interesting start
i didn't see a thread, sorry if one has been started
G in trouble already ! WTF is going on the peloton is smashed on an uncategorized climb! Now Roglic!
Sorry folks, late to the party today, had a half marathon to run first.
Will be back to normal service tomorrow.
you say that 😉
Right, just got in from a morning dog walk, what's going on? Also, Thomas. WTAF?! His presence in my fantasy team was supposed to be propelling me up the rankings. He has failed miserably.
🙁
this is insane. though Pog now only has to sit on Carapaz (though he's decided to go up the road ! 8)
as they just said, seems like there's no GC teams able to control and so it's a mano-a-mano battle. Great for us watchers......
oh and lunge. how close did you get to 1:06, and are you sure it's not your footwear holding you back?
as they just said, seems like there’s no GC teams able to control and so it’s a mano-a-mano battle. Great for us watchers……
UAE showed how relatively weak they are yesterday attempting to control the breakway.
Ineos, on paper, brought the strongest team you could imagine yet on the road they've been nowhere.
relentless
Yeah, interesting conundrum.
If Ineos or JV push on, they risk dropping Thomas & Roglic by such a margin that they're out on time cut. UAE are all wrecked from yesterday and can't chase although that said, Pogacar seems strong enough on his own to largely mitigate that.
I think ineos should just go for it, with carapaz, porte and tgh in that group they might as well have a go. G is out of it now and if he makes the cut or not it won't make any difference for the race
Richie Gate puffing
That descent looks sketchy in the wet!
Some serious skills going that speed in those conditions.
wheel sucker justice 😀
holy moly
Ebike surely 😉
Pogacar is so obviously the strongest in the race. I think the Tour is his to lose. He's just blown Ineos to bits.
I'm slightly worried about the descent. Rain plus riders pushing hard...
The riders face as he went past him was priceless.
Wonder if Pogacar will catch the Yates/Poels group...?
Surely not?!
But he's taken 50 seconds out of Carapaz in not much time...
Just under 2 mins to make up on them.
Wonder if Woods can hang on for the stage win. Yates might decide to go for it on the final climb, it's a bridgeable gap.
large inflatable cock n' balls on that corner.....
phenomenal! WTAF!
Yeah, this is going to be one of the defining rides of the Tour.
Just clinical, the way he's dispatching riders one by one on the way up.
large inflatable cock n’ balls on that corner…..
Wondered who else would spot it 🤣
Insane difference in speed.
Greasy Jim will need to get his cheque book out if he wants to win tdf
Took it easy on the descent- good move!
Teuns almost taken out by a water bottle.
I find it difficult to watch someone turn in that sort of performance, and not be thinking that this is Mauro Gianetti's latest wunderkid.
How is he that much better than the rest of the tour?
The tt last year was surprising, this is astonishing.
Gonna stick my neck out and say that Pog has a good chance of getting on the podium.
Do you think Carapaz will turn down an invitation from Pog to do a turn again? made to look like a right knobber 😀
G and Roglic rolled in 174th and 175th respectively 35 minutes down.
Only caught the last half hour live, my my lord what a performance. Pog was relentless once he had the bit between his teeth.
But I was so nervous when I sorted that water bottle rolling across the floor!
I saw something at the bottom of the screen and thought it was something on the roof of a tour car well ahead of Teun. Then when the camera either pulled back or panned down a bit I could see it was a water bottle. A bit of a squeaky bum moment for Teun!
Cav rolled in 35mins down, the cut-off was 37:33 apparently.
G and Roglic rolled in 174th and 175th respectively 35 minutes down.
The moment where I put both of them into my fantasy TdF team is looking like a spectacularly shit move.
You and me both CLs
That was bonkers. I guess racing a mountain stage the day after the longest stage for 20 years or whatever yesterday, was always going to be messy, but that's a whole new level of messy.
Of course the way bike racing works, Pog's still one misjudged corner away from disaster, but it's hard to see what anyone including Ineos can do about him. Maybe a fully fit, totally on it Bernal would give him something to think about on the climbs, but I wouldn't bet on it.
What's proper mad is that today felt like something from week three, but in reality, week one isn't even over yet. Struggling to imagine what the next two weeks are going to be like.
@ditchjockey So much better than the other class-leading climbers has me thinking there may be shenanigans going on too.
Pogacar could blow up yet. We're only a week in and everyone has put in a monumental effort to get this far.
That said, smashing Roglic in the final day TT last year suggests that's not gonna happen. And we're running out of riders to contest the GC.
It does look at the moment that he could do this several years off the trot.
Hopefully they will keep attacking him through the rest of the race. If he can respond like that consistently then you have to ask questions.
Maybe he will blow up in the next mountain stage but he was riding big ring on 14% gradients today
And we’re running out of riders to contest the GC.
That's the part where it does risk turning into a procession. Hopefully the rest of the jerseys keep it interesting.
Best first week of the tour for many a year. So exciting, every day.
I am absolutely LOVING the racing, this is properly spectacular stuff. Time gaps at the top of GC are way bigger than the past few years, 6.41 covering 1 to 10 rather then the usual 60 seconds or so. As pointed out above though, that was a TRULY phenomenal ride, enough to make one wonder
Out of this world, as the French would say.
Out of this world, as the French would say.
Or "unbelievable ride is ..... unbelievable" as others would say
All through the commentary words like that were being said, along with ridiculous and incredible.....
Plus references to a performance like that not being seen for a long time. The rest of that statement was left unsaid
My first thoughts too, but it is only week one, I’m hoping he cracks spectacularly so it seems more reasonable… would make the race more interesting too!
Great race so far but why have ineos forgotten how to ride bikes at a race?
Great race so far but why have ineos forgotten how to ride bikes at a race?
Carapaz gets chased down by Movistar, Porte was never GC, TGH on his first tour, GT needs to wear those hologram wristbands he advertised once
I saw on social media that Roglic won’t start today
Carapaz gets chased down by Movistar, Porte was never GC, TGH on his first tour, GT needs to wear those hologram wristbands he advertised once
but where is the team in support of Carapaz. Ineos seem to be treating the race like a Sunday training ride rather than the main event of the year
up the front and out the back.