It's the last day of real competition and @crazy-legs has buggered off to Gay Paris to see the final stage, so here's your daily stage guide courtesy of @nbt
Stage 19 was not quite the easy breakaway day that many predicted, with the break taking well over 50km to get away and quite some time more before the original break of 8 was joined by a few more who kept pushing after the intermediate break, including big names like Philipsen, Groenewegen, Wright and Pidcock. Attacks on the final Cat3 saw the break explode and a very close finish in which Ben o'Connor tried to go long, only to be passed for a photo-finish win. I still maintain that Asgreen was first across the line painted on the road and the camera for the photo finish was a short way past that.
On to today, which sees a short last day in the Vosges mountains - 133.5km over 6 classified climbs worth a total of 37 points in the mountains classification
There will doubtless be frantic action then to get in the break - Ciccone will want to defend his polka dot jersey. He only has a lead of 6 points over Felix Gall, but Gall is top 10 overall so may not be allowed into a break. Jonas is 1 point fruther back, so if the break does not succeed then it's likely he'll pick up the KOM jersey as well as the overall win. Powless is fourth and the only other person who could take it, but he would need to pick up the win on every peak to do so.
So, then who's going to get in the break? If I could tell you that,I'd be buying lottery tickets for the next few weeks and starting my own team.
There are still 11 teams with no win, so they'll be keen to get someone in the break if that someone stands a chance of winning - Uno-X are possibly the obvious exception as they don['t seem to have climbers, more rouleurs and support riders for Kristoff, though Johanneson has been in a lot of break, so what's one more eh?
Ciccone will be trying obviously, and maybe Skjelmose how had a good win at Tour de Suisse
having been denied yesterday, Ben o'Connnor might fancy today more, he's a better climber than he is a sprinter - same for Jack Haig who was there yesterday to help Mohoric
Pidock has said already it's not his best chance but that won't stop him tryin
and of course, there's the local boy, the GOATherder Thibaut Pinot, this is his back yard and he'll doubtless have his fans, friends and family to cheer him on
and to finish, a few from yesterday:
It’s strange that JV has completely dominated the Tour this year, but only has the TT stage win. It feels like he has won more than that.
Jasper Philipsen is not endearing himself to me.
Enjoy Gay Paris crazy_legs.
Thanks nbt for stepping in.
Tinfoil helmet time. Looking at that photo finish. The rear of MM’s bike is at best level, if not behind KA’s which implies that in order fro the front wheel to be ahead it is longer than his. Yet KA is 2” taller than him so their bikes should at least be roughly the same size ( if not smaller). How does that work.?
Jasper Philipsen is not endearing himself to me.
He came across as a nice guy on Netflix. Has success gone to his head?
How does that work.?
I think it's because of the speed he was moving, which affects the shape of things due to the way the photo finish mechanism works: see how the spokes bend. I'm sure someone will explain in more detail
Has success gone to his head?
Would be my guess.
The horizontal axis in them photos is time, not distance*. If you pull the bike back after the throw so the rear wheel is delayed a bit crossing the line the bike will appear a bit long.
Eta and if there is a big speed diffetence the slower bike will appear longer
*The photo is made up of a narrow slice of the view across the line, re-photographed at regular intervals and magically spliced together.
re-photographed at regular intervals
Not sure what shutter speed the TdF uses but I've seen finish line cameras on Tour of Britain running 1000 frames/second.
I'm really looking forward to today's stage. I hope it's as crazy as recent days.
apols for the slight hijack.
as with previous years, ive been away and missed the last two weeks of racing, only keeping up via the daily threads on here (thank you everyone who has posted anything.....)
Im back and will be able to watch todays stage live, but, if i can squeeze in a single ITV4 highlights show, which was the best day?
Thank To Bunnyhop for stepping in to the breach and crazylegs for these updates.
It's given me my daily tdf fix while I have been in Shetland sea kayaking.
I am very grateful, thank you.
@soobalias - GCN YouTube channel has short daily highlights about 4-5mins long. Just go on there
Im back and will be able to watch todays stage live, but, if i can squeeze in a single ITV4 highlights show, which was the best day?
Yesterday was mental all day, one of the fastest stages in Tour history, a well deserved winner and a lovely interview.
Here we go again, as if it even needs to be said who's in the break.
Cheers @greyspoke , I learned a new thing there 🙂
It took me ages to work out even when explained but it's actually dead clever. It's similar to the doppler effect with sound, but in 2D. The spokes is the giveaway, even more so when instead of being spokes moving fast in both axes it's limbs. And these photos are then even more weird as they are taken as the athlete crosses the line then recomposited with time as the x axis which makes it look like a single photo. However as this article has lower down, compare the actual photo as the winner crosses the line to the time lapse composite one, and the runner in second is in a different part of his stride in both, or others are breasting the line despite appearing to still have 5m left to run.
https://speedendurance.com/2016/09/18/understanding-how-a-photo-finish-camera-works/
Bruce
Full Member
Thank To Bunnyhop for stepping in to the breach and crazylegs for these updates.It’s given me my daily tdf fix while I have been in Shetland sea kayaking.
I am very grateful, thank you.
I had a lot of help from nbt :o)
Imo Philipson has become a little bossy.
Carlos Rodriguez has crashed. His face is cut, Oh poor thing.
Sepp Kuss got hurt too.
Some running repairs by the medics
Ambulances rushing to the peloton to treat Marc Madiot, who after seeing Madouas in the French champs jersey pulling for Pinot on the rampage in his last mountain stage, has shouted himself inside out.
Pinot aging well so far.
Pinot has one or two fans by the side of the road and they are quite pleased to see him.
https://twitter.com/itvcycling/status/1682759027225141248?s=20
Organised by the Fédération Française de la Lose in honour of their patron, honestly 🤣
What the hell, i go to do a short job when pinot is 20 seconds in the lead. Next thing i know ving and pog have gone nuts again
Brilliant finish. Fitting end to a great tour.
Just been for a ride up and down the Champs Elysees on a Lime bike.
Found a pub off the main drag showing the stage so got the last 5km. Annoying to see Pinot, Pidcock etc in the lead an hour ago, come back to the race and it's Pogacar and Vingegaard in the lead. 🙄
Also we managed to negotiate the Arc de Triomphe and were only run over 7 times. ****ing terrifying!
Jasper Philipsen is not endearing himself to me.
He came across as a nice guy on Netflix. Has success gone to his head?
More likely that prick of a DS has moulded him that way.
Seen about a dozen different Tour groups riding around Paris and the Champs Elysees. London - Paris, various "do part of the stage" groups. One group of about 15 guys all in full Bora kit.
Slightly strangely, English is pretty much the default language. We've met German, Italian, Spanish, Australian/NZ, American... And French obviously.
And the one common language everyone seems to have is English.
Pinot has one or two fans by the side of the road and they are quite pleased to see him.
I remember the crowds on Buttertubs in 2014 being "the biggest ever seen". This knocked spots off that effort. Kilometres of crowds.
The whole race was exciting. VC at the beginning trying to get yet another break underway (he's been taking over Thomas De Gendt's role).
Many, many different splits and a few bad tumbles, sadly Sepp Kuss and Carlos Rodriguez(David Gaudu not paying attention, school boy error). Watching Carlos Rodriguez being dragged back up and Pidders going back to help him. Warren Barguil encouraging lots of riders. The Yates brothers being, well, the Yates brothers. Felix Gall dragging up the top GC contenders then coming in second.
Too Many special moments to write about.
Very enjoyable for the spectators.
I now need to watch the highlights later and try not to shed a tear for the great Tibot Pinaut.
Has been a spectacular tour.
Cheers everyone
Excellent tour with some exceptional riding. Thanks for the daily thread! Shame about Cav - that could have made it ‘best tour ever’ but it was not to be.
End of this stage was a total construction. Vingegaard sat up to let Pogacar win. All dreamt up by the director sportifes to make Vingegaard look less dominant (and less likely to be juicing?). I'd prefer real racing.
End of this stage was a total construction. Vingegaard sat up to let Pogacar win. All dreamt up by the director sportifes to make Vingegaard look less dominant (and less likely to be juicing?). I’d prefer real racing.
You could see it that way, or JV and Pog had put in a pretty big effort to get that 1+ min back, and JV knows that Pog has the better finish, so why kill himself?
I thought it was a pretty exciting stage. Would've loved Pinot to win it though!
Do we think Cav might return next year? That would be amazing 😎
Barguil parting Pinot, Pidcock and others on the back was nice to see
Vingegaard sat up to let Pogacar win
Not really, I think Ving wanted a real stage win rather than just the ITT that will always be viewed with suspicion, given it was his first UCI World Tour TT win.
https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/jonas-vingegaard-rasmussen/results/last-tt-results
Did any one else see the Yates' synchronised riding yesterday? Proper glitch in the matrix
Did any one else see the Yates’ synchronised riding yesterday?
I pointed it out to Mrs. Slow and she had already spotted it. I suppose if you are identical twins you pedal at identical cadences.