like he was today.”
Ellingworth emphasised that there really weren’t any downsides to doing so. “What I've always said is that these two guys [Pidcock and Rodríguez] can’t fail because every day they have, they learn. Tom has lost time but he can't fail, it’s just about learning for the future.”