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I like these days where you get two races for the price of one. First the race for the stage win and another for the overall.
I reckon another stalemate between the race leads today.
It’s Jumbo v UAE at both ends of the race!
ffs
All setup for a Wout masterclass? Either that or he'll blow up early..
and then catch back up again with his second wind 😀
blimey this is a bit of a snorter !
clever(er) from UAE and vingo doing well to resist the temptation to close up
oh, look, a spanner in the works
Pog looks weary all the way up there. He wasn't in control today at all.
What a stage and what at ride from wout pouls
gruelling
yeah, seemed that attack was mostly gestural
psychological advantage with Jonas
a little risky from Jumbo there with Wout up road, had Jonas run into difficulty they would had looked pretty foolish.
for the second day running it looked like if Vingo had been brave enough he could have actually gapped Pog on the final climb.
a little risky from Jumbo there with Wout up road, had Jonas run into difficulty they would had looked pretty foolish.
Alternatively as jumbo visma have done before. Had him drop back from. His attacking and sort it out.
This is how I thought yesterday would play out. Let the breakaway hoover up any bonus seconds then battle it out on the last climb.
I think Vingagaard is almost letting Pogacar wear himself out with all these max sprint attacks ahead of the time trial. I can see Pogacar going into the time trial as favourite but actually losing time to Vingagaard. Vingagaard will then shadow Pogacar until Paris and taking yellow by mere seconds.
Essentially another grand tour coming down to a time trial to seperate the top two steps of the podium.
And if it's still just a matter of a few seconds between them will there be a proper race in Paris?
I can see Pogacar going into the time trial as favourite but actually losing time to Vingagaard.
Pogacar isn't going in as favorite for the tt though.
And if it’s still just a matter of a few seconds between them will there be a proper race in Paris?
That would be interesting, it'd have to go against all the "tradition" of the Tour for the last however many years where Yellow is sorted on the previous day.
Although I'm not sure if anyone has ever crashed out on the final day - what would happen for example if a jersey holder were to crash at 10km to go, even if they were able to remount and finish 5' down?!
Alternatively as jumbo visma have done before. Had him drop back from. His attacking and sort it out.
if he'd have popped or had a mechanical half way up the final climb it would have been too late to drop back, you'd have to wait for already blown riders to come up.
A different scenario and last day format... but the last day in 1989 was a TT where Greg Lemond anded up winning from Laurent Fignon by 8 seconds.
if he’d have popped or had a mechanical half way up the final climb it would have been too late to drop back, you’d have to wait for already blown riders to come up
I'm sure that might have been the case but I doubt WvA would have been able to do much in those sort of events anyway. I was more envisaging the more realistic UAE attacks from earlier on down the hill and kuss and vinnegard need more firepower to close it up
Pogacar isn’t going in as favorite for the tt though.
Where you reading this?
If I was going by previous form then I'd go Pogacar.
https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider-vs-rider/tadej-pogacar/jonas-vingegaard-rasmussen
Have you read the data or just the headline numbers on that ?
Folks Looking at statistics without looking at the data is how the bookies make their money.
(It's interesting to read)
Rouleur have vinegaard down as favorite
They don't sound too sure to me.
Both riders have shown exceptional strength in the mountains, but with this being the first time trials of this year’s edition, it remains to be seen how they will perform against the clock.
https://www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/tour-de-france-2023-stage-16-preview
It'll be exciting no matter what happens, I'm sure.