TDF 2024 general chat *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

I’m a little fearful for Pog in the mountains now.

you and him both I reckon.  That wasn’t a very long climb and Vingo reeled him in

I missed it…how hard did the rest of Visma work to support Vingo? If not at all, then I reckon they might just do what they did last time and send WvA on crazy missions again. Could be fun!!

Pog doesn’t have to attack in the mountains. It’s Vingegard’s job to win it by riding Pog off his wheel. Should make for an excellent race.

I missed it…how hard did the rest of Visma work to support Vingo?

Definitely watch the highlights!

UAE sort of managed to isolate Vingegaard but ultimately, the top 4 on GC then isolated themselves, then formed into uneasy and very temporary alliances.

UAE still have the upper hand with 3 teammates in the top ten (Joao Almeida, Adam Yates and Juan Ayuso in 5th, 8th and 9th respectively) so could potentially use those to put Visma / Vingegaard under pressure but Vingegaard showed he’s on a very similar level to Pogacar. And so far, he’s not done any attacking, just been following the wheels but he’s really only shown very short moments of being in trouble.

That said, I still think JV needs to rely on Pogacar having really quite a bad day at some point, I reckon he’s equal but probably not able to drop him to gain time, not without Pogacar cracking.

I think if Pog has UAE defend in the big mountains he should be ok.

Pog doesn’t have to attack in the mountains

He will though, he can’t help himself.

#TdF2024 – ?? Wout van Aert after his crash:

?️ "It is a deep wound that bothers me a lot. It will take some time, but I can continue. I want to try to start tomorrow (Thursday)."

(Sporza)
?: Getty Images pic.twitter.com/UpSLAnOoHS

— Domestique (@Domestique___) July 10, 2024

Expensive bit of kit to be bouncing down the road like that…

That post finish interview was quite the reminder these guys are not robots.

Roglic has had his crash now!

But I understand he is getting given the same time as Remco….   Apparently?   The 3 km rule applied.

On a stage like that I can’t understand why the 3km rule would apply.

Roglic crashes all on his own, and gets given the same time as Remco……….Really?? Having poor skills should be punished…….what a load of buzzcocks…..

No wonder MTB fans take the pi55 out of roadies……

As for Vinebore…..a punctured lung a few months ago, and seemingly as good as ever……Okay….Barely believable.

I broke my sternum and five ribs and was in hospital for over a week with my chest drain. Three months later I was back racing Surrey League. Ok not quite the same level, but he started from a higher level! My only compromise was a wrist splint as I had a plate in it and it had not fully healed.

No wonder MTB fans take the pi55 out of roadies……

A world class mountain biker out on the road earlier ;)

Last year’s National Road Race Champion is out – presumably due to sickness. He was dropped quite early on today, credit to him for making it to the finish.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/worst-day-of-my-life-fred-wright-suffers-through-stage-11-with-broom-wagon-and-misses-time-limit/

This is the way to do it…….

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-local-mountain-biker-jumps-over-the-tour-de-france-peloton-for-a-second-time.html

The look on Pogacar’s face on the finish line today was golden.

If that wasn’t a feeding problem, Pog has a major headache in every mountain stage from now

If that wasn’t a feeding problem, Pog has a major headache in every mountain stage from now

He does, but his team seems much stronger, not sure Jumbo have the firepower to isolate him. Long way to go but he does have a decent lead already. If UAE back it off and let breaks go up the road can Jumbo get rid of Yates and Almeida to leave Vingago one on one?

Does he needs to be isolated to be beaten?
if Vingegaard can gap Pog in the high mountains  I’m not sure Yates et al would make much difference.

There are what, 4 big climbing with long summit finishes left? Yeah i’d agree, UAE will be worried, maybe less if pog ran out of fuel. On that display Visma don’t need to isolate Pog, just get Vingo to the bottom of the last climb.

Thunderstorm and heavy rain now at km36 on todays stage, hope it clears up soon!

Definitely watch the highlights!

Well, that was ‘fun’!

This is the way to do it…….

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-local-mountain-biker-jumps-over-the-tour-de-france-peloton-for-a-second-time.html

Very coincidental positioning of the Shimano posters in the background!

On that display Visma don’t need to isolate Pog, just get Vingo to the bottom of the last climb.

If Vingago tries to just ride Pog off his wheel when Yates and Almeida are still there by going hard up a long climb he is going to come seriously unstuck.

Sprint day preview from Inrng. 3 * cat 4 bumps then a long rolling run-in to the inevitable sprint finish. Will Cav get another? Tadej is already on 12, will he make inroads on Cav’s record? :)

Tour de France Stage 12 Preview

If Vingago tries to just ride Pog off his wheel when Yates and Almeida are still there by going hard up a long climb he is going to come seriously unstuck.

Not if Pog hasn’t got the legs to follow him. You can lead a rider up a mountain but if they haven’t got the legs they’re not going to hold the wheel (Froome leading / dropping Wiggins in 2012 being an example).

Tadej is already on 12, will he make inroads on Cav’s record? :)

I’m just going to say it and duck for cover….

I think pure sprinter stage wins should be a on a different list. Huge amount of respect for what Cavendish does and the bravery of the sprinter (and to win that many you’ve dragged yourself over enough mountains that you are not built for at speeds amateurs could only dream of just to stay in the time limits). But those riders who win them over in so many different ways are in a different league. Mountain top finishes, finishes at the bottom of a valley after the mother of all ascents then descents, TTs.  In ’69 Merckx won all the jerseys – yellow, pocka dot, commutativity and green. And 6 out of 22 stages.

No wonder MTB fans take the pi55 out of roadies……

Do they though, or just the MTB riders who think they’re awesome and in reality they’re probably not. Granted some Pro roadies are highlighted as being poor descenders – in their peer group – but lets be honest, they’re not.

In ’69 Merckx won all the jerseys – yellow, pocka dot, commutativity and green. And 6 out of 22 stages.

Different era though – may as well have been a different sport! I think a sprint win is far more difficult than a TT win for example cos there’s more to go wrong, more people to beat, more people needed to get it right in the leadout…

I can’t see Cav doing it today, not after the lumps at the start and the uphill finish. I’d love to be proven wrong but I think this is one for Girmay.

Not if Pog hasn’t got the legs to follow him

Well clearly, but if my aunty had balls….

If Almeida and Yates are not disposed of it’s highly unlikely Pog will be in any difficulty and even less unlikely that Vingago will ride away from them

No wonder MTB fans take the pi55 out of roadies

Most MTB fans don’t have a fraction of the bike handling skills of the average pro roadie. It’s very easy hurling yourself down a hill with big tyres and 6 inches of suspension. Riding a road bike down a narrow descent like yesterdays at 50+ mph whilst exhausted is a different ball game altogether.

I’ll also go with Girmay today, he’s been the fastest of the sprinters by some margin this year. If he’s in the right place, he wins. Cav was nowhere in the last sprint, but then he might have had a relatively easy day yesterday.

Of course the pros can handle a bike! Five hours a day sat on one, five days a week in training. What is interesting is the disparity in descending. For some, they know it’s their competitive advantage. That said, not sure Roglic deserved the same time for that tumble yesterday.

That said, not sure Roglic deserved the same time for that tumble yesterday.

Me neither but the 3km rule is actually in place on everything except summit finishes, has been for years. I didn’t realise it either! This year, the Tour has been experimenting with 4km and 5km safety zones, basically to get the GC teams to sod off out the way in plenty of time for the sprinters to do their thing.

My only question would be what happens if a rider takes a fall on their own. The rule says that a crash or mechanical in the final 3km and the “victim” of this unfortunate circumstance gets the same time as the rider(s) that they’re with. But what would happen if you were not with any other riders?

Unfortunately, ?? Michael Morkov will be a non-starter today. He tested positive for Covid-19.

Big blow for ?? Mark Cavendish's sprint train… Get well soon, Michael! ?#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/bfpGzLvyIG

— Domestique (@Domestique___) July 11, 2024

That’s not going to help Cav’s chances… ☹️

EuroSport just reporting that Team TotalEnergies had their team truck raided / broken into last night and about 16 bikes taken. :-(

Getting to the point where race organisers really need to arrange full 24hr police protection for vehicles and kit cos they’re easy targets, this seems to happen at every large scale bike race.

Seems to be a fair bit of illness, possibly Covid, doing the rounds within the peloton. Fabio Jakobsen has climbed off, Pello Bilbao is way down and off the back suffering. Obviously Michael Morkov a non-starter.

Bit of a scare for Pogacar earlier, caught up in a minor crash but back up and rolling quickly.

There’s an interview with Cav where he claims there’s a number of people riding with Covid. I think maybe the Never Strays Far podcast, or The Move (I forget which) mentioned whispers of illness with Remco. Let’s hope sickness doesn’t become a deciding factor in the race.

Pello climbs off. I’ll bet it’s COVID and I know how he feels, having been off the bike two weeks. You can’t ride sick. Simple. Even when you don’t feel so bad, as soon as the taps open and multi W/kg are needed, there is no power and you get off.

My guess is that when the 3km rule was devised they applied it to stages like this to disincentivise pushing it on the downhills to force an error. I don’t think it’s working as intended here, but if the rules say that the 3km rule applies to this stage then it’s only fair to apply it. I suspect that it might spark a revision of the rule, particularly since they’re triallng extending it to 5km on some stages.

The rest of the race is looking good. There’s huge unkowns going into week 3 as to hoe Pog and Jonas will respond to their respective approaches to the tour. Remco looks unlikely to win but is still keeping himself in the race. Roglič seems off the pace but not that far off that a small change in circumstance might push things more his way.

They’ve been smashing it – break given no quarter whatsoever, pulled back with just under 40km to go and the bunch still trying to batter it with no real reason. Can tell everyone is getting tired.

Alexei Lutsenko clipped a central reservation and went down, that took out Roglic and a couple of Lotto riders – maybe Arnaud Demare? Arkea rider down too.

Cav seems unaffected so far, he’s still up in the front of the bunch.