TdF Stage 4: Dax – Nogaro (spoilers!)

didn;t he play football for the national team til about age 13? Or was that another rider?

Adam Blythe there reminding us that Belgian Day was Paris Nice 2021,  not the TDF as I thought, which may explain why I can;t find any mention of it online. There IS an attack featuring a number of belgian riders, might thislead to an actual breakaway? Looks like they’re trying to force something becuase there are crosswinds…

and then it was over and they all came back together…

DId you see the geology segment on ITV4 highlights show?

Sure did, might be a bit geeky but I really liked it.

there’s a bit of a crosstail but doesn’t look exposed enough to exploit

Wasn’t it Remco who had the choice (football/cyclist)?

Wakker blijven, mensen!https://t.co/1NcSmdkJGw

?? #wielrennen #koers #cyclisme #TDF2023 @LeTour pic.twitter.com/puxfPWfKiP

— WielerFlits.nl (@WielerFlits) July 4, 2023

Yeah it was Remco Evenpoel that could’ve been a pro footballist.

Let’s hear it for those participating in a true test of extreme endurance today ……. the commentators:)

ooops 😀

Sta je de hele dag langs de weg te wachten totdat de renners langskomen, donder je in de greppel…?#TourdeFrance #tour #TDF2023 #tdf pic.twitter.com/vbQbe5Fa2K

— Marco ten Kate (@MarcotenKate1) July 4, 2023

Let’s hear it for those participating in a true test of extreme endurance today ……. the commentatorsaudience 🙂

LMFTFY 😉

One of those stages that demonstrates how badly GT stages can be as a spectator sport, absolute yawnfest, wake me up with ~15Km to go in ~1.5 hours!

Go Cav!!

the gate that’s being talked about….

Have they not temporarily removed the rest of the fence and the cycle racks? Seems like the kind of thing you’d do if the Tour was visiting your locale. At the end of my road they removed an entire traffic narrowing section when the Grand Depart turned up and reinstalled it the following week.

possibly it’s difficult to tell/not sure it’s the same gate ?

POV: Riding the stage four Tour de France racetrack finish.#TDF2023 ?Peacock pic.twitter.com/FL7L9X1uz2

— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) July 4, 2023

Ooh, that’s a narrow run in!
Surprised they’ve not managed to widen that…

Going to be two sprint finishes – first one to get through that gate, second one to the actual finish.
20km to go is going to get frantic.

Yeah, looks like they’ve taken the other section of fence and the racks out. Actually looks narrower just afterwards when they turn onto the circuit.

Still nothing happening

That image is here ?

Still nothing happening

It doesn’t look it but it’s pretty bloody quick right now. 60kph or so.

The roundabout caught them out a bit. Rapid now.

Cav’s in a good position, loads of teams now disorganised, Jumbo taking it on but WvA is nowhere.

Jakobsen down and out.
Cav, Girmay and Ewan all through

Dare we hope yet with less than 3km to go? I think I have enough finger nails!

**** me that was insane, nailbiting!
Photofinish time, no idea who got that.

Jasper Philipsen, Caleb Ewan
Cav 5th maybe?

After all that, all the crashes were on the big, wide circuit!

Whew, breathing again. Carnage inside the last km.

Cav was a bit too far back when it kicked off

Good leadout from MvdP.
Found a gap, went for it and had a phenomenal acceleration.

Dunno @klunk i thought he was about right, not quite there, but close enough throughout the last 1500m, then he seemed to lose a little ground, but not enough that would have affected him winning or not i thought. Just wasn’t quite quick enough today i felt.

Cav was a bit too far back when it kicked off

He looked spot on, right on Philipsen’s wheel behind MvdP and then Luka Mezgec got between only to suddenly go backwards and let another couple get in front of him (Mezgec). So then Cav ended up four back from Philipsen instead of right on the wheel, and then had to come round the traffic instead.

We’ll never know if he could have stayed on to match MvdP’s acceleration and then come round even, but he’d have had a chance that disappeared when Mezgec pushed him out..

Looks like the narrow gate was the least of their worries.

Bloody Eurosport put the result on their YouTube thumbnail. I was looking forward to watching the highlights this evening. God it winds me up.