LeeW
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 453
Location: near Baltimore, MD7/17/21 12:15 PM |
Not too unexpected wrt Carapaz vs Vinge. Jonas took Richard by just short of 90 sec in the stage 5 ITT, and this one was longer.
Pog looked like he wanted to avoid taking any risks and just cruise in I'm sure his DS gave him a good strategy talk.
I still don't know what to make of Pog, I first started following the Tour with LeMond in '86 (I only bought my first adult bike in '85 to cross train and give my body a break from running.). I was used to seeing riders like LeMond, Hinaut, and Fignon looking absolutely trashed after attacking each other on a brutal mtn stage. They would look they just finished an ultra-marathon in Death Valley during July.
OTOH, Pog looks like he's not highly stressed on the HC climbs and while he might sit on the finish pavement for a minute or two, he then jumps up and looks fresh as the proverbial daisy and speaks coherently and alertly.
Hoping this guy is a freak of nature with some unheard of VO2 Max and incredible power-to-weight ratio and is not instead on some nexgen pharma that might not even be recognized or tested for yet.
I vote for the first one, but he does look incredible.
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