The big stage in the Pyrenees. The breakaway has a good chance today and the first hour or more should be lively. Those wanting to win the stage will be active and look for teams with GC contenders trying to place riders in the move.
La dépêche du Midi: Baptiste Veistroffer attacked at KM0. Had he read his Dumas and was ready to pay tribute to the Musketeers who came from this region, more so since the logo of Intermarché supermarkets was long a mousquetaire? No, he’s just a breakaway specialist and now he’s no longer able to chaperone Arnaud De Lie what else can they do?
Alpecin-Premiertech and Soudal-Quickstep chased. It was only later when Veistroffer was caught that suddenly many teams appeared on the front of the bunch to set up their sprint. There was a crash with 5.5km to go and towards the front of the bunch, Tim Merlier was ok but most of his lead-out train was derailed. Torsten Træen was among those who fell before the 5km rule applied but he made in back while Jonas Vingegaard was left chasing too.
The bunch was strung out in the streets of Pau. This happened last time in 2024 too, big boulevards but the nervous riders and some kinks in the route made this a hectic final with splits appearing.
In the finishing straight XDS-Astana had their lead-out in place but while Max Kanter was ready to sprint for them, Olav Kooij had got onto his wheel after overtaking a series of riders in the final 1,500m. Kooij seemed to be itching to start his sprint but waited, all while predicted rivals like Philipsen, Girmay and Merlier were several wheels back and not in the match. Kooij went with 200m to go and was well clear for his first Tour stage win.
Pressure relief for Decathlon-CMA CGM? Yes, in part because bringing Kooij to the Tour came at the expense of support for Seixas and had they not got a sprint win they’d face questions. But hopes are still high for more. With Kooij’s performance this could follow.
The Route: 186km and 4,100m of vertical gain. The roads from Pau via Lourdes to Arreau at the foot of the Col d’Aspin are familiar from many past editions of the Tour.
The Aspin is climbed via the harder side, 12km at 6.5%, a gentle average but it’s because it’s got a soft start out of the valley before the hairpins come and then it’s often 7-8%. The descent is more gentle and takes the riders to the foot of the Tourmalet.
The Tourmalet is a brute of a climb, both in difficulty and thanks to the section through La Mongie for the architecture too. It’s a known quantity, there’s no room for surprises. The descent to Luz is fast, with long straight sections which make it harder for a dropped rider to come back as they can’t hope to exploit the corners to work their way back.
The Finish: a gradual climb up a valley. This is the first time the Tour has finished here. There is a steep kick along the way at the Chaos de Coumély – named after a rockfall where boulders line the road – and more than the 6% on the profile above.
Once in the village of Gavarnie the route bends to the right to cross a bridge and then another right turn. Nothing too sharp but if a group arrives worth planning for and it’s flatter.
The Contenders: Tadej Pogačar (UAE) is the obvious base case. If there are attacks on the Tourmalet he might be the one making them as he could set a pace to drop everyone and with his rivals out of team mates he can press on solo. If not, he can win the sprint from a group again. In both cases he’ll hope to take back time on Torstein Træen but keep the Norwegian in yellow as this suits the UAE team for the coming days.
If he comes to the finish with others Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) has a good sprint in a flatter finish. It’s hard to pick other GC contenders, even Tom Pidock (Pinarello-Q36.5) has a good finishing kick but hasn’t looked so sharp yet.
The breakaway has a good chance today and as well as the contenders for the stage and the polka-dot jersey, look for riders from the GC teams to see if they are being placed as potential relay workers. Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) for example could be a useful helper for Remco Evenepoel but if the group stays away he’s handy for the finish.
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quickstep) are two climbers who will want the mountains points today and can then hope for the stage win. Both are quicker and craftier in a sprint than first glance might suggest. Alex Baudin (EF) is similar except his sprint is less obvious.
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Pogačar, Evenepoel, Martinez |
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V Paret-Peintre, Del Toro, Van Gils, Carapaz |
Weather: sunny and warm at 32°C in the valleys. There’s a risk of clouds building and thunderstorms later on.
TV: KM0 is at 12.40pm and the finish is forecast for 5.30pm CEST. The first hour or more could be frantic as riders and teams try to get away.
Thought it ironic that Robbie McEwan and Sean Kelly were chuntering on about how it was so much safer for the GC riders (being members of the sprinters’ Union they didnt think the GC riders should get in the way of the sprinters 🙂 ) to hang around the back of the peloton in bunch sprint stages. Two minutes later pretty much the entire GC group gets taken out in a crash just before the 5km point towards the rear of the peloton. I assume at the next sprint stage the GC teams will be back at the front until well after the cut off point!
I thought Olav Kooij was reminiscent of Cav today. Surfing the trains and picking the right moment to launch.
I know Tadej Pogacar has form for wanting to ride away when experience says ride conservatively but there is the old saw about the first week “you cant win the Tour today but you can lose it”. The summit of the Tourmalet is 40km from the finish that is a long way to hold off the chasers behind even if 20km of that is downhill, the final climb looks as if there is a benefit from drafting so a group of strongish riders is likely to be able to pull back a single rider, whoever they are. I dont see the benefit of rolling the dice so early in the race, this is stage 5 not 13. I would assume UAE, Visma, Red Bull and Decathlon would be looking to put a rider in the break and with the sprinters looking to contest the intermediate sprint we could see a big break going away maybe with folk like Egan Bernal looking for the stage.
PS Paul = Pau
The GC riders in the back of the bunch thing is an interesting topic, perhaps it even merits a full article by our host. Notably, none of the gc riders got caught in the crash, they just got caught behind it. And there was enough road left for them to make up the deficit to the other GC candidates, though Vingegaard was lucky the gaps in front of him were not too big. They don’t care about losing time to the sprinters of course but to each other is what matters.
Not having 3 or 4 GC teams co-competing for the front row seats with the sprinters’ teams definitely makes a crash less likely to happen, though it can never be ruled out. IF (and that’s a big if) the GC teams can agree to stick together at the rear it will be better for everyone at a very low opportunity cost. But it’s an instable equilibrium because if one goes to the front the others need to follow. Curious to see how it will work out next sprint stage
We saw Visma at the back a lot in the Giro. Their idea was it’s not as stressful mentally but they have the kind of riders who can get them out of trouble if something bad happens. So a different risk but a real one. The Cycling Podcast had a good interview about this in early May, an episode from one of the early stages.
It helped Træen yesterday who fell in the crash with 5.5kmm to go but was able to get on the Visma train as it came past and stay in yellow.
The thing with the Giro though is that Vingegaard won it by a country mile. Its no hardship for his team to keep out of sprint trouble. But where the margins are tighter there is less incentive to stay out of the way.
The opening stages of the Giro are somewhat different to the first week sprint stages of the Tour. Mix street furniture, testosterone, fresh(ish) legs and pressure to get a win on the board and you have a perfect recipe for chaos and crashes. Visma’s tactics made a lot of sense in Bulgaria but now, they seem like a big risk, Jonas Vingegaard could have lost minutes yesterday. I suspect on Friday and Saturday the GC teams will be back at the front, upsetting Sean Kelly and Robbie McEwan mixing it with the sprinters.
@JC This year the finales at the beginning of the Giro were more frantic than they’ve been at the TDF.
Similarly, some recent Giro editions required more strain both in intensity and duration to have the break formed than it happened at this TDF.
The reasons vary and some are more or less contingent (heat for example), but the general trend is the GTs becoming quite a bit more similar among them, as some commenters said it happened in tennis a decade ago or with the Slams (I don’t know much about tennis, so I’m reporting what I’ve read).
if Pog attacks on the Tourmalet, I’m pretty sure he’d let Del Toro give it a go first to save his matches should others show weakness.
it’s the first time Pog has ever had a team mate at the level of Del Toro, similar to what we thought Jonas had with Roglic before he retired in ’22, and you get the feeling Pog will enjoy using his domestique as they’re so clearly friends.
send Del Toro up the road or use him to test the others legs means that Pog can relax and either capitalise or ride to the finish with the group ready for a sprint.
Yates? Third in 2023. Let’s see where Del Toro ends up . . .
You got it spot on, but I doubt Pogi will send Del Toro on many wild goose chases for the rest of the race. UAE will probably focus on getting him onto the podium. And they don’t need to waste his energy on purely domestic chores.
The stage to Pau had almost the worst scenario for GC riders riding at the back of the peloton: a crash just before the 5km and a delay to restarting. And the time loss between the favourites was…zero. I think this stage actually fully vindicates the strategy of sitting at the back.
Some people are claiming Vingegaard could sit at the back at the Giro since he was winning the Giro by “a country mile”. The thing is, Pogacar and Vingegaard are beating the others by minutes, and the time-difference between themselves has been minutes too. I don’t think losing 10 seconds is likely going to matter much.
Well you are right. Now. Because now Pog, leading by a country mile, only has to follow. And Jonas can sit at the back all he likes.
The first hour will be fascinating. I’m setting my alarm.
The Gavernie valley and cirque are one of the jewels of the Pyrenees – here’s hoping the racing matches its sublime beauty.
The mayor of Gèdre, the finish village (population 350), has said just this. I hope is so every gets to see it and that it looks good on TV as in real life it’s a special place.
100% agree, I rode up there 9 years ago and was in awe. I remember my tour guide saying the tour had never been because it is a national park, I wonder if there’s less infrastructure etc at the end of the stage compared to a normal stage?
Definitely less, but not pared back as far as a Mont Ventoux finish or what you would see on a summit which is at the end of the road. The details are in the roadbook.
The sponsor convoy was reduced to only cars for the final sector after Luz-Saint Sauveur where the race route turns from the Tourmalet descent onto the start of the road up the valley to the finish. Larger floats turned off here and headed directly to the transporters instead of completing the whole route.
VIP viewing areas were at La Mongie (about 70% of the way up the Col du Tourmalet) rather than the stage finish.
Team buses were parked outside Luz-Saint Sauveur and teams only allowed to take two cars up to the finish. Most of the riders would have spent no more than a few minutes at the top to grab a couple of fresh bottles and a whistle for the ride back down the valley (against the race direction) to the buses.
Most of the TV host broadcast equipment was at another village further down the valley. This is a part of the race where a lot of money could be saved by switching to a modernised hub production model – but the politics of the state broadcaster would tend towards old style full OB on site as it gives them a chance to parade a bunch of trucks (many of which would be hired from NEP, Global etc with France Televisions stickers on them) around the country for a month.
We could get a couple-three races out of this stage. Would love to see the yellow jersey placeholder teams duking it out for the honor to lead the GC, fireworks from the GC contenders, and maybe some KOM drama for good measure as well!
Is it my imagination or are the TV motos staying closer than ever to the riders? I know there’s this thing called a “zoom lens” and this other thing called “stabilization” — why do they have to be so close?
I find it a bit creepy … especially the way that they dwell on riders.
Unless we have a similar imagination… I think they make a big difference to the racing.
Tour is a spectacle. It is a race of course, but a lot of it’s audience watch is also because of the whole narrative. And you cannot simply put 200mm focal length cameras on a motorbikes being 100m in front of the riders and make a trilling TV show from these shots.
Long focal lengths also have so called “lens compression”. The foreground and the background looks much closer, flattening the scene and making it hard to see real differences between riders. Although it is used sometimes to make an impression that chase is closing to the escapee.
Another thing is that electronic image stabilisation is much more effective on short focal lengths. For a tele lens really stable picture on constantly changing road conditions, bumps, accelerations is rather impossible. At least not in every circumstance, or to be more precise you need specific ones for it to work. For a smooth footage it would require big, movie style stabilisation rig.
Yes, and lens compression shows that the TV motos are keeping their distance and showing a measure of respect for riders’ safety and the integrity of the sport. This in your face stuff does neither and, as Cadence66 puts it, is creepy.
A point overlooked is that the sprint point is only 64kms in today and well before any of the back-loaded major climbs of the day. So surely sprinters’ teams will be on guard in the first hour or so and no real break will form until they subsequently become disinterested?
I do wonder what UAE will be thinking today. There are different sorts of GC champions. Some, like Froome for example, always saw the first big mountain stage (even if it was stage 6, 7 or 8) as the place you made your mark and then you led the rest of the race from the front hopefully having taken a statement win (think something like Ax-3 Domaines in 2013). Is Pog that kind of GC rider? I think he sort of is as he finds it hard to resist an opportunity. So I wonder if they will at least keep the front of the race in sight in order to give themselves the option if they are feeling good today? I would be amazed, on the other hand, if JV and Visma did the same thing. I expect they are just racing to stay with Pog today on the basis that, in the long run, you can only lose giving too much today.
Agree, the intermediate sprint is often a point to note and the race can open up after. Here some sprinters aren’t going for the green jersey though, eg Merlier has said he wants stage wins and will see what comes with the points haul and he hasn’t been contesting the intermediates in order to save energy. Do Lidl-Trek race for it, knowing if Pedersen sprints then Girmay is probably quicker; or try to send Pedersen forward early?
Put this the other way around. If Girmay wants the points today from the intermediate as his only realistic target on the stage, then don’t Pedersen and anyone else interested in green have to make that first hour or so a race too?
Good call.
A pity they don’t go all the way up to Col de Tentes / Port du Boucharo but finish midway in Gavarnie.
Yes, that would look great but too much for the first Thursday. Now that the Tour has found a way to visit the cirque it is a possibility. And now that the place is on the map for cycling the road to the finish and then the Col des Tentes is a good one to explore.
Col des Tentes is a beautiful road. Luckily for me I will be based in Luz Saint Sauveur for a week next month and can’t wait to climb it. Last time we went up was in the car, there’s a tiny car park at the top from where you can hike a km or so and cross the border into Spain. Not sure how the Tour infrastructure would fit in the car park but it would be a great climb to finish a stage on day rather than finishing half way up at Gavarnie.
I see ‘VPP’ has been downgraded back to full name status.
No rings for Vingegaard?
I’d expect the guys interested in the KOM to attack after the sprinters have had their fun. The GC guys to up the tempo further up the climb. Would n’t expect full gas as the finish is after the descent.
Seixas day of truth? Remco day of truth? Ayuso likewise. All three might get back on for the finish, but it’ll probably be a chase to save the day. Team strength will also be interesting to see.
Why no Vinny for a chainring?
If it’s a Pog-led mini-group he has beaten Pog on the rare occasion so worth a shout no? Obviously I’d favour Pog, Del Toro or Remco whether it were a small or a big group of climbers coming in together, but can see a scenario where Jonas surprises us if it were just three or four?
Admittedly though this stage has Pog written all over it.
Remco is the only rider I can see challenging.
@oldDAVE you answered your question in the last sentence.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Pog will attack on the Tourmalet (maybe even taking del Toro with him) and Vinny won’t be able to follow, sadly. Or rather he may try for a while before realising it’s unsustainable for him.
Then the descent isn’t one where Pog is likely to lose much if any time and he’ll power up the final climb to put decent time into Vinny (maybe as the stage winner but perhaps behind a breakaway that he has closed in on fast).
As that’s only a sneaking suspicion, it could be a more conventional outcome with an attack on the GC group coming on the final climb, perhaps where Mr Ring pointed out the gradient is tougher than the route map suggests.
Yes – I do agree, in comment above I mentioned I also thought Pog would attack… as he has! Just thought there was a scenario where Jonas deserved a chainring… he’s still about to finish second.
But yes… I wonder if organisers regret putting Tourmalet in this stage!!!
One of the German commentators made *exactly* that point a few minutes ago…
*(I just realised that when I wrote “Remco is the only rider I can see challenging” before the stage, I meant specifically in a sprint if they came in together and Del Toro led out Pog! Hopefully it made sense in context, obviously not stupid enough to ever think Remco would out climb Pog no matter how confident Red Bull seemed today! Although I am stupid enough to think a lot of other things…)
” I wonder if organisers regret putting Tourmalet in this stage!!!”
Why? This is the Tour. If someone wants to lay down an early marker and challenge others to take it away, that’s a perfectly legitimate race strategy. Does anyone seriously think that loading the back end a la Giro/Fleche would really make this a more competitive or more uncertain race? It’s been clear for a while that if everyone’s performing up to potential and there are no major misfortunes to anyone a back loaded Tour would not change the outcome at all. In principle it might, as that doesn’t test 3-week endurance so much, but in practice … nope. You’d need all sprints and TTs to change that. And if a major contender does suffer misfortune, that could happen whatever the parcours.
The organisers might have preferred to have Pogi less than one minute ahead until the third week. I don’t think they anticipated that Pogi would win by (nearly) 3 mins.
KevinR, mate, do you have a crystal ball? I’m reading these comments after the stage and you must be pretty chuffed with your prediction 🙂
Ha ha! I wish I did – I’d be rich beyond measure!
The race probably answered yor question.
From the very first days, even with a small sample of stages, it was clear that Pogačar was by far the strongest in the field. While he might allow a breakaway to succeed, he would never let Jonas get away. And in a 1-1 Pogačar 2.0 will win 99 out of 100 times. Mr Ring called it correctly.
Barring an accident, there is no way TP would be beaten by JV today.
Putting aside the complicated relationship between the Tour and Parcs Nationaux for a minute this is an outstandingly beautiful area. The overhead shots of the cirque de Troumouse and the Col du Tentes should be absolutely stunning.
I do feel that the stage has been a bit de-fanged by the finishing 20km.
Maybe the organisers didn’t want huge time gaps in the first week but I feel it might be a disappointing finish.
Half-way through the stage with only one rider a minute up the road I’m increasingly inclined to agree with your last sentence. It’s surely too late now for any satellite riders to get over the Tourmalet ahead of the GC group so I wonder if all the main GC contenders will just look at each other once they’ve dropped the also rans.
Evidently Pogacar decided any satellite riders were unnecessary!
Still a long way to Paris and yet, it was fun while it lasted.
I’ve never been more eager for an era to come to an end…
I suspect you’ll be in the vast majority.
So I’ll just register my amazement and awe, I love what we’re seeing.
I do not think I’ll ever see this kind of talent in my life again so trying to savour every second.
But fully respect those who disagree.
Everyone can have different tastes, that’s fine.
But a request not to do the annual “trial by blog comments” which normally inform us about the thinking of the poster more than the state of the sport and just raises temperatures even further rather than enlightens.
Ideally if you feel the urge to libel someone you can do it elsewhere. Easier to zap comments than see the equivalent of a bar brawl break out.
I completely respect your perspective, and I realize my point is a bit unfair to Pogacar, but at the moment the Tour feels completely one-dimensional.
I’ll wish you all a good Tour regardless.
Likewise!
I’m quite interested to see how this era will affect the future tours when we get our next champion, how they’ll draw routes etc. Although today’s ride will also be interesting to see how it affects those anticipating the coming Seixas era, including me, I expected him to be a touch higher today – admittedly he’s still very young and it’s sweltering so don’t think anyone should read too much into it.
Good ride from Lenny Martinez as well as Ayuso and Skjelmose.
Feel sorry for Jonas, he seemed to implode a bit toward the end and was only 19seconds ahead of the chasing group.
What an earth do they do with Remco and Lipowitz now?? They seem to both be heading to 4th and 5th or somewhere similar in top10 with neither likely to land the podium nor willing/able to help the other to do so? Odd team dynamics.
Jonas was a monstre, considering his characteristics and the final climb’s. More than him imploding, I have the feeling that it’s that the chasing group, not having faced a TT mode, but rather a series of turns and quite tactical ones, too, which had the freshness for a final explosive burst.
@gabriele
I agree, but it’s also a bit deflating that even Vingegaard’s monster climbing performance couldn’t chip away at Pogi’s lead. I like Pogi, and it’s an absolute privilege to follow his performances, but I was hoping for a closer race than this.
@oldDAVE Everyone seems to be all too willing to annoint Seixas as the next dominant GT champion in the Froome/Pog mould. There’s a long way to go and a lot can happen before then – just ask Remco (and he’s managed to win 1).
I actually agree with Gabriele. Given how light Vingegaard is, he did an outstanding performance to stay away on only a 4 percent slope against several riders in G3. The extraordinary performance of Pogacar means we are not giving Vingegaard enough credit for his race today.
Michael, OldDave.
We should be aware that there is a big difference between “enthusiasts” and more casual fans (who make up the vast majority of the viewing public). For more casual fans, watching Pogi win is hugely exciting. Races with Pogacar in them and winning them get the best viewing figures.
Well, the Sky era wasn’t great either, but I have to agree, it is a horror show, especially with the amount of suspicious characters around him.
You and me both.
It’s bonkers that Remco got dropped then once he catches up is willing to do the work of chasing… unless he’s happy to work for Lipowitz now? But I assume it’s more his pride, but if he went backwards from Del Toro, Lipowtiz and Seixas up the Tourmalet, you’d suspect those were his real competition for a podium comes the big climbing days rather than chasing down Jonas, maybe let them tire themselves out?
plus, Pog’s taken nearly 30seconds in the last five km?
he looked like he was drinking for a bidon for half of it?
I’d be fascinated to see a power or speed comparison today between him and Jonas.
It was interesting to see that Pog took more time out of Vinny on the descent off the Tourmalet than he did going up it.
This was mainly on the lower slopes where peddling matters, rather than the more technical section at the top.
I think Remco has done (or still needs to do) some rethinking and recalibration, which could be one of the reasons behind his somewhat illogical moves.
Not surprisingly, he can’t come close to matching Pog, even after a focused 10-week training camp. He’ll likely lose out to Vingo as well, so he needs to shift his focus to beating IDT and Seixas for third place. Mentally, tactically, and physically.
Agree completely.
Today sort of felt like a nail in the coffin for a lot of possible futures.
Exactly. I like Remco—a complete 180 from my initial impression—but it’s pretty clear his planned future got crushed in a UAE sandwich between Pog and IDT (not to mention Seixas), and I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for him.
Where to go from here?
@Ryan
I see two outcomes. If he manage to get 3rd spot in Paris he might still habour a slight hope that he can “outlive” Pogi/Vingo in a few years. If he takes a clear loss to Del Toro and Seixas in two weeks, he’ll likely—and rightfully—pivot to an all-out spring campaign.
this really is my last comment, sorry for going on a rampage…
but:
gap between top 10 at the end of 2017 TDF – 9mins25
gap between top 10 stage 6 of 2026 TDF – 7mins10
meaningless stat but astounding gaps this early in the race.
the future feels pretty well defined right now:
Jonas will not beat Pog again without illness/crash.
He must race for 2nd and win as many races that don’t include Pog while he still can plus nab a 3rd TDF if the chance arises. It’s the time to start thinking about biggest contract on offer and your future.
Remco will never beat Pog before his powers wane, by which point you’d expect Remco will also not beat one of Del Toro or Seixas or A.N.Other, so thankfully he already cashed in and needs to just win as many races as he can whilst he still can. He seems able to focus on TT’s, one days and stage races so he may as well just keep going? I’ve long thought his golden summer will be the high point of his career and continue to think so.
Pog needs to guard against becoming hated and keep himself entertained, I suspect he will not race the Tour next year and do a Giro/Vuelta double instead to allow Del Toro a Tour and himself a rest from the spotlight. It’s very hard to see him not ending his career with more than five Tours as it stands right now, and after today I expect even Seixas fans will be wondering if even he can ascend to this level.
Ayuso, Skjelmose, Lipowitz and a few others feel like they’re destined to be also rans so need to win where they can and cash on good contracts where they can. Great that Skejl already has Amstel, Ayuso just needs to keep going for Tour/Vuelta doubles and hopefully he’ll get the later. Lipowitz should possibly target a Giro in a year that P/V don’t and follow a Simon Yates-esq career.
Del Toro may as well just keep riding with Pog until when/if he feels confident of beating him and only then consider moving team or demanding leadership. I’m pretty convinced he’ll lead next years Tour if he can start to climb closer to Jonas by the end of these three weeks as you sense Pog wants to skip the tour if possible.
And that leaves Seixas. Looking at Pog’s level there feels a distinct possibility it may take 3/4 years to see whether Seixas can be his successor (once we know if he can last three weeks!). I had been looking forward to some iconic Pog vs Seixas wars but today they feel further away than ever, so he just needs to keep plugging away and assembling the strongest team he can in the hope of being the next great champion. If I were him though I’d also make sure to take a giant contract just in case he never makes it to the top, he’d be mad not to take the insurance policy while it’s on offer given what we’ve seen from Pog in recent years.
That’s my take anyway. Sorry to talk money as much as sport but think it’s important in many riders next moves, because in a sporting sense today seems like the status quo for at least the immediate future.
Not something you can trust 100%, but according to the GPS when Remco was pulling he repeatedly put the gap to Vingo down, even below the 30″mark, then when the others hit the front the difference got up again until about 40-45″. Remco’s work kept the group moving fast but also broke its unity and the willingness to commit deeper as some felt they could be dropped. Ayuso was complaining openly just as Remco offered a little sample of his antics, waving his arms like, come on, pull along when he just had thrown in a progression which left everybody gasping. Spanish commentators Flecha and Contador were perplexed to say the least, although they pointed out that it was athletically impressive how much more speed was he putting into the chase vs. the rest.
He obviously had a lot of margin on his group on that terrain, unlike the Tourmalet, as it was also apparent in the final sprint where he nearly kept Del Toro at bay, the Mexican being on paper faster in an uphill sprint but, even more important, able to “rest” on the wheels for a very long while. But… tactics… uff. Somewhere between crazy and strange. I guess that those adjectives are what we’re left with in order to dream something surprising from this TDF. The horizon of possibilities got brutally narrowed down, but Vingo’s performance uphill was excellent all the same, which means that the potential to open up a chaos scenario (with little hopes of final success, but, hey, who knows?) is among the few hopes we can still hold.
I think Lipowitz will outclimb Remco on the steep mountain finishes and could wind up ahead of Remco on GC. That is likely why Lipowitz didn’t want to lead out Remco, assuming he had the wherewithal to do so. After all, even with a lead out, IDT was going to outsprint Evenepoel, all so Lipowitz would ship time to other GC contenders. Neither one gets anything from the endeavor. As far as the outcome between “teammates” It’s really just a question of how big a gap Remco has over Florian in the TT to offset expected losses on the long mountain climbs.
I can’t help but wonder if ASO is now regretting scheduling the Tourmalet so early in the Tour.
Not to take anything away from Pog’s victory, but it does add a bit of a meh factor to the remaining stages.
Yep, I said exactly the same above.
Totally agree that scheduling it now may have been a miscalculation.
I guess they got away with the early Galibier a few years ago so thought why not?
Sure Pog would’ve found another way though.
I have to say, I don’t see the problem. I said earlier on today that a certain kind of GC winner simply monsters the first big mountain stage there is to make the statement. Doesn’t matter if that is stage 6, stage 8 or stage 12. The outcome would likely have been the same. If we want to keep it close then why put any high mountains in at all before the third week? But that would be a very artificial race.
@oldDAVE It’s beyond odd. They backload the big days to the last two before Paris and then throw in an early climb of the Tourmalet that was always likely to make that irrelevant.
That was stunning–the performance and the scenery. What a gorgeous part of France.
In retrospect, stage 6 seemed to be designed for Pogi. I’ve heard that during the Armstrong era, TDF routes were built around his strengths (so many kms of TT). Races that do not play to Pogi’s strengths (MSR, PR, etc), end up being much more compelling watches. I wish that, during eras of dominance, grand tour organizers would instead design routes that play to the dominant rider’s weaknesses. To be fair, that may be hard to do for Pogi.
Sorry this will be my last comment otherwise I’ll be taking over the comments section…
But just wanted to reply:
Agree this route was likely an invitation for Pog to take an early strangle hold – although we do need to take into consideration other factors outside of the strengths of the favourites which influence the route, ie the start in Spain mandating the Pyrennes featuring early etc.
In terms of routes to favour favourites – it’s actually swings and roundabouts, 2012 definitely favoured Wiggins and I always assumed the organisers could likely see the benefits to the race of a British champion riding the crest of a wave of British interest in the sport. Although Wiggo was also a strong contender in 2011 before his crash and has shown his quality in the lead up that year which maybe influenced the route the following year.
But there were also years which have been seen as ‘anti-Pog’ routes recently and likewise ‘anti-Froome’ routes. Problem is, it’s very rare these work as you will still always have an uphill finish at some point and the best rider will usually make the difference. Pog obviously can also seemingly make the difference anywhere he chooses so it’s nigh on impossible to design a route he cannot win.
And the knock-on of that is we see the routes that favour riders far quicker than the routes that did not favour them, and it can then look (when seen from that perspective) that organisers are favouring favourites when the truth is, they are balancing far bigger concerns and issues when designing a route and this is likely a smallest piece of a much larger jigsaw!
I suspect if we asked the designers and they were totally honest, they have more often tried to push back against a repeat champion with routes that do no play to their strengths but this comes a long way below many other contributing factors.
We just can’t see it when they win and win and win again.
It could be made closer. But you can have 20 stages pan flat and just once up Montmartre on the last stage and he would still win. He’s playing a different game and seems somehow to be getting stronger.
The routes had huge time-trial kilometers both before and after Armstrong, so it wasn’t designed to favour Armstrong. The reduction in time-trials is really the result of greater TV coverage and the fact that mountain top finishes get the best TV figures.
Pogacar is 13 stages behind Cavendish, I think. But he’s so good I genuinely think that if he put his mind to it and decided to go for it he could get the lot in this Tour.
Twelve stages now. He’s won 23 to Cav’s 35. So its 13 for a new record. He better get a move on if Seixas really is that good.
What a stage! Absolutely stunning pictures and a view of France that should sell any number of tickets.
Pogi delivered a completely dominant ride, with the LIDL guys performing better than expected. The rest in the top 10–15 were a bit more disappointing.
However, it may have taken the bite out of the GC race, at least for the top two spots. Vingo is likely so much stronger over three weeks that he’ll easily hold off the rest, but #3 is still wide open.And perhaps this, jockeying for the future, is the most exciting part of the remaining race..
Pogacar cut the Tourmalet record by 2 minutes.
Right….
Which means Jonas broke the record by 90 seconds. Etc. Etc.
TNT said 2 mins 30 secs. So Vinny beat it by 2 mins.