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Welcome to the Alps!
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Starting just outside Geneva, the race immediately hits the foothills with some (relatively straightforward) climbing but getting bigger and more technical the further into the stage it goes.
The final climb, Joux Plane is an absolute bastard. I rode this in an Etape a few years ago and everyone suffered big time, it was horrific. Every little bit of shade (not many) there were riders flaked out on the grass.
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There is a nice lake at the top and then a toboggan run descent into the finish town of Morzine.
Over 4000m of climbing today so breakaway or GC contenders? Let’s go with the breakaway because UAE and Jumbo-Visma are challenging each other but neither of their leaders is making big moves, nor do they have to yet. Plus the breakaway stayed away yesterday when many thought it wouldn’t. EF’s Neilson Powless and Esteban Chaves both have a good chance, Powless will like all the climbs, at least early on. Pinot dropped out of the top 10 but is still a threat in terrain like this.
Still Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE) are safe picks, following each others wheels. Vingegaard might be the better descender for the finish into Morzine, Pogačar might have more punch to get over the top of the climb and to win a sprint between the pair. If they don’t put daylight into their rivals Tom Pidcock (Ineos) could be one to watch, there's some technical descending off both Ramaz and Joux Plane.
Ramaz was closed when I did my Etape as they were fixing landslides (it was open again when the race passed over it a few days later). They're having the same issues again, it's been recently repaired.
Anyway, I'm off to see Mission Impossible so I'll be arriving mid-stage this afternoon!
given the "scripted" peel offs from the Jumbo domestiques (and Wout rolling into the climb) I suspect they have something planned for today :/
@ads678 Loving your photos, great effort for a 10 year old. What smashing memories for you both.
Pidders should be buoyed by the fabulous stage win from Kwiato yesterday, hopefully if today is cooler Tom should do well.
I'm looking forward to this stage and Know the Samoens area a little bit.
@crazy_legs ' Mission impossible' surely can't be as exciting as today' TdF stage promises to be :o)
I’ll be very interested in how long they take to climb Joux Plane. I did it in 40 minutes from Samoens ….on my ebike a few weeks ago to pick up the van we’d left up at the top. Should give me a real feeling for how fast they can ride uphill.
ITV4 live coverage starts at 12 for today's stage.
going to be a warm one, 32 when they hit Samoens.
Adam Hansen rose the descent yesterday, ASO have done some remedial work to the road surface for safety.
https://twitter.com/hansenadam/status/1679539214906449947?s=46&t=_O2M6t13IbGzpYRpFxCz7g
looks like norfolk, don't think much is going to happen 😉
perhaps not 🙂
intermediate sprint
not as toothy as usual 🙂
Big crash there. Stage neutralised
another rolling start, nice for them to take a 20 min break while i was restringing my classical guitar.
Meintjes and Pedrero abandon due to the crash
and looks like half the peloton nursing a wound or two 🙁
Chaves looks ready to step off! looks as he has 🙁
blimey .... they not holding anything back on the descent!
Bardet down 🙁 and James Shaw !!! both out 🙁
Jumba pulling hard on the front of the peloton, wonder if jumbo ds got "bring a sense of order to this chaos" message.
Dunno which is the biggest carnage, the crashes on the road or Sean Kelly's butchering of rider names.
jumbo keep pulling
Looks like polka dot jersey will change wearer
Jonas has the best sun cream ever, he's the palest pro cyclist I've ever seen!
I bet it’s fun in morzine with closures for this an the normal Saturday arrivals
Strange race today, jumbo just completely indifferent to everyone.
Assuming vingegard is going to go for it
trouble with stages like this is the race can be all over at the finish.
Pidcock is rocking and a rolling
Looks like Tom Pidcock is done. Maybe he can preserve energy and go for it tomorrow as his time will be of no concern to gc
has Pog got an issue with his left thigh, he was shaking it out and giving it a rub.
Shame Pidcock couldn't stick with it, might as well sit up and go for stages.
squeaky bum time
brutal attrition !
Another crazy stage....
What's with all these guys on the mountain chasing the riders with their arsenal hanging out?
Madness
Wow- fantastic racing!
I am a bit gutted for pog but he could/should have attacked again.
crazy day
<p style="text-align: right;">Has Pog ended up a second further ahead? How did he manage that?</p>
Edit. I meant Vingegaard
It seems there were bonus seconds awarded at the top of the last climb and Vingegaard was first
I am a bit gutted for pog but he could/should have attacked again.
Based on what do you think he could have attacked. I suspect if Pog could have he would have.
Motorbikes did seem a bit asleep today in general but that incident looked more like the spectators were preventing them doing anything about their position.
Great viewing. The second coming of Van Aert was crazy. I thought when Vingegaard rejoined with Pog - admittedly it looked as much due to Pog easing off - he should have tried once to try and drop Pog.
Based on what do you think he could have attacked. I suspect if Pog could have he would have.
Based on he followed when Ving attacked and then attacked again after the line.
snooze you loose clearly didn’t have the legs for another attack and was forced to find them and counter when vinegaaard took the top of the hill points.
anyone want to explain WvA?
As in inhuman?
It was a tad odd, perhaps it was a mechanical/error and somehow ended in a stupid gear :/ other than that it was a bluff to flush out an attack 😕
anyone want to explain WvA?
Super super-domestique.
He pulled off and parked up to recover then heard that JV were slightly lacking in numbers so he smashed it to the front, did another turn then pulled off and really really parked up.
Psychological blow as well, along the lines of "WTF did he come from?!"
Cracking descent from Rodriguez.
I remember riding that run into Morzine, it's... interesting.
WvA doing what a WvA does.
Jumbo visma while not sky. Really have pulled together a team that can support a rider these days.
Now they have stopped trying to protect roglic.
I thought it’s a really nice run down into Morzine. Pretty sure I also hit over 60mph and I’m a notoriously rubbish descender.
Anyway, I think it shows Pog is still the boss. He looked comfortable throughout. Wonder if he’s expecting to win the TT comfortably?
Jonas looks super aero on the bike so it’s going to be close.
Todays stage was what I was expecting yesterday - I just took the wrong day off!
As for Pog being the boss, I really didn’t see that. If anything Jonas seemed more comfortable, bearing in mind it’s shades of grey as they seem pretty well matched. Pog did well in the interview when asked about the motorcycle issue - I really like him. You can’t hold a candle to them however based on the last 3 days if I was forced to call it right now I’d have to say Jonas for the win.
I remember riding that run into Morzine, it’s… interesting.
Nice detour up the Chamossière - on a board
Anyway, I think it shows Pog is still the boss. He looked comfortable throughout.
He showed a few moments of frustration though. Dropping the water bottle, the bit where the motorbikes were in the way (which is fair enough) and the bit where JV beat him over the summit for the bonus seconds, he was visibly frustrated. JV seems a bit more deadpan, doesn't give much away.
Can't imagine jumbo/vingegard would be doing as well without having WvA.
Ingesting to see pog starting to lose his rag today though.
(WvA chat), nah he dropped off for at least a 30/40 seconds, doing nothing, and when he did Majka took over, the pace didn't change, he literally popped back and rode EVERYONE off his wheel, just rode through a group going full chat, like nothing
What a tour!
Another cracking day of riding.
I didn't really understand Jumbo Visma's plan to chase the break down. If they'd let the breakaway take all the bonus seconds then they would only have needed to finish alongside Pogacar to keep the same time. Seemed like an awful lot of work to gain one second. And it starts again tomorrow 👏
A bit miffed that there isn't a British contender to the overall lead. At least there's a chance for a stage win or two.
don't think either jonas or pog will be overly happy.... jonas cracked the whip on his boys making them pull all day then was beaten to the punch by pog and didn't have much of a counter and pog because his punch was a pretty tame glancing affair and by the end it was handbags at ten paces and being mugged by a brexiteer
I agree Klunk. But for some nagging reason I just think that Pog has it under control. Apart from 1 day where Jonas put the time in, Pog has looked like the stronger rider. The moto’s into the crowds are just part of racing on the high mountains….just ask Froome and little Richie.
Either way, it’s awesome to watch. Loving it! I don’t really know why, but think it’s all down to the TT, and my money is on Pog.
The great thing is they both seem like genuinely nice guys. I want apog to win but no idea why really.
Pog making numerous tactical errors, and not for the first time.
- attacked too early on the Joux, and couldn't hold it to the top
- slowed up and let Rodriguez catch back up (see below)
- lost the summit seconds by being dopey
- Rodriguez then comes past and out-descended them, so stage win gone
- didn't let Yates past to get second place, and so Vinegar gets 4 seconds for 3rd
Pog is clearly very strong but he needs to be much sharper tactically, unless he thinks a strong TT is all he needs to win the tour. Vinegar is a better descender, in my view, so I think Pog was actually a tad lucky that Vinegar didn't drop him and shadow Rodriguez for the stage win.
Anyway, I think it shows Pog is still the boss. He looked comfortable throughout.
Did you watch the race or the highlights. He looked far from comfortable in any shots I saw on the climb during the live coverage.
Vineegard looked nonplused during his attacks and just tapped out his rhythm Wiggins style.
I do think Pog has massively matured in finding his match in vineegard last year and has realized he needs his team mates if he is going to do it. His lone wolf shit won't work against JV and the jumbo visma team. What jumbo visma seems to have that UAE don't seem to hAve is riders capable of a second wind when their number is up. There isn't anyone else in the peloton I'd rather have as dommestiques than sepp kuss and WvA time and time again over the last few years when the chips are down two guys find something special to be there for the main man.