The peloton is back into some more rolling hills today so possibly a bit more entertaining than yesterday - although maybe we've just been spoiled by all the action so far!
It's wine country - Beaujolais produces more wine than the Burgundy wine regions of Chablis, Côte d'Or, Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais put together and some of the vineyards were originally established by the Romans!
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What do you mean, shut up and get back to the race?
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Roanne is the place where, in the warm up for the 2019 Dauphine, Chris Froome crashed his TT bike into a wall - essentially bringing down the curtain on his phenomenal Grand Tour career. The roads around here feature regularly in both Paris-Nice and the Dauphine.
Today is almost certainly one for the break with the GC riders aiming to conserve energy ahead of 3 critical days in the Alps; tomorrow's summit finish on the Grand Colombier and then two days around Morzine.
Today's stage is not dissimilar to Stage 10 where Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) beat a rather frustrated Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) as the break fragmented and attacked each other. Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick-Step) has been there or thereabouts in breakaways but seemingly without the tiny bit extra for the podium.
Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Warren Barguil (Team Arkéa Samsic), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) and Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) are all decent breakaway options and EF have a number of cards they could play, not least Neilson Powless who will still be on the hunt for KOM points.
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My photo manager @Klunk will be along shortly to add some more colour to the thread... 😉 In the meantime, a last look at some sunflowers before we move onto the vineyards...
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some imagery from yesterday underwhelming affair :/
GC day? Jumbo with people in break, or Controlled all day for the bonus seconds near the end and a GC stage win.
Could.be.epic
feeling like it might be a phone war today with the fireworks* saved for Friday's ascent of Grand Colombier.
Very much hoping this post ages badly though!
*or not unless you got them before the ban came in
Reckon the GC guys are rested after yesterday and Pogi will want to attack the last climbs. Mike woods average power in the bunch yesterday 172w
this sort of stage can depend on what the other teams do, if all or one of Bora, Bahrain, Jayco or Brexit Jims vintage farmers truck boys decide to kick it off then we may get fireworks
Today I’d like to see one of those breaks where the winner is far from the strongest so has to do it by being a total dick to everyone else
will we see the dropper post again today ?
Come on Fred. You've been great as a 'lead out' man, but it's now your turn to get into a break, 'if' anyone lets you.
I agree about the awful colour of the points jersey, that green doesn't stand out at all. When Simon Yates was wearing it, he was hard to identify.
Jakobsen has pulled out, turning into a disaster so far for Quickstep.
Jakobsen has pulled out, turning into a disaster so far for Quickstep.
Yeah, he's been suffering big time since his crash.
Data from Strava on the climbs in today's stage (click into it to view the ful thread):
https://twitter.com/Strava/status/1679415371831431185?t=7_0bV8O_ccFknCM_SzRwmw&s=19
Genuine question - is it a niche Roadie Cycling commentator thing to pronounce northern European names in apparently strange ways - or are these the correct pronunciations?
Ving-a-goor.
Fill-ip-sir.
Groan-er-vay-ger.
Aka Vingegaard, Philipsen, Groenewegen.
???
These are the correct pronunciations, as checked with the riders themselves
Anyone thinking this Tour must be exceptionally frustrating for WvA ? Maybe enough to make him think about jumping ship ? He's riding well but seems tethered by either having to help the team, or the team not giving him a decent enough lead-out (or maybe just not enough in the sprint arguably too)
These are the correct pronunciations, as checked with the riders themselves
Ta!
is it a niche Roadie Cycling commentator thing to pronounce northern European names in apparently strange ways
I think they checked with the riders, but that doesn't stop Sean Kelly mangling just about every other word that comes of his mouth. Apparently it's charmante, or as Sean would likely say, Charr-Mant
Anyone thinking this Tour must be exceptionally frustrating for WvA
Yep, compare and contrast with MVdP who has already won two monuments and the world cyclo-cross championships this season and is seemingly just riding around France looking great whilst occasionally popping up to lead out his sprinter. He has a season built around his goals and a team built around the same whereas Wout is in a team built around trying to win grand tours and he is a key part of that whilst occasionally being let off the leash to do other stuff.
Let's hope he's feeling better after yesterday's illness and will be back on looking great duties again today!
interval training for Jonas and Pog
startline cheese
LOL
https://twitter.com/letourdata/status/1679446689508147200?s=20
That said, The Breakaway on Eurosport is bigging up the smaller teams like Uno-X.
MvdP has had a cold/illness!
get on with it 😉
Start in a few moments, they're very bunched up behind the car, a lot of pushing to get to the front already. It's going to go absolutely mental in 500m!
Re green jersey
This year's edition as a tie in with Skoda it seems is awful
The light green of the Sagan years was too light and garish
The best shade was the Jalabert years ( and IIRC Sean Kelly years) . Nice medium green
I prefer the bigger polka dots too. I'm old skool
COME ON FRED!!!!
I mean Zabel
Average speed, over 50kph and they're on a climb. 😳 🤯
dropper post boy is off
Crazy stuff 😀
Bad crash for David de la Cruz . ☹️
Watching on the D+ app on my TV and there doesn't seem to be an Ad free feed with commentary today. Odd.
WTF is going on here !!!! it's gone bonkers !
ITV not live yet 🙁
ITV not live yet 🙁
It's mental - what was widely predicted as a breakaway day has turned into a GC battle just because of the splits in the peloton.
Jumbo look like they're trying to blow the entire Tour to pieces, WvA was off the front solo for a while and the pace has been relentless. The riders who want to be in the break are all up there chipping away, the GC riders are all up there looking for splits and opportunities so it's just constant.
Bearing in mind it's a hilly stage with a lot of initial climbing, the average speed so far has been 46kph.
Pogacar and Vingegaard are glued to each others wheels.
wacky races
Jonas looks twitchy
Watching on the D+ app on my TV and there doesn’t seem to be an Ad free feed with commentary today.
Click the audio button at the top right of the screen and select the option for English. For some reason the new app defaults to ambient sounds.
https://twitter.com/letourdata/status/1679475972800643073?s=20
That'll be entertaining for keeping track of the race, having team car cover and actually getting to the finish inside the time cut...
I think they've accepted Caleb is not likely to make it, he's been left to try on his own rather than having a team mate help and possibly losing two rides to the time cut
I love that the commentators don't have a clue what's going on or why either!
Experienced pro riders who have competed in the Tour themselves and they're just looking at this going "WTF?!"
the two top teams haven't got the fire power to pull it back if the other one goes 😕
Think this could be MVdP's day today. If he can keep up on these climbs his sprint should see him home given how well he's been leading out Phillipsen. Wout will be pissed off!
Just put Discovery on and I've managed to get a pictures and local noise feed (no commentary). IT is rather relaxing and great to hear the locals shouting "allez".
Click the audio button at the top right of the screen and select the option for English. For some reason the new app defaults to ambient sounds.
You're a gent!
Oh look it's all kicking off again. 😳
I'm trying to catch up on ITV4 (it gets recorded at 2.00), talk about confusion. My teeny brain has almost exploded. It seemed to take ages for JA to get across to the breakaway, glad as Quickstep are having a torrid time.
As Sean would say, it's going to be 'difficult', with a degree of 'difficulty', 'you know'.
Just got to the bit where Fred has had to 'sit it out', sad.
MVdP's going long! Seems like he's recovered from his cold bug 🙂
AG2R give up, so now it's more or less a question of whether MvdP can stay away from Jorgensen (doesn't he deserve a win after Puy de Dome!) and TiboPino (#FreeTibo)
Nope, MvdP must have slowed as he's been caught by Matteo and Tibo, but Gorka Izaguirre is towing the chasing group up and they're all back together now.
Under 3 k to the top of the climb, does Tibo dare to go here and try to solo over the top? He's not gonna win a sprint finish
Gillaume Martin (Giyomartan) goes and drops mvdp!
Nope, edit - it's Ion Izaguirre who's off the front, not giyomartan
Boo! Was looking forward to a MVdP drag race to the finish on the descent.
what are AG2R is trouble for?
Martin is being crossed off a few christmas card lists 😀 brilliant
Martin is being crossed off a few christmas card lists 😀 brilliant
It worked though! What a ride. Tactical but the pace at the start was unbelievable.
Going to be some very tired riders hitting the Grand Colombier tomorrow...
I said I wanted someone being a bit of a dick, and it turns out it was the winner's team mate. Good enough for me.
I hope the stage winner tests negative rather than positive.*
(* a joke about his name, not based on any actual suspicion)
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/tour-de-france-stage-12-the-stage-that-could-not-be-controlled
A couple of write ups from today's insanity!