2021 TdF - A really open year again ?

[Mr Purple]

It's always something that isn't going to be apparent for another 5-10 years at least. And I hope that it isn't the case.

There was a comment from a Slovenian to the effects that there were a great many top level Slovenian athletes doing well currently; despite the population of Slovenia being only 2 million. That's an interesting fact.

Hopefully it's only because Slovenia has a lot of mountains.

[AndrewCowley]

Team Sky (Froome, Wiggins mainly) are coming into the 5-10 year window soon. Will be interesting to see if anything comes out. We already had a bit of this with Wiggins and his special delivery.

For now I am happy to believe that Pogacar is a freak. His effort up the Col de la Colombière was astonishing.

[vosadrian]

If the other Slovenian Roglic is on PEDs, he is the greatest actor I have seen. He is the gentleman of the Peleton and shows great respect to other riders and the fans. He also shows great sportsmanship. When he is on form, he is in the same league as Pogacar (and seems to be the only one at the moment except maybe Benal when he is on form). He just seems to suffer from fatigue more than the Pog in a longer stage race. He had the better of the Pog last year except for the TT. They both took a different approach in the lead up to this tour, and should have arrived fresher then their rivals. It does seem to have worked.

[fat and old]

Of course PEDs can never be ruled out, but do we need to jump to that conclusion so quickly?

Personally, I don't. He may (will!) be getting the best that medical science can give, but the young fella is a freak of nature. He's been a few years coming, doesn't limit himself to GT's, and seems to just enjoy crushing the opposition. Very Merckx like imo. Very interested in seeing what the future holds for him.

[warthog1]

An interesting take:

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/de-gen ... de-france/

It was. Difficult to disregard.

[foo on patrol]

Here is the testing that shows Pogacar's lactic acid is crazy low and the research paper links.

https://news.cuanschutz.edu/news-storie ... nce-winner

Foo

[MichaelB]

OK, back to racing !!

Brilliant ride by Ben and a deserved win. Think it’s also amazing the two guys that were with home really kicked in the clutch or bonked. Maori lost almost 7 min and Higuita almost 13 on Ben !!

Also, wonder if there has ever been a GT winner that also then got the Lantern Rouge ? Froome is only 16min off last place !!!

Gotta wonder the mental strength to keep going despite what is plainly obvious. A bit sad really.

[foo on patrol]

OK, back to racing !!

Brilliant ride by Ben and a deserved win. Think it’s also amazing the two guys that were with home really kicked in the clutch or bonked. Maori lost almost 7 min and Higuita almost 13 on Ben !!

Also, wonder if there has ever been a GT winner that also then got the Lantern Rouge ? Froome is only 16min off last place !!!

Gotta wonder the mental strength to keep going despite what is plainly obvious. A bit sad really.

I personally can't understand why, Froome was started. His performance leading up to the TDF was not at all inspiring, so it beggars belief why. He isn't even able to teach the younger ones the art of Team riding in a big race like this or can read what the race is doing, because he is so far off the main group.

Foo

[find_bruce]

Gotta wonder the mental strength to keep going despite what is plainly obvious. A bit sad really.

Sure cycling is not a sport of fairy tales & comebacks are against the odds, but rewind 3 months & Cavendish was a slow old has-been who hadn't had a win in years.

[am50em]

Code: Select all

I think I can talk from personal experience: you don't write someone off," Cavendish said.

"Chris Froome has been a champion for many years and there's very, very few people in the world who can get to be that level, so people will not understand the mindset of the fight to get back to that.

"There'll always be people who can never understand what it's like to be that successful.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mark-c ... struggles/

[fat and old]

Gotta wonder the mental strength to keep going despite what is plainly obvious. A bit sad really.

Sure cycling is not a sport of fairy tales & comebacks are against the odds, but rewind 3 months & Cavendish was a slow old has-been who hadn't had a win in years.

And was racing appropriately, in poo races . Didn't get a call up until it was forced on DQS. On a crappy wage (although the bonus must be good).

Chalk and cheese.

And the idea of Froomay being a mentor? Since when has he ever helped anyone through choice? Does no one remember TDF 2012, him racing away from Wiggans and making him look even stupider than he is? Some domestique The only "team riding" he understands is "I'm number one, you ride for me. White man make big magic".

[MichaelB]

Code: Select all

I think I can talk from personal experience: you don't write someone off," Cavendish said.

"Chris Froome has been a champion for many years and there's very, very few people in the world who can get to be that level, so people will not understand the mindset of the fight to get back to that.

"There'll always be people who can never understand what it's like to be that successful.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mark-c ... struggles/

I get all that (sort of) and the singlemindedness to return (or at least try), but it's not just TdF struggles, it's every race he has entered since trying to return, and if anything, seems to begetting worse - so is he trying too hard ?

I mean, he's 155th out of 164 riders, and over 1:52 off the front ???

Meh, he's much better than I can ever be, physically & mentally, but there comes a time .....

[warthog1]

I am enjoying the commentary team that sbs have on.
Bridie and Robbie in particular.
They are clever, experienced and well informed.
Provide great insight, anecdotes, observations and experiences. Good imo.

[fat and old]

I see that now CN is using a quote from Luke Rowe to push the subliminal message that all is not right. Front page headline:

guys who I'd normally out-climb were leaving me for dead

The actual quote:

So I started to ride like I’ve done a million times before. At that point, I was feeling solid and we hit the early slopes of the first major climb and it was like I hit the wall. The lights went out and guys who I would normally outclimb pretty easily were leaving me for dead. It was over 100km to go and I was on my own.

Non starter.

With all of the innuendo getting about, I personally find it strange that the remarkable return of Cavendish....after rejoining DQS....is not questioned? The reality is that there is a long history of DQS riders that are absolute world beaters that turn into also rans once they move on. Uran (if he holds his podium) may be one of the few who've equalled their DQS days.

[Warnesy]

Another epic stage. Mount V always produces. How did Wout do that?

[MichaelB]

Another epic stage. Mount V always produces. How did Wout do that?

And people question Pog’s performance !

Couldn’t let MvdP win a stage without going one better !

[familyguy]

https://twitter.com/k_asgreen/status/14 ... 01186?s=20

Max speed for the day: 111km/h

[Sharkey]

I really enjoyed last night's stage, having done Ventoux a couple of times myself.

Ineos did their best to make it boring, using up the entire team on the front for 120km (despite not having the Yellow Jersey) without then launching any semblance of an attack. Maybe they were helping Vingengaard out. It's a shame his own team won't ride for him like Ineos did.

[find_bruce]

Second in a flat sprint stage, winner twice over Mont Ventoux, phenomenal.

A good day for JV - great to see Vingegaard attacking Pogacar and making it stick, just a shame he couldn't quite catch Elissonde and Mollema as he probably could have kept away.

Pity about O'Connor, but the sort of effort he put in to win stage 9 often comes with a price. Nearly 6 minutes down, but he's not that far off the podium.

Ineos did their best to make it boring, using up the entire team on the front for 120km (despite not having the Yellow Jersey) without then launching any semblance of an attack. Maybe they were helping Vingengaard out. It's a shame his own team won't ride for him like Ineos did.

I thought Thomas was celebrating the fact that he could stick with the peleton, at least until the road went uphill

[Sharkey]

I thought Thomas was celebrating the fact that he could stick with the peleton, at least until the road went uphill

When Ineos went to the front well before even starting the first accent at Sault the break was 1:30 ahead. When the peloton reached the official start of the second accent at the bend at Saint Esteve the gap was out to 5:00. It was only then that they started to reduce the gap.

[Warnesy]

I haven’t read anywhere what Ineos were playing at. Did seem odd…

[Sharkey]

I haven’t read anywhere what Ineos were playing at. Did seem odd…

The only analysis that makes any sense was from Brian Smith on Eurosport/GCN. The gist of what he said was if UAE were on the front they would not have had a problem letting the break get out to 10 or 15 minutes. The fact that Ineos went to the front would indicate they were trying to keep the break closer because they wanted Carapaz to win the stage. However they did not do a great job of that.

[NASHIE]

I haven’t read anywhere what Ineos were playing at. Did seem odd…

The only analysis that makes any sense was from Brian Smith on Eurosport/GCN. The gist of what he said was if UAE were on the front they would not have had a problem letting the break get out to 10 or 15 minutes. The fact that Ineos went to the front would indicate they were trying to keep the break closer because they wanted Carapaz to win the stage. However they did not do a great job of that.

Someone on the SBS mentioned that Pogacar stated he does't like the heat (stupid thing to say). Ineos plan sort of worked, just no one to finish it off.

[MichaelB]

An early night for me as a bit under the weather with sinusitis and a really persistent annoying dry cough.

Watched a bit of initial crosswind action, but caught up with the result this morning.

Great effort by Mr Sweeney, gotta be happy with that.

Green jersey will be interesting fight till Paris, especially if MM can score some more points, but Cav has the support of a strong team !!

[fat and old]

How many sprints left? I have to admit a win on the Champs would cap Cavendish's career, equalling Merckx.