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TdF spoiler
 

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

6/30/21 1:50 PM

TdF spoiler

Seems to me if people who want to talk about the Tour post in a thread like this, others don't have to read it.

My only point today is that Pog and VDP seem to me to be huge, generational talents. Who else could get the yellow jersey with a double attack like VDP in Stage 2?

Folks were saying Rog had an advantage over Pog because of the tts.
Did they remember last year? OK, this one was flat. Who cares? Boom!

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

7/1/21 5:42 AM

Even this early in the race, it's hard to see Pog not winning again, barring some misfortune. During most of the TT he didn't even seem to be working hard. I suspect he's one of those athletes who's physiology will be studied for decades.

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LeeW
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 453
Location: near Baltimore, MD

7/2/21 6:39 AM

I agree that Pog looked dominant in the ITT and we all know he is probably one of the best all-around climbers.

However, I'm not ready to close the book on this Tour yet. Lots of "stuff" can happen with crashes, mechanical problems at the wrong time, and crosswinds splitting the field.

A possibly bigger factor is that last year, Pog was trailing just about the entire race and could get away with shadowing Rog and riding in the slipstream of the JV train. Different situation looming this year. IF Pog should get the lead early in this Tour, the breakaways on the less mountainous stages are going to launch and the other teams will look at UAE and expect them to go to the front and limit the break. UAE does not have the horsepower to do this and few teams are going to help them as long as Pog is comfortably in the lead.

I'm still hoping for an exciting Tour with plenty of "twists and turns".

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

7/2/21 8:38 AM

Agree w/Lee. Sans a disaster I thing he will be on the Podium, but not sure it will be top, or really who else will be until I see climbing prowess among the likely candidates.

What a break for Cav that Ewan is out, he seems a touch energized by this for some reason. ; And looking like a younger sprinter quite so..

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LeeW
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 453
Location: near Baltimore, MD

7/2/21 10:34 AM

My impression in the past was that Cav could be quite the dick when he was winning all the time (and even when he wasn't).

Does it seem he might be a lot more humble now (in front of the camera anyway), after hitting bottom for a few years?

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

7/2/21 7:48 PM

Yeah, hopefully the "old Cav" won't rear his ugly head again. I really don't want him to break Merckx's stage win record. There's something that just seems wrong if it's broken by a one-trick pony, f-ing sprinter.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

7/2/21 8:24 PM

I gave him a break after learning about his Epstein-Barr virus diagnosis, which causes infectious mononucleosis.

I can't imagine trying to train and race with the bouts...

https://road.cc/content/news/mark-cavendish-reveals-dark-struggle-depression-272517

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

7/3/21 2:36 PM

That certainly had to be tough and it appears to have had a humbling influence on him. He now seems to appreciate how lucky he is to be able to make a living racing a bike. Hopefully that remains the case.

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LeeW
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 453
Location: near Baltimore, MD

7/4/21 5:49 AM

I must admit that was one Stamp of Authority ride on Sat. Maybe the suspense is over, but I still hope for some excitement. This is the Tour where all kinds of crazy stuff can happen.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

7/4/21 10:00 AM

Pog probably has everybody else dreading the mountains already...

If he stays on the bike, I think we may see a yellow jersey in Paris ala Coppi, Bartali.

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

7/4/21 11:40 AM

It was a more minor stamp today, but I suspected that if anyone else attacked, he would ride away from them. It seems that today he only rode hard enough to make his point (don't poke the bear). With the huge lead he has on all of the (formerly) serious contenders, he's got good reasons to ride conservatively for the next week or so and save his energy for the last few stages. If he can just mark any attacks and perhaps do what he did today again, he'll demoralize the rest of the peloton and they'll turn their attention and strategy toward attacking each other.

O'Connor's ride today was inspired and heartwarming. It will be interesting to see how he fares for the rest of the race. He's not a good TT rider, but perhaps no worse than the rest of the climbers.

Sonny Colbrelli is having an incredible Tour. A sprinter hanging tough on mountain stages...who'd have guessed that? I wonder if he's planning on making the transition from sprinter to GT contender a la Laurent Jalabert?

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

7/5/21 5:59 AM


quote:
O'Connor's ride today was inspired and heartwarming. It will be interesting to see how he fares for the rest of the race. He's not a good TT rider, but perhaps no worse than the rest of the climbers.

On the results of the stage 5 TT, of the riders clustered behind O'Connor, Vingegaard is the only one likely to take substantial time out of him in a TT. On stage 5 he lost a minute and a half to Vingegaard, but only 10 seconds to Carapaz and 50 seconds to Uran. At the moment they're all around 3-1/2 minutes behind him.

It strikes me that the teams of those riders rather shot themselves in the foot on stage 9 by leaving it all to UAE and doing absolutely nothing to help peg the break back.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

7/7/21 4:27 PM

Bad day

Pog drops a few yards off Vingegaard’s wheel, before catching up. I suspect that is the last “weakness” we will see. I recall he had a similar event last year at the finish of a big climb before crushing everyone in the rest of the Tour.

And Wout is amazing.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

7/7/21 4:48 PM

Wout, holy f-ing smokes. He rode like it was flat, nearly.

Height 6′ 2″, Weight 172 lbs

WTF??

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

7/8/21 7:54 PM

Yeah, that was pretty epic! It was good to see Wout and Jumbo Visma having something to celebrate.

Vingegaard certainly has a bright future, but I wonder if he's too small to be anything but a climbing specialist. The Aussie commentators mentioned that the ASO gave him the smallest size white jersey they had and it still flapped a lot when he was descending Ventoux. Dude is seriously skinny!

I'm bummed that Petey is out, but apparently the crash with Ewan did enough damage that he couldn't recover. The fact that he left on crutches is pretty concerning.

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LeeW
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 453
Location: near Baltimore, MD

7/9/21 5:46 AM

I don't know about his future accomplishments, but Vingegaard did finish 3rd in the stage 5 ITT and beat 174 other riders. The course was in no way a mountain TT, as the announcers were figuring a TT specialist might win it. Vinge may be of slight build, but that stage 5 result would indicate to me he is capable of putting out some high sustained Watts, or at least, has an outstanding power-to-frontal area ratio.

Top 5 TT placements combined with elite climbing performance usually equate to a GC contender.

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