The last mountain stage and a sprint, 130km 95km to La Plagne.
Boomerang moves: little changed but a lot happened. After Lidl-Trek chaperoned the bunch to the first intermediate sprint the racing began with Tim Wellens going up the road and Wout van Aert in pursuit.
Surging out of the group of climbers Lenny Martinez got 20 points at the Col du Glandon, aided to the top by series of sticky bottles from the team car, the last of which was so sticky it stayed in his manager’s hand. This disgrace cost him twice over as going down the descent he didn’t have any food so had to drop back to the car to get a real bidon, lost contact with the group and game over. The commissaires saw it all and gave him a 15 point penalty. The was the first of several boomerang moves of the day where a rider went forward only to go backwards as a result of their actions.
Visma got to work on the Col de la Madeleine to set up Jonas Vingegaard attacking with 73km to go. Tadej Pogačar went with him and the pair floated across the lead group. If Vingegaard was unable to distance his rival, he had team mates while Pogačar was isolated, and all the rest of the GC riders scattered over the mountain.
Only nothing came of it. Like a poker player holding a weak hand Visma were seen and raised by Pogačar and UAE. The optimistic scenario for Visma was to press on and put Pogačar on the rack. But soon the realistic one took over in that the more they toiled they might as well done UAE jerseys as they were pacing for Pogačar and to gift him the stage. The Dutch team ended this phase of the race. It wasn’t quite a boomerang move but signals – unless proved wrong today – that Vingegaard is settling for second place rather than risking it all.
Perhaps sensing that Visma were backing off Ben O’Connor took off on the valley road after the Madeleine Einer Rubio and Matteo Jorgenson. The yellow jersey group behind got bigger as Oscar Onley was towed back by his team mates and several UAE and Visma riders got back.
By this time Lipowitz had counter-attacked on the valley road to the Col de la Loze too and took a minute and looked to consolidating his white jersey and podium place but he paid for the exuberance, got caught and his third place overall went from a two minute cushion over Oscar Onley to just 22 seconds. We saw him making boomerang moves in the Dauphiné, this was a big one and he’ll presumably learn from this but it means he has tried to make moves rather than just following. It was notable that Roglič didn’t wait to help, he was on his way to cracking the top-10 Courchevel after he’d been 11th in 2007… in the Junior Normal Hill H96 competition.
No boomerang moves for Perth’s O’Connor who took the stage, looking strong all the way up the climb as Jorgenson cracked and then the Australian attacked Rubio to go solo and take a big win for him and the team, his speciality is big days in high mountains. At the top of the Loze Jonas Vingegaard tried one last time and got countered by Pogačar, losing a symbolic seconds on the line.
The Route: 95km and 3,360m of vertical gain, the route has been changed at the last minute after an outbreak of a viral disease that is spreading in the Alps has reached cattle around the Col des Saisies, probably with the unspoken part that local farmers distressed by enforced slaughter of their herds would block the route or disrupt the race.
The tricky first climb and the Col des Saisies are scrapped. Instead it’s out of Albertville and up the Doron valley road for 18km. The Tour’s been here before, Tom Dumoulin tangled and broke his wrist on this stretch of road in 2016, just before his big goal of the Rio Olympics where he still recovered to win silver.
The route joins the planned course at Beaufort Col du Pré is probably the most scenic climb in this year’s Tour but the weather won’t show it off today. It’s 12km but the first 4km are up a steady road. It’s at Arèches that the route turns into a small road and tackles 15 hairpins in 6km and a lot of this at 10%.
After a brief flat section around the Roselend lake it’s up to the Cormet and then a long descent, often tricky because the open road with long straight sections encourages speed but suddenly a corner or off-camber bend appears. There’s 25km on the valley floor to the start of the climb to La Plagne.
The Finish: a 19km ski station summit finish. It’s a big wide road but this one is steeper than usual, often 8-10% and this makes it a hard one for that, over 40 minutes and with less benefit from sheltering on the right wheel. After Macot there’s a series of hairpins but they’re wide and far apart. It’s well known to many as teams have held training camps here or at nearby Tignes.
The Contenders: the breakaway or Tadej Pogačar (UAE)? He’s the obvious pick as he can match anything that Jonas Vingegaard throws at him and then distance him in the final 500m. He and his team look tired but this is a last chance to deliver a stage win after the team worked on several days only to miss the result.
Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quickstep) sat up yesterday, presumably reculer pour mieux sauter. Ben O’Connor (Jayco) will probably pay for his efforts yesterday, especially as today’s abbreviated stage will reward freshness.
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain) had a bad day yesterday, imploding and so is a hard pick. But he’s often thrived after a bad day and vice versa too and the short course suits.
 |
Pogačar |
 |
VPP, Arensman |
 |
Storer, Martinez, Buitrago |
Weather: sunshine and shows, 18°C in the valleys.
TV: KM0 is around 2.40pm and the finish is forecast for 5.30pm CEST. Tune in for the start to see the attacks fly.
Postcard from La Plagne
The Tour de France is a palimpsest. The race returns La Plagne for the first time since 2002. Laurent Fignon won here in the first visit in 1983 and then again 1987 but on the day Stephen Roche stole the show. Alex Zülle won in 1995. Michael Boogered won here in 2002. No major race went back until the Dauphiné in 2022 when Mark Padun caused the upset to win here, and take the following day’s stage too.
Back in the 1987 Tour de France Jean-François Bernard took yellow on Mont Ventoux but lost it the following day after being ambushed in the Vercors and this put Roche in yellow. Pedro Delgado was the superior climber in the Alps and looked to be riding away with the race, taking the yellow jersey off Roche at the Alpe d’Huez.
Delgado seemed to have cracked Roche again on the summit finish to La Plagne on Stage 21 only for the Irishman to recover and almost catch Delgado on the line. Roche collapsed at the finish and was given oxygen by paramedics. But as he lay on the ground he winked to a journalist who clocked this was part oxygen debt, part theatre.
Roche gained a few seconds from Delgado following day on the last mountain stage to Morzine. He took the yellow jersey on the penultimate day’s time trial to win the race outright.
Overshadowed by the 1989 vintage, the 1987 Tour had many of the ingredients that make a great grand tour. The yellow jersey changed shoulders nine times and the top four finishers overall each held the yellow jersey at one point, it with a close contest and uncertain until late.
“…they might as well don UAE jerseys…”
And in more ways than one.
Start is put back 1 hour apparently.
Have they moved the print point i wonder. Presumably so since it will be sponsored.
I wonder if the shortened stage makes it easier or harder for a break to win. After yesterday Pogager may be motivated to try and win but his team may be a bit exhausted. Same with Visma lease a bike.
Last stage for any riders not capable of winning on hilly rolling terrain to win so it may be a super hard fought ride to get in the break resulting in a really powerful group.
Sprint is now at the 12km point in Villard. 4km before the first climb.
Behind Pogacar an Vingegaard’s top two positions on GC, yesterday’s stage was fascinatingly fluid and surprising. Lipowitz, Roglic and others looking so strong while Onley, who looked beaten, came back strongly to finish best of the rest. Maybe he can find the seconds for a podium place and the white jersey today.
Jayco’s Tour is made now. Many teams have little to show after almost three weeks. Lots of pressure now and not much opportunity.
O’Connor looked lively and fresh at the post stage interview; so I dont think you can count him out of contention.
I think he’s suited to longer stages with big calorie counts and long duration climbs… but that’s his best area, he’s still handy and aggressive too.
O’Connor looked lively and fresh at the post stage interview; so I dont think you can count him out of contention….
Likely the euphoria of victory. He might feel more tired this morning.
I am done speculating on what Visma will do. They are, to speak colloquially, “all mouth and no trousers”. The team hasn’t got it and “the best ever” Jonas hasn’t got it. Their only capability appears to be armchair rides for Tadej.
So where else to look? To Oscar Onley whose performance yesterday has reignited a bid to get onto the podium and win the white jersey. Only I don’t expect him to do it even if Lipowitz must surely be tired after his overenthusiasm yesterday. We all know that in cycling no effort comes for free. Onley is a rider who paces himself, studiously makes sure not to blow up and tries to find the quickest way from A to B without going too much into the red. Add to that that Roglic will surely be there to get Red Bull (and especially Lipowitz) over the line today. Won’t he? So its all on for Onley if he wants the prizes on offer to him. But it will take courage as well as calculation.
PS Surely Tadej can attack a little earlier today? He probably could have won Superbagneres, Ventoux and yesterday if he had done so before. His new found professionalism of just following is certainly effective but a touch boring! Be more cannibal!
Onley appears to have a more normal physique compared to some of the extreme pared-down climbers. Might this help him in the final stages of a long and demanding tour?
I think Onley is just going to do Onley things. He doesn’t really have much team help and he has got what he’s got so far from his own efforts. He doesn’t appear one for flashy attacks but whether being “steady Eddy” is going to be good enough is a moot point.
He got plenty of team support yesterday when it really counted.
Is the stage long enough to ditch Lipowitz? Onley’s gains were down to him being third strongest, but also because Lipowitz had a sudden rush of blood to the legs. Can’t see him making that mistake again today.
Be interesting to see how both do today, and what Roglič does.
@rimbrakes The stage is so short now that Pog may as well attack from the start. Just for the fun of it as he’s probably bored now of being escorted to the finish by his Visma team!
I think Pogi would have attacked earlier if his team had got him to the last climb in range of the leader-on-the-road. The problem is that his team have not been strong enough to get him into position to launch for the win from 5-10km out. This is where they miss Almeida.
A much shorter stage will make it easier for his team to keep the gap to the break quite short. And they are not risking the whole Tour if things go wrong.
Roche’s magical comeback in the last km in the mist was extremely surprising back then. I’ve always thought he must have clung to a car as he couldn’t be seen with all that fog. Which would be very much in character for him.
I didn’t believe this, as I hadn’t watched the footage in years… but it seems it wasn’t actually misty.
I had someone tell me, the other day, that it’s one of those collective false memories: we all remember Roche emerging out of the mist; but it was, in fact, a clear day😲
Yes, I saw a rerun of the finish on TV the other day and was rather surprised that it wasn’t actually misty.
I think the clouds were too low for any helicopter shots and they were reliant on finish line cameras. So when Roche appears between the cars behind Delgado it’s as though he’s emerging from the mist
Didn’t Roche emerge from the mist when he won a stage in 1992 ? I think this might be the cause of the confusion
There’s helicopter footage of 1987, it was just a cloudy day. 1992 saw almost no TV coverage as the weather was so bad.
I didn’t believe this, as I hadn’t watched the footage in years… but it seems it wasn’t actually misty.
I had someone tell me, the other day, that it’s one of those collective false memories: we all remember Roche emerging out of the mist; but it was, in fact, a clear day😲
Love – Junior Normal Hill H96 competition
I don’t know if Martinez is a fussy eater or the Bahrain soigneur mislabelled all the gels, but it certainly took an awfully long time and much to and fro to finally find a flavour he liked!
Onley said no more Red Bull. Perhaps it’s Irn Bru that gives you wings.
@Tovarishch or Thames water (sometimes used to describe a pint of Courage in days gone by) as he was born in London
Strange tactics by Visma yesterday. They played a tactical blinder through the whole stage to the Madeleine, got Pogaćar isolated while they still had Jorgensen ahead. But then in the valley to the foot of the final climb they just threw it away, sending Jorgensen ahead where he could do no good while slowing so much as to allow A Yates and Navarez to come back for UAE. They finally engineered the race into a position where Pogačar and Vingegaard could have a showdown, and then backed down!
What else could Visma do? Tadej’s best domestique in this race has been Jonas Vingegaard.
My view is that Jorgensen should have continued to ride with Vingegaard rather than go off up the road in the valley approaching the final climb.
As it worked out, half way up the last climb both Pogačar and Vingegaard were in a small group with a couple of domestiques left. Yet 50km earlier, it seemed that Visma had definitively isolated Pogačar! For all the good their hard riding did on the Madeleine, Visma may as well have just sat tight and kept everything together to the Col de la Loze -they’d have been in the same tactical position but with fresher domestiques.
Had the two main protagonists been left alone on the Col de la Loze, various outcomes were possible. Maybe TP gains five minutes; maybe JV gains five minutes, maybe they cancel each other out and come in together. But by waiting for the domestiques to return, Visma changed a situation where they had a chance (however small) to profit, to one where TP had Navarez and Yates to ride a steady pace to the finish, at which point all JV could do was trade blows in the last kilometre. At best it might have led to a swing of seconds, not the minutes they needed.
Yep, their tactics made no sense. Unless of course they actually knew that Vinny wasn’t feeling great or chickened out of a death or glory face off with Pog at the last moment (it would probably have been the former but they have been trying for that chance all race).
It’s so easy with hindsight. Visma have given their all and must be exhausted now. Pogacar, despite being isolated at times, had always appeared comfortable. He could probably have won with a much smaller team, maybe even alone just tracking Vingegaard!
@DJW Not hindsight. I watched the whole stage and those were my thoughts as their inexplicable tactics played out.
@oldDAVE We’re not “hung up”. It is absolutely right to focus on their tactics as they’ve played into Pog’s hands and they were the only way that Vinny was going to win.
They looked “stupid” because they set things up well on the Madelaine (as far as that flawed tactic was concerned) and then let it all unravel afterwards with strange moves and Vinny not moving at all,
Not sure why you can’t actually see that.
@ Cadence 66 and about half of his deficit wasn’t – meaning tactics aren’t a side show.
And it would have been one for the ages no matter the outcome if Jorgy had pulled them to the Loze. 76km attack, and left with just first and second place fighting it out up the entire mountain.
I really think people are getting way too hung up on Visma’s tactics.
We’ve all gotta remember that when you try something in cycling, or even an aggressive tactic in all sport – that when it fails you can end up looking stupid… but firstly what else is there to do in the face of a stronger opponent? We’ve all seen in tennis that upsets happen when a lower ranked player goes for shots and gets on a roll, same with football but equally it can backfire and everyone piles on to say you should’ve been defensive despite that meaning you’d likely have been steamrolled anyway. All the recommended defensive tactics Visma could’ve employed would have been just as likely to fail as what they’ve tried but this version has been a hell of a lot funner to watch so I’m thanking Visma rather than castigating.
All those saying Jorgenson should’ve ridden aren’t factoring in how far to the finish it was and how exposed that may have left Jonas, what we saw just a strange set of circumstances of which there was no great answer for Visma and the outcome was likely the best they could’ve hoped for. Plus every decision they made would have been criticised as they are no good options when your lead domestique is suffering and your GC hopeful doesn’t have the legs to drop their rival.
Let’s just enjoy the show and get off Visma’s back?
We’re all too quick to criticise – I can’t really see any mistakes the big teams have made this year out side of yesterday Lipowitz attack which only looks silly in hindsight and seemed a masterstroke briefly, so this is a hard game! Sport can make you look daft very quickly.
About half of Vingegaard’s deficit was incurred in the time trials so VLAB strategy is a bit of a side show.
My view on this is simple: they had put Vingegaard in the right position and then he simply didn’t have the legs to finish it off. All the tactics in the world won’t help you if Pogacar doesn’t loose his head and simply stays on Jonas wheel whatever he does.
Yes, it must never be forgotten in any analysis of bike racing that if the legs, heart and lungs can’t cash the cheques that the brain is writing then it’s all writ in water.
Yes, I agree. But I am disappointed Vingegaard didn’t at least try another attack around halfway up Col de la Loze. Even if it went wrong, he isn’t going to lose second in GC.
Thought the tactics strange at first, but what else to do?
To attempt to take big time the plan was probably to put on pressure while having a rider up the road Vingegaard attacks on the Madelaine to join Jorgenson, who paces him through the valley. Pogaćar would then have had the choice between chasing alone, and maybe blowing on the climb, or ceding a big leas waiting for his team. Of course this relies on being able to drop Pogaćar, but he’s too good. Jorgenson was the right rider, at the right time and the right place, but with Pog still there all ideas of taking big time had disappeared.
Full marks to the TV director who switched to the heli shot of the Onley Express coming through.
Will Yates be the leader for Visma next year? The Giro and a stage win here is probably their best showing, at least for the more ‘popular’ events. Is JV heart really in this? It must be unsettling for him and the team to have domestic doubts cast over his commitment and long ( well, short really) term career. Is it true that he has said he is probably going to retire soon?
This is not how to build a determined team in most sports.
See also: Roglic refusal to help Lipowitz yesterday. Bizarre.
@Mellow Vinny is miles ahead of the rest (including Yates). It’s just Pog is now miles ahead of him. So no, it doesn’t look like Simon will become the leader any time soon.
Unless Vingo decides to retire. Its been discussed a few times here, and I still beleive he is contemplating it. He won his two Tours and its obvious that Pog is a different rider today than 2-3 years ago and can win at leasure.
Vingo has small kids and a wife who is less than happy with his job. His rash last year was an eye-opener and he don’t need more money.
He might get a job at Danish TV as an expert commentator and let Pog win the next 5 tours.
I still think its premature. Vingo can decide to target the GT(s) Pog doesn’t and he will likely win just as easy as Pog will win his targets. I would think he (Vingo) has at least 2-3 years left at this level if he wants.
I’m shocked that this is a discussion?
He’s 28?
Has he ever mentioned he would like to retire early?
If so we’re just going on some random persons thoughts plus a single quote from his wife? It’s possible, yes but at the same time, it’s incredibly rare for sportsmen/women to retire early without injury or similar. If you just go on the stats alone the odds are stacked way against this happening so it’s difficult to understand why it’s a serious conversation at this point? It would be a huge shock and feels like a waste of time to even contemplate for the moment.
For the money alone… there aren’t many rational people who turn down 4million+ for a few more years of work. Plus he’s next in line should Pog have any issues in this or in the coming years. It would make absolutely no sense to retire unless he’s genuinely thrown by last years crash which there seems to be no sign of beyond a few interviews reliving the moment.
@oldDave
Vingo has – sort of – hinted that he might not be in the game for long. At least to Danish media. The crash last year left a deep psychological scar. And he will likely not spend years just to be distanced by Pog. He may go for a win in either the Giro or Vuelta but I doubt that alone is motivation enough. Pog has transformed himself completely since 22-23. Vingo cannot copy that.
Sorry you’re gonna have to give a link to these quotes @Thomas.
If you’re right I’ll happily relent.
But I can only find one jokey remark similar to Alaphillippe’s comment when he joked he was gonna retire after Quickstep, which clearly he was never going to do. I think you’re making a giant leap that doesn’t deserve the column inches.
I’m gonna dig myself further so if you turn up these quotes I’ll have giant egg on my face and humbly skulk away… – because this reminds me of a few similar comments during this TDF where people might get the chance to say ‘I told you so’ with some flight of contrarian fantasy *because everything’s possible* but if Jonas’ walks away I really don’t think it’ll be any miraculous foresight as this is a prediction based on such meagre evidence.
We’re in a ‘clock’s always right twice a day’ territory.
Pogacar also shows signs of losing some of his enthusiasm about pro cycling, at least according to some interview statements already discussed here. Whether he really has the motivation to put everything into the tour in the coming years seems uncertain to me.
This is madness. You’re going all Mystic Meg…
This is a man who wins most races he turns up at with a huge smile and occasionally gives a flippant comment after a rain soaked struggle that you’re reading way too much into. I don’t think Pog’s going anywhere nor Vingegaard. Yes I think Pog gets a touch bored at the Tour for a myriad of reasons but there’s plenty of other races to keep his interest and it’s hard to see him losing focus with a settled home life, partner who’s a fellow racer, supportive team and monster pay check. He also seems to love the sport, as do most riders, so early retirement seems fanciful right now.
Jonas can win a Giro and Vuelta, maybe even have a go at Flanders, Pog is well aware he’s making history with every race no matter how much he plays it down. We should savour this rivalry rather than hope one packs their bags before their time.
Pogacar always gets a bit tired at the Tour. The race is gruelling, and the media attention he gets is exhausting. My impressions (for what it is worth) is that he is normally in a better mood at the other races. Also, it can not be nice constantly being told he is “greedy” when he is winning stages.
.. and in the case, Visma LAB will have to find another captain. Shared between Yates and Jorgenson might be a good solution.
No, it really wouldn’t – they’re just nowhere near Vinny’s GT level.
Jorgensen has yet to show any real ability for stage races beyond a week and Yates is close to the end of his career.
ROGLIČ contract is up. Have the team told him he’s no longer required and he’s telling them to do one?
Has Vuelta and Jumbo vibes doesn’t it? Only this time Rog says no.
Surrounded by journalists and photographers, Roche collapsed on to his crossbar and on to the ground.
“The doctor puts the oxygen mask on me straight away. ‘Stephen, move your legs in…’ and I can’t move my legs. I can move nothing. He’s trying to put a survival blanket on me, and I can’t move my arms.”
For 10 minutes Roche’s only method of communicating with the medical team was by blinking his eyes. When, eventually, he regained movement in the back of an ambulance, his first words to the frantic reporters asking for reassurance would become cycling legend: “Everything’s okay, mais pas de femme ce soir.”
Great quote, thanks for that!
He also knew that after making all that medical fuss he would be helicoptered off the mountain and would be in his hotel with his feet up hours before anyone else.
For those monoglots among us, Roche says, “ … but no woman tonight.”
Eyes on the Lipowitz Onley battle today. Not had much of a chance to watch either, but seeing Lipowitz in the Dauphine and yesterday makes me think he doesn’t quite have the reserves yet for longer stages.
DSM rode well to bring Onley back yesterday but at what cost? There will have been some soul searching in the Bora bus last night (and also on the Visma bus). I can’t wait to see how the shortened stage shakes things up.
Thanks as ever Inrng for the best sports blog on the planet.
Forgot to mention G who surely will be happiest at the shortening of today’s stage!
Yesterday, I wondered whether there was an expression for an inverse satellite rider.
Today, our host has come to my rescue with the expression “boomerang rider”.
Thank you sir.
I hope Picnic are looking after Oscar. He seems to have gone from being cheerful at the finish to virtually monosyllabic. Whether that’s tiredness or just not liking interviews, he’s only 22 and needs as much support as they can give him. Thank heavens he’s not French!
Yep, I hope Oscar’s recovered as best he can, and has a good day today.
As recently as last month’s Tour de Suisse, he was relatively chatty in post-stage interviews. A whole different level of tiredness now though.
The interviews have occurred as he crossed the finishing line. He really is very tired and needs a few moments to recover.
I think Onley is the rider in the race who has the most potential for the future of all those who are touted as future GC-Grand Tour riders.
Vingegaard doesn’t seem to have had one non-TT stage pre-targeted where his intention was to burn his matches. The reality on the road just hasn’t matched the talk. It’s been a strange tour, GC-wise.
The reality is that Pog 2.0 is just another rider than Pog 1.0 2-3-4-5 back. He is never tired anymore and never has a bad day.
You cannot beat that.
Pogi has been noticeably tired on a few stages (in my view), but Vingegaard hasn’t had enough to come close to dropping him.
Anybody got a clue what Groupama tries to accomplish these days when turning up to a race?
It feels like they are fading away from relevance since the departure of Pinot.
Are they in the race ?
Romain Grégoire did well in the first week at times but there’s not been much else but it didn’t look they were going to much either although Grégoire’s a pick for tomorrow.
Gaudu was supposed to do GC at the Giro but had a problematic approach and yet still went for GC, only to crash and fall ill needing antibiotics and then was too stale to start the Tour where he was supposed to go for stages. They’ve got a limited budget that’s got tighter as salaries have jumped and seemed to have spent chunks of it on riders like Gaudu and Madouas rather than retaining Martinez. With Küng going this will free up some budget and we’ll see who they hire.
Meanwhile UAE just 1–2-3’d in Spain. Serious Mapei vibes. They’ve turned Polit and Navaraez into mountain goats. Interesting times.
Cofidis and Astana go the race for points (plus Cofidis has sponsor interests in Spain) but UAE have to go to races go give younger riders a chance to race when many other teams just sit out some of these events.
We’ll see if Pogačar goes to the Vuelta. It’s the plan but he seems fried mentally in need of a holiday but he can do some easy rides and decide about the Vuelta in a couple of weeks.
Same for Campenaerts, he became super strong in the last 2 years uphill and ripping it in this tour.
Minor race with only 4 WT teams. Who do you expect to win there? COfodis, Astana or even Movistar?
But clinics gonna clinic, I know
Only an 80km stage then ……….
Visma yesterday reminded me of the Finestre stage in the Giro. EF did what I thought was the best thing they could by isolating Del Toro with Carapaz. The only problem was that Carapaz couldn’t shake Del Toro, then we all know what happened next. Yesterday, if JV had diamonds in his legs he could have taken minutes on a solo up the Col de Loze. But he didn’t, so all the domestiques came back and the race essentially died on the vine.
Who is in the running for the Super Combativity prize over the whole Tour?
Maybe it would’ve been MVDP?
Now it’s more difficult… Quinn Simmons has been aggressive?
(I actually feel a bit sorry for Quinn, I know he’s been blacklisted by many but he’s working as hard as anyone and rides with personality. I don’t think we should beat him up for comments he’s made or views he holds that likely many people he knows share when he’s still such a young guy)
I’m pretty sure that 24 years old is old enough to be held responsible for your views.
My understanding is that the incident that he was involved in with Jose Been was a few years ago. Has he continued to take questionable actions since? A genuine question, as I gave up on Twitter a couple of years ago.
He seems to go against the grain both on and off the bike. I’d have thought that France of all countries would respect and admire that.
Ben Healy is also a good candidate, who has done more in the breakaways than Quinn Simmons.
iirc this went through a phase of going to those who were combative but also backed that up with concrete achievement in the way of stage wins, wearing of jerseys and such like but is now a little more random because of the element of a public vote?
Simmons doesn’t have the achievement unless he goes on a rampage tomorrow. If Mathieu is not eligible [?] because he hasn’t finished the race then Healy or Arensman would be good candidates with a preference for Healy who could seal it tomorrow.
But the public vote especially opens it up to Martinez as a consolation prize which would grate a little with me after yesterday’s antics and his very mild punishment. To be fair, though, I’d rather see him get a stiffer punishment yesterday in the competition for dots, and proportionally less in the loss of time and money and UCI points if needs be, but also win SuperCombatif. Possibly that could have been the most Benthamite outcome.
Aaaaand …….. he doesn’t even make the eight-man shortlist. Haimar Zubeldia, cunningly disguised as Jordan Jegat, does though 😕 Bless.
It’s hard to know with the online voting, for example Almeida one the “best team mate” of the opening week… largely because he has a loyal following online and sympathy for his crash. So hard to pick.
It’s too early to say given tomorrow’s stage, and even Sunday now, but so far if I was on a jury I’d pick Healy who has attacked in the mountains and on the flat.
Blimey this is a bit embarrassing, Pog’s on half speed here, this feels like a training ride.
Definitely one of the weirder stage finishes I’ve seen.
Vingegaard wanted the Yellow Jersey to drag him up the mountain then launch him for the stage win? It was a bit uncomfortable to watch.
Yes, so much for going down swinging. VLAB has been disingenuous in cementing the runner-up spot.
Vingegaard ended up getting nothing the whole Tour. Which is what he’s deserved.
Why “deserved”?
He’s the only one to try to beat Gianetti’s Frankenstein. That should count for something…
I’ll say it – he deserves nothing because he rode as though his goal was to prevent Pog from winning another stage. Both yesterday and even more so today.
That was almost depressing to watch. But it is day 19 and people are tired. I kept wanting pogacar to simply slow to a crawl to see if JV would follow even then…
David Millar (approximately): “Pogacar is done. He is physically and psychologically tired and wants this Tour over. He just wants to get out of here.” I’m not 100 percent convinced it’s the case, but it felt it at the time.
Well he did say he wants to go home in the after stage interview (but he also said he was cold so get on with the questions)
Makes a change from Visma dragging the yellow jersey up a mountain then launch him for the stage win!
Exactly. People here do not seem to understand Pog is too strong to drag him around. Visma had to change tactics yesterday and today to try something else, they are doing the best they can and JV seems to understand the situation very well. I think JV has a very good racing IQ, unlike most commentors here who just wants someone to go full gas even though it is obviously not a viable strategy against Pog.
Chapeau Thymen Arensman. The only guy on the final climb who ACTUALLY WAS prepared to totally gut himself in order to win. The others were just holding station.
Lots of people here do not seem to understand how cycling works. Visma knew if they did anything, Pog would just win the stage by following wheels, so they decided to not let him follow wheels to the finish and it almost worked. Visma has changed tactics this stage and last stage knowing Pog is very strong, so they tried other things, and it is what they needed to do since the original strong man tactics were not working.
Well put. I think the people who are complaining about VLaB tactics are those who don’t like VLaB. I also like the “Giannetti’s Frankenstein” from above. Chapeau.
Ben Healy – the hunchback of Tour de France 😉
Lots of people here do not seem to understand how cycling works. Visma knew if they did anything, Pog would just win the stage by following wheels, so they decided to not let him follow wheels to the finish and it almost worked.