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Oscar is smashing it, what a ride today. To be sprinting for 4th place on a hill he’s never ridden is immense, especially given that the top two are Pog and Vingegaard.
i do think we need to acknowledge that these athletes are genuinely superhuman. I’m in Spain at the moment so doing a bit of road riding, therefore aware of my average speeds. The fact that these guys rode over three hours at 50kmph average the other day is beyond my understanding of physics. Pog today was doing 30kmph on 8% gradient. Then, when they finish, they chat away doing media whilst warming down on the turbo. Then repeat the next day. It’s mind blowing how good these guys are.
Pog didn't even look like he was trying
Even Armstrong had the decency to make it look like hard work.
Pogacar looks like he's on a cafe ride as he blasts past everyone. Other riders drive the group, pull off when they're done and park up, absolutely wrecked. Pogacar goes "OK, I'll do a bit of work now" and sets off like a motorbike.
Top ride from Oscar Onley!
Unless Pogacar literally just spins up today's mountain time trial, I'd say he's also got this stage completely in the bag, the only question is by how much...
Last to go in a short uphill TT is a massive advantage here. He’ll be going for the KOM, but the team can give all the strategy if he’s wearing his radio earpiece - it kept falling out yesterday.
BTW only Mr 60%, Bjarne himself, went up yesterday’s climb faster. 30 seconds faster.
I appreciate that training and nutrition etc have improved hugely, but to have only Riis ahead of you in the times to climb hautacam is just not a good look.
That guys blood was basically syrup from the huge amount of doping
Well done Remco the mental side of getting dropped but staying on it is so hard! Let's hope he has paced it well
He played it very smartly. Ben should have dropped back with him instead of trying to hang on. Ultimately he would probably have lost less time. He's still in 11th though so has a chance to finish in the top 10 having won a stage and worn the yellow jumper.
I appreciate that training and nutrition etc have improved hugely, but to have only Riis ahead of you in the times to climb hautacam is just not a good look.
Very difficult to do direct comparisons cos it'll also depend on how they raced the climb itself, the run in to it, the previous days/weeks of racing, the weather...
Plus as you say, nutrition , aerodynamics, equipment.
But yes, there are constant question marks when the times of an almost completely doped peloton are being so comprehensively shattered so consistently.
I bet Pog + bike is lighter than Riis and bike too. Still, so long as people like Cobo aren't winning stuff I just enjoy the racing.
but to have only Riis ahead of you in the times to climb hautacam is just not a good look.
But bike weights have reduced massively since then so that must have a huge impact on climb times.
Edit: Oops, I see someone else had already mentioned that (I forgot to submit my post and it had been sat in draft).
But bike weights have reduced massively since then so that must have a huge impact on climb times.
As has sports pharma and the ability to pass doping control tests
the ability to pass doping control tests
Was never a problem for Lance etc
the ability to pass doping control tests
Was never a problem for Lance etc
The Tour has been in my backyard the last couple of days. Fascinating watching their pace over roads I've ridden 10s if not 100s of times and raced in triathlons and amateur road races. They're a huge chunk faster.
ITV4 coverage just starting.
Also featured a short clip from the making of Tomorrow Never Dies -- the opening "terrorist camp" sequence was filmed on that airfield. First mountain TT stage for 21 years, I didn't realise it had been that long!
I appreciate that training and nutrition etc have improved hugely, but to have only Riis ahead of you in the times to climb hautacam is just not a good look.
IIRC it was almost 30 years ago. The bikes they rode were closer to something Merckx used than anything available today.
If anything should raise suspicion it's the disproportionate amount of ability he has above the rest of the Peleton. He won the Giro last year by the largest winning margin for well over a hundred years. He might well win the Tour by a similar or bigger margin if he keeps doing what he's doing. He's winning races by attacking from 100km out and riding solo. He's not normal at all, but whether that comes down to genetics, PEDs, or something else, is another question.
They're a huge chunk faster.
Yeah, I remember when the Tour of Britain rode up Greenhow Hill near Pateley Bridge a few years ago. I can barely turn the crank at the steepest points (it hits 14% a couple of times), but they flew up it like it wasn't there.
Plus as you say, nutrition , aerodynamics, equipment.
I'd be curious to know how nutrition has changed over the years, weren't Merckx et al still eating a steak before each stage? Nothing like a vast lump of meat in the stomach to fuel high intensity efforts!
I'd be curious to know how nutrition has changed over the years,
The traditional thinking was 60g of carbs per hour. With the realisation that different sugars (fructose / glucose etc) are metabolised via different pathways, you can stack in double that now and use both metabolic pathways to their full potential.
When Froome did that massive long-range attack on the Giro, they'd planned it all out and had team members all along the route each holding the calculated amount of nutrition for him, they knew he'd need Gel X at this point, Gel Y at that point and so on. It had been scoped out to the last detail.
Plus you've got tech like power meters, HR, cadence and so on which all helps with pacing and fuelling.
It's up to about 140g/hr now.
Rather than go all out, I can see Pog just marking Vingegaard's time today and putting just enough effort in to beat him, so he doesn't risk cracking on tomorrow's mountain stage like he did on Col de la Luze in 2023. He'd be able to put much more time into Vingegaard on a stage like tomorrow compared to today's. However, even saying that I just can't see Vingegaard putting in a performance this year that's going to put him in yellow.
Some discussion that the slowest riders on the stage today could be at risk of elimination based on the time cut.
The good thing about stages like this is it can just potter along in the background while the commentators get the chance to discuss some of the more esoteric factors (nutrition, tech, team structure etc) in more detail. Nice conversation with Ned and Peter K at the moment about rider recruitment.
There's some big time gaps so far! So far it mostly seems to be riders trying to save a bit of energy for the days ahead with a few riders going much harder, maybe as a test bed for their team leaders.
Looks like Vingegaard is planning on going full TT mode.
glad to see Pog in normal gear well ahead of Vin in that stupid helmet.
Looks like a fun event to spectate at. beats usual TT. Can we have a hill climb every year?
No paint on Ving's bike, but that is a heavy helmet compared with the lightest Giros (450 vs. about 250 g). they will have data, but I was surprised to see it. Might be a carbon fibre non production version. I have Victor's Carbon fibre (i.e., lightest) Aerohead 1 and it's a nice helmet. Pog looked comfortable. Enough to win, but I think there was more. Right choice of bike and very aero on the hoods at the beginning.
Nice to see every combination of road/TT bikes and climbing/rear disk wheels. They'll all be at the UCI weight limit anyway, even with a rear disk (always faster but slower to spin up to speed). And they probably all had an enema before the stage started. Every gram counts!
Nice to see every combination of road/TT bikes and climbing/rear disk wheels.
Interesting mix of 1x and 2x as well.
1x and 2x doesn't really matter here, they're on big sprockets and big chainrings for good chainline. Apart from the wall at the end, it's a steady climb, so you can gear optimise carefully and stay in the middle of the block (best chainline and least losses), whilst keeping two gears back for the wall. Choice probably came down to whether you have SRAM or Shimano - 1x is very easy to set up and remove from SRAM as there are no wires. Or you have a special bike for the stage (Pog). Many will have a "climbing" bike, but a lot will just ride their day bike. And all will be at or close to the weight limit. Note that nobody was drinking - all prehydrated to save weight.
I think on balance, Ving had a good day today. He'll be satisfied with his performance given who he's chasing. Worst case was being caught for two minutes. On a road bike!
Was the enema thing real or a joke? 😬
Marginal gains. UCI weight the bike not the rider 😉
Honestly I had to read the enema thing at least 3 times. Really? Is that something they actually do?
I genuinely have no idea. But I'd want a decent No. 2 before racing to reduce weight if I could. At £1/g it's a very cost effective weight loss.
Fair enough, it is plausible for sure
Can someone who is more knowledgeable about these things than me let me know if it is realistic for Oscar Onley finish on the podium?
No paint on Ving's bike,
No paint or bar tape on Pog's bike. He'll be coming over here to ruin our hillclimb scene soon.
Can someone who is more knowledgeable about these things than me let me know if it is realistic for Oscar Onley finish on the podium?
I doubt I'm any more knowledgeable than you but my educated guess (aka what I reckon) is it's possible but perhaps not probable. I'm loving how he's going at the moment though.
Today has the look of "it's too good to be true. . ." (Thanks to the PED abusers of my early cycling interest).
The Tour is in town tonight, don't think I can be bothered to walk in though.
Note that nobody was drinking - all prehydrated to save weight.
On an effort of half an hour you don't even need to prehydrate, the intense effort will mainly be fueled by glycogen in the muscles and liver, and the water liberated from the glycogen burning is enough hydration.
Today has the look of "it's too good to be true. . ."
Thankfully even Pogacar had the good sense to look like he'd made at least a bit of an effort this time around. Although lots of people were collapsing in a sweaty heap as they crossed the line and he just looked like he'd run up a flight of stairs a bit quickly.
I reckon he'll win again on Ventoux. 🙄
I've no doubt that Pogacar fait le métier but then so do the others. The last one who didn't was probably Bassons. That said every now and then a rider appears who has a bigger engine than the rest and performs just about anywhere and everywhere - Merckx, Hinault, Pogacar.
There were riders setting off with non-aero bidons on their bikes, at least when ITV4 coverage began.
I'm just watching the evening highlights. Vingegaard deserves to loose for wearing that bloody stupid helmet.
Yeah, I'm picturing a xenomorph queen from the Aliens franchise with a Danish flag on their head. 🤣
There were riders setting off with non-aero bidons on their bikes,
Sometimes the bikes themselves are optimised for use with a bottle - even a round bottle will smooth the airflow. No idea if that was the case here or if some riders were simply doing the bare minimum to get inside the time cut and didn't really care about the tiny aero differences of a water bottle, they'd rather have had the option of some hydration or a quick douse of cold water.
Since most were on regular road bikes, an aero bottle wouldn't have been worth it.
I'm watching the highlights show now, I hoped there might be more "features" type articles or some of the previous stages and history here but it's all been on the riders.
Is it just me, or is the lip sync WAAAYYY out on ITV4/ITVX?
yeah, lip sync on streamed ITV4 is shite
We went out with the MTB club this morning and arranged the ride so we'd see the Tour go past on the Pau bypass. Nice atmosphere with people being very sensible unlike on the mountain stages. The vast majority of people had got there on foot or by bike. I enjoyed being a part of the procession of walkers, kids on bikes, bikes with kids in trailers, shopping bikes, grannies on bikes on the road back into Pau.