The one and only TT of this year's Tour and the least amount of TTing km since 2015, a mere 22.4km.
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However, it's a strange one - too hilly for the pure TT specialists and, baring disaster, too short for major time gains, this is set to be a stage for the climbers who can also TT - which means it's a showdown for the top 2 places on GC. Pogačar has won 2 time trial stages in previous Tours while Vingegaard finished second to his team-mate Wout van Aert in last year's final TT (mainly because he sat up to gift the win to WvA).
Talking of WvA, he's a formidable time trialist who also excels on uphill terrain, as is Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious). Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), could also be a strong contender for the stage while Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) will be keen to continue their GC battle for the final step of the podium.
road.cc have an indepth look at some of the shiny fast kit on display today:
https://road.cc/content/feature/what-makes-tour-de-france-time-trial-bike-so-fast-264160
The tech choices could be interesting given the amount of climbing in today's TT
rather lacking in local flavour today
Interesting, not enough climbing to justify a bike change as per stage 20 of the Giro but enough to make gear choices potentially decisive.
ITV4 will have world TT champion and current hour record holder Ellen Van Dijk on commentary for the last time on this tour I believe. A good one for her to finish on.
some last stage images
I'm usually fairly meh! about TT stages, this one though i'll definitely be tuning in for the last 6 riders off, short enough not to get dull as well. Can't wait.
Did I see rain on the weather forecast? Could make it a bit sketchy.
he is just a big kid 😀
I liked this one. He's got a good sense of humour, quite dry. Wonder if JV saw the funny side of it...?
https://twitter.com/TamauPogi/status/1680660665369874434?t=4I-3ebq-6YxwRrwj5F-p7w&s=19
https://twitter.com/Strava/status/1681227310609969157?t=IdeD_wS3S7_S3vWLiUcV-g&s=19
Info on the climbs today (click into the Twitter thread for full info).
making dads get their daughters rabbits
https://twitter.com/TeamEmiratesUAE/status/1680504318036779008
The pog strikes me as an all round top bloke
Hope he smashes it today
It does look too short for a bike change @jonnyboi - but Pogacar practised one yesterday...
https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1681065508924211201
...and is accompanied by a road bike today.
do you think they did 2 timed runs one with and one without ?
CGN's The breakaway are saying that the time to change bikes doesn't merit the gains IF you are looking for the overall win, but expect bike changes from Powless and Ciccone so they can try to bag the KOM points with a fast climb, at the expense of a slightly longer overall TT time. THey're not challenging for GC or the stage win, though
do you think they did 2 timed runs one with and one without ?
There was some discussion on yesterday's highlights show on ITV4 when they were looking ahead to this stage and the general agreement was that a bike change would take up to much time. Be interesting to see the tactics though. Can see teams putting one of the lower ranked domestiques through a bike change to measure the impact and then extrapolating that info up to the expected leader's times.
Oooh, Adam's on the bike, but Jens is not in the studio unlike the Giro where they did a straight swap. I wonder if he's doing other stuff for GCN, or might he pop up on ITV4?
Meetings all afternoon…..get a feeling I may not be paying a great deal of attention to the calls!
My money is on Pog!
Pog's seated power may well be the decider here seeing the opening climb.
3 crashes on first corner ! someone needs to get out with the sawdust 😉
all DSM riders though weren';t they? well I saw 2 DSM go down, must have missed the third rider. Wonder if it's their tyres plus whatever is on the floor?
Weird seeing TT bikes and a stage average speed of only 34kph. 😳
TT bikes look rubbish being ridden slowly.
can they do a 'pit stop' bike change, at the side of the road, or do they have to get a bike off the car?
The climb looks steep and long enough to warrant a change. Sure you lose a few seconds at the start but a climbing bike can be bang on 6.8kg and with superlight wheels.
can they do a ‘pit stop’ bike change, at the side of the road, or do they have to get a bike off the car?
There was a Tour stage a year or two ago which was flat and fast then a big climb and there was a specified bike change zone which could be pre-prepared. This is not - you're allowed but it's not mandatory nor is there a set place for it.
Mikkel Bjerg has just done a very slow bike change, didn't look prepared at all, almost as though he'd decided on a whim.
so you could have a climbing bike ready at the side of the road?
the GCN commentators don't appear to know either way...
rain
bag the KOM points
How's that worked out as the first up will be one of the first riders to set off. Do they base it on quickest time up from a set point at the base of the climb?
Few spots but it's dried up.
Nice reference...
https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/1681287552127434757
and good work on ways to break news in an unusual manner
https://twitter.com/GroupamaFDJ/status/1681272774034161666
"What if we painted the news on the road?"
Pog arrives for his warm-up...
How’s that worked out as the first up will be one of the first riders to set off. Do they base it on quickest time up from a set point at the base of the climb?
Yes, KOM has start and end point on the TT
@nbt- cheers.
Campenaerts and his gearing....what is/was that all about ??
Campanaerts known for pushing a big gear, often has a 56 chainring, i think he was pushing a 58 for Paris- Roubaix!
Stefan Kung has gone for a bike change, and is far from the first to do so, kind of blows the initial "oh a bike change is not worth doing" supposition out of the water
Campenaerts and his gearing….what is/was that all about ??
I missed that, what was up with it?
He's one of the riders who's consistently been using that Powershift 2-speed rear hub - effectively it removes the need for a front mech by putting the gear change into the rear hub so you ride with a single ring but there's a reducer gear in the hub which drops it to a 0.7 ratio (more or less the same as using a 39/53 chainset but only running the 53 ring).
Stefan Kung has just done a bike change - it looks slow every time, it's not a smooth system at all!
EDIT - multiple windows open and forgot to "post" the quoted bit...
Not looking great, Kung went through the time check 2 seconds down, but is now 22" down - was 25" down a few seconds ago so it's coming back, but not entirely clear it's worth it
Kung is losing more and more time, finishes 52" seconds down
UAE DS thought it might be as much as 10 sec benefit to a bike swap
Do we reckon Jumbo Visma will be doing their bike change and onto a gravel bike geared 1x system, seems to have been popular with them recently?
They are showing (briefly) the gear ratio as each rider starts.
Julian Alaphilippe was running a 42/58 chainset with an 11-30 cassette.
Wout off and motoring
Powless took it easy tothe foot of the KOM, riding his road bike, then gave it full beans and is the current KOM holder. Ciccone rode his TT bike then swapped and is currently climbing. It's likely (but not certain) that the faster of these two will take the polka dot jersey today - in theory Jonas could take it if he wins the KOM and other riders are faster than Powless and Ciccone
Ciccone takes it by over 30 seconds!
Ah, interview with Campenaerts, it turns out his bike was stuck in the 54:17 so he twiddled that around on the flats and descents and ground the crap out of it on the climb! 😂
They've just interviewed Campenaerts...he was pushing a 54 - 17. (I couldn't quite work out whether he had a bet with himself to stick in the same gear or whether the gears were 'stuck') He then changed bikes
Ciccone takes it by over 30 seconds
Huh ? He is currently 33rd on the TT
Huh ? He is currently 33rd on the TT
They're running a KOM on the climb segment. Fastest rider up that segment gets the KOM points for the jersey. Coccone is currently the KOM jersey holder so there was significant pressure on him to smash that segment and beat Powless up it.
You can be "slow" on the overall TT but still win the KOM with the fastest climb.
