Sepp Kuss taking chunks out of WvA's lead.
Wonder what Wout had for brekkie 😉
Seriously if say for example Martinez is climbing at 6W/kg - 368W which he probably is, to match that Wout is doing 468W FFS, maybe more.
And no Mr. Millar, it's not a shame for Geschke to not win the polka dot jersey, if you don't collect enough points 'cos you can't that tough mate not a shame.
When was the last time Green, White and Yellow were together on a mountain stage, racing for the stage win?!
@steve_b77 it's mental isn't it, i know people gone on about WvA but his has been the ride of the Tour for me, like last time when he got a sprint, a TT and a mountain stage..
Wow.
Game, set and Match
wowzer, pog blown. Stage has to be Wouts
Pog gapped!!
Pog gone.
What a beast WvA is.
Got to let WvA have it if he can get there keeping the gap to Pog.
Edit: WvA gone. Yellow and Polka dot to Vin.
WvA is human. Who knew
And now WvA sits on Pog's wheel to outsprint him and deny him more bonus seconds...
Maybe not 😀
Nope i think Wva has actually popped...clearly gave that everything
Wow, Pogacar is suddenly hemorrhaging time.
Bike change for G at exactly the wrong time...
Looks like Vingegaard has done to Pogacar as Pagacar did to Roglic in 2020
Yellow, White and Green in that order on a mountain stage. Wow!
lovely bromance there
Poor Geschke. He was absolutely heartbroken at losing Polka Dot. 🙁
A stage for the ages brilliantly summing up the whole race. Would love WvA to have picked up the Polka Dot too as I think Geschke has been pretty average when we have got to the big mountains and it would sum up what a mad three weeks it has been.
I'm afraid I have decided I don't believe WVA's performances.
Wout Van Aert is incredible. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him riding for GC next year. I was convinced he was going to be cooked after the first week.
I’m afraid I have decided I don’t believe WVA’s performances.
I'm not going to go quite that far, but I have thought WTF on more than one occasion.
I’m afraid I have decided I don’t believe WVA’s performances.
There is definitely something rather reminiscent of another era about his riding.
And this tour looking like it will beat all records as the fastest ever.......
I might have had tha opinion had he come from no where.
But wva has been special his whole career.
But wva has been special his whole career.
So has MvDP who at least has the good grace to bit shit sometimes!!
What a stunning stage. The last couple of weeks of racing have been some of the best I've seen. I have to believe they're not all sat around the dinner tables gulping down fresh monkey glands like gels.
Yet another stage that is a total classic before they've even got to the second ad break in the highlights.
I spent a week crawling my way up those climbs. At 6mph, how they managed to do 15mph after a 60 mile run sprint to get to the base of the Aubisque i have no idea
The Hautcam is just a slog fest with a nice selection of grippy tarmac.
For fun they could habe used the tormalet as its only 20mins further up the road.
How, in todays power era a handful of riders can be significantly better than the rest of the best is puzzling
So has MvDP who at least has the good grace to bit shit sometimes!!
It does look like that if you only watch the tour de France how ever
MVdP has an ongoing fairly seriously painful back injury he's had it most of the season it's pulled him backwards in a few events.
Yet another stage that is a total classic before they’ve even got to the second ad break in the highlights.
It does make me wonder if the teams shared the same hotel, they'd be attacking each other to be first to the breakfast buffet, attacking each other to get the bus out of the car park first......
It's also been injury and illness / covid affected but when teams get down to bare bones and don't have the weight of numbers to nullify each other so much how much better the man v man racing gets. Smaller teams?
It does look like that if you only watch the tour de France how ever
Why's that? I watched the Giro, MVdP went nuts with loads of crazy attacks, but he was successful sometimes, others were a disaster, great fun.
Wout meanwhile in Le Tour is sprinting, tt ing, solo breaking and demolishing proven climbers in the high mountains. Doesn't add up for me. Maybe I am just jaded from watching bike racing for decades.
Because his back injury has been a recurring issue throughout the classics.
Wout meanwhile in Le Tour is sprinting, tt ing, solo breaking and demolishing proven climbers in the high mountains.
A bit like pog then
demolishing proven climbers in the high mountains
The only “proven climber” who has been anywhere near the front is Quintana who is old and constantly flatters to deceive. The days of specialist climbers of the Millar, Van Impe, Herrera mould are long gone, (since sky came in) it’s now the big engine and then get a low body weight model, the can climb well enough and manage the flat stages too (G being another example)
A bit like pog then
No, nothing like POG, when did you see him last bang elbows with pure sprinters or smash off the front in Paris Roubaix. Sure he has a great kick on uphill small group sprints but he isn't doing anything like Wout. Sure Pog did some classics, but what did he win? Strada Bianca, that's often been a climbers race, Bernal was 3rd to MVdP a year or two back and he is a pure climber.
The only “proven climber” who has been anywhere near the front is Quintana
Oh come on! That's a massive reach, huge, gigantic..is Quintana the only proven climber in LeTour? This Pog guy is handy, Yates, I seem to recal and odd decent win for ThomasMatinezhas won the Dauphine, that tends to be hilly
I take climber, in the tour, to be the classic climber physique; small, wiry and usually not much cop (relatively speaking) on the flat. All those you’ve mentioned fall into the big engine low body weight model I suggested, with the possible exception of Martinez.
Yates has not had many big wins, certainly not big mountain stages of GTs but has a fair few top tens in one day races and classics. So WVA is just one of the best of a fairly similar set ( still prefer MVdP though)
Sure Pog did some classics, but what did he win?
He’s been on or near the podium at Flanders, MSR, LBL (twice with one win) and a number of semi-classics, a lot of pros would be happy with that for a career and he’s only been racing a short time so far.
I am mildly surprised at how well WVA has done, but having watched him dominate cyclocross along with MVDP for the last however many years, I can happily believe it’s good training not a more old-fashioned preparation.
The number on times that Pogadcar and Vinnegard (sp??) have been called unreal or unbelievable in the commentary over the past couple of weeks is more of a red flag to me
So WVA is just one of the best of a fairly similar set
Seriously?
Proven climbers are proven climbers, that Bardet fella has won the odd thing too
Maybe its just the multi-discipline backgrounds of these guys like WvA and MvdP? Is it possible that the ability/aerobic capability of the guys who ride cyclocross and MTB is having a bigger influence? It's a genuine question as I am no athlete or expert.
I am mildly surprised at how well WVA has done, but having watched him dominate cyclocross along with MVDP for the last however many years, I can happily believe it’s good training not a more old-fashioned preparation.
The number on times that Pogadcar and Vinnegard (sp??) have been called unreal or unbelievable in the commentary over the past couple of weeks is more of a red flag to me
I wish I thought like you, like I said MVdP regularly bites off more than he can chew and comes unstuck and you don't see him dropping Martinez in the Pyranees, after being on the attack for two weeks straight.
Vingagoagoago and Pog are just being GC racers, POG the punchier rider but they are not pushing 80kg and capable of winning full bunch sprints
that Bardet fella has won the odd thing too
Yes very odd and fairly infrequent, other than the title of Great French hope for the tour, to be alternated with Pinot (even though Allaphillipe is better than the pair of them).
No one can deny that they are proven climbers though. Although, maybe you could
A_A - as someone said above, MVDP has a back issue that last year or the year before people were saying would end his career, before that he was head and shoulders above everyone in cx, no bad days.
Sure Pog did some classics, but what did he win?
Pogacar has been at or near the top since he came onto the WordTour scene. Youngest ever rider to win a WorldTour stage race (when he won Tour of California in 2019).
Olympic medallist (he finished behind WvA in the sprint for silver / bronze).
He's won loads.
