No wonder MTB fans take the pi55 out of roadies……
A world class mountain biker out on the road earlier 😉
Last year's National Road Race Champion is out - presumably due to sickness. He was dropped quite early on today, credit to him for making it to the finish.
This is the way to do it.......
The look on Pogacar's face on the finish line today was golden.
If that wasn't a feeding problem, Pog has a major headache in every mountain stage from now
If that wasn’t a feeding problem, Pog has a major headache in every mountain stage from now
He does, but his team seems much stronger, not sure Jumbo have the firepower to isolate him. Long way to go but he does have a decent lead already. If UAE back it off and let breaks go up the road can Jumbo get rid of Yates and Almeida to leave Vingago one on one?
There are what, 4 big climbing with long summit finishes left? Yeah i'd agree, UAE will be worried, maybe less if pog ran out of fuel. On that display Visma don't need to isolate Pog, just get Vingo to the bottom of the last climb.
Thunderstorm and heavy rain now at km36 on todays stage, hope it clears up soon!
This is the way to do it…….
> https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-local-mountain-biker-jumps-over-the-tour-de-france-peloton-for-a-second-time.html
Very coincidental positioning of the Shimano posters in the background!
On that display Visma don’t need to isolate Pog, just get Vingo to the bottom of the last climb.
If Vingago tries to just ride Pog off his wheel when Yates and Almeida are still there by going hard up a long climb he is going to come seriously unstuck.
Sprint day preview from Inrng. 3 * cat 4 bumps then a long rolling run-in to the inevitable sprint finish. Will Cav get another? Tadej is already on 12, will he make inroads on Cav's record? 🙂
https://inrng.com/2024/07/tour-de-france-stage-12-preview-villeneuve-sur-lot/
If Vingago tries to just ride Pog off his wheel when Yates and Almeida are still there by going hard up a long climb he is going to come seriously unstuck.
Not if Pog hasn’t got the legs to follow him. You can lead a rider up a mountain but if they haven’t got the legs they’re not going to hold the wheel (Froome leading / dropping Wiggins in 2012 being an example).
Tadej is already on 12, will he make inroads on Cav’s record? 🙂
I'm just going to say it and duck for cover....
I think pure sprinter stage wins should be a on a different list. Huge amount of respect for what Cavendish does and the bravery of the sprinter (and to win that many you've dragged yourself over enough mountains that you are not built for at speeds amateurs could only dream of just to stay in the time limits). But those riders who win them over in so many different ways are in a different league. Mountain top finishes, finishes at the bottom of a valley after the mother of all ascents then descents, TTs. In '69 Merckx won all the jerseys - yellow, pocka dot, commutativity and green. And 6 out of 22 stages.
No wonder MTB fans take the pi55 out of roadies……
Do they though, or just the MTB riders who think they're awesome and in reality they're probably not. Granted some Pro roadies are highlighted as being poor descenders - in their peer group - but lets be honest, they're not.
In ’69 Merckx won all the jerseys – yellow, pocka dot, commutativity and green. And 6 out of 22 stages.
Different era though - may as well have been a different sport! I think a sprint win is far more difficult than a TT win for example cos there's more to go wrong, more people to beat, more people needed to get it right in the leadout...
I can't see Cav doing it today, not after the lumps at the start and the uphill finish. I'd love to be proven wrong but I think this is one for Girmay.
Not if Pog hasn’t got the legs to follow him
Well clearly, but if my aunty had balls....
If Almeida and Yates are not disposed of it's highly unlikely Pog will be in any difficulty and even less unlikely that Vingago will ride away from them
No wonder MTB fans take the pi55 out of roadies
Most MTB fans don't have a fraction of the bike handling skills of the average pro roadie. It's very easy hurling yourself down a hill with big tyres and 6 inches of suspension. Riding a road bike down a narrow descent like yesterdays at 50+ mph whilst exhausted is a different ball game altogether.
I'll also go with Girmay today, he's been the fastest of the sprinters by some margin this year. If he's in the right place, he wins. Cav was nowhere in the last sprint, but then he might have had a relatively easy day yesterday.
Of course the pros can handle a bike! Five hours a day sat on one, five days a week in training. What is interesting is the disparity in descending. For some, they know it's their competitive advantage. That said, not sure Roglic deserved the same time for that tumble yesterday.
That said, not sure Roglic deserved the same time for that tumble yesterday.
Me neither but the 3km rule is actually in place on everything except summit finishes, has been for years. I didn't realise it either! This year, the Tour has been experimenting with 4km and 5km safety zones, basically to get the GC teams to sod off out the way in plenty of time for the sprinters to do their thing.
My only question would be what happens if a rider takes a fall on their own. The rule says that a crash or mechanical in the final 3km and the "victim" of this unfortunate circumstance gets the same time as the rider(s) that they're with. But what would happen if you were not with any other riders?
https://twitter.com/Domestique___/status/1811335249952997584?t=SdiCfBk2Ujuo6P6i9dafRA&s=19
That's not going to help Cav's chances... ☹️
EuroSport just reporting that Team TotalEnergies had their team truck raided / broken into last night and about 16 bikes taken. 🙁
Getting to the point where race organisers really need to arrange full 24hr police protection for vehicles and kit cos they're easy targets, this seems to happen at every large scale bike race.
Seems to be a fair bit of illness, possibly Covid, doing the rounds within the peloton. Fabio Jakobsen has climbed off, Pello Bilbao is way down and off the back suffering. Obviously Michael Morkov a non-starter.
Bit of a scare for Pogacar earlier, caught up in a minor crash but back up and rolling quickly.
There's an interview with Cav where he claims there's a number of people riding with Covid. I think maybe the Never Strays Far podcast, or The Move (I forget which) mentioned whispers of illness with Remco. Let's hope sickness doesn't become a deciding factor in the race.
Pello climbs off. I'll bet it's COVID and I know how he feels, having been off the bike two weeks. You can't ride sick. Simple. Even when you don't feel so bad, as soon as the taps open and multi W/kg are needed, there is no power and you get off.
My guess is that when the 3km rule was devised they applied it to stages like this to disincentivise pushing it on the downhills to force an error. I don't think it's working as intended here, but if the rules say that the 3km rule applies to this stage then it's only fair to apply it. I suspect that it might spark a revision of the rule, particularly since they're triallng extending it to 5km on some stages.
The rest of the race is looking good. There's huge unkowns going into week 3 as to hoe Pog and Jonas will respond to their respective approaches to the tour. Remco looks unlikely to win but is still keeping himself in the race. Roglič seems off the pace but not that far off that a small change in circumstance might push things more his way.
They've been smashing it - break given no quarter whatsoever, pulled back with just under 40km to go and the bunch still trying to batter it with no real reason. Can tell everyone is getting tired.
Alexei Lutsenko clipped a central reservation and went down, that took out Roglic and a couple of Lotto riders - maybe Arnaud Demare? Arkea rider down too.
Cav seems unaffected so far, he's still up in the front of the bunch.
My team are falling apart! Three out, Number 2 leader is off the back, Cav still in so Caes not getting the breaks...
At least my prediction came good. Cav took a massive deviation to follow Biniam's wheel but no chance of coming round.
My favourite part of France too.
Total chaos, no lead out trains, everyone freelancing.
I was right with my prediction though. 🙂
Today was bad luck! rider on the opposite of the road raised divide, touched the kerb and fell across and under Roglic's wheel. THAT is just plain bad luck. Yesterday was his own making.
Cav will be kicking himself after that one. Was in the perfect position on Biniam's wheel until he decided it wasn't. Did a good job getting there as well.
I think today just displays that run sprinters get that run of confidence.. brilliant display by Girmay
Cav took a massive deviation to follow Biniam’s wheel but no chance of coming round.
A move which earned him nothing more than a relegation from 5th. Unusual case of Cav getting completely the wrong side of the road and the wrong wheel - he ended up totally boxed in. He normally reads sprints better than that.
he used to. I thought Jasper did a good job considering he was in the wind for the whole of the sprint. But Biniam is faster.
Reckon Girmay has a Milan Sen Remo in him, or are the days of a sprinter taking it over?
EDIT I forgot that Philipsen won this year!
But Biniam is faster.
BG is the classic case of someone who needed that initial win to gain his confidence. So often in previous Tours he was there or thereabouts but rarely committing fully to the move.
Now he knows he can do it, he's gained the respect of the peloton which allows him fractionally more elbow room and he and the team believe he can do it. So he does it.
Plus he sounds so lovely in his interviews, like he's still in a dream state and can't quite believe what he's doing, like he's afraid he'll wake up at any moment. Bless him.
Roglic has had his crash now!
That aged well.
Come on, obviously he always has two.....
Millar was talking about BG sprints changing from him going too early to surfing the wheels a bit more this year which has brought him more chances of wins
Today's stage into Pau, one of the most commonly visited towns in the Tour due to its location at the edge of the Pyrenees.
Sort of not quite flat stage today and given how little leeway any breakaway has been given over the last 2 weeks, probably another sprint one.
Much shorter than the previous few days as well.
https://inrng.com/2024/07/tour-de-france-stage-13-preview-agen-pau/#more-44763
Closer look at today's stage. As a former resident I enjoy the stges that start / end in Pau then I can relive my youth, all those years ago...
https://www.cyclingstage.com/tour-de-france-2024-route/stage-13-tdf-2024/
