Soldato
Yes, they head into the Pyrenees. I think there's a HC and a Cat 1 today.
Pro Cycling Thread 2023
- Thread starter SoliD
- Start date
Caporegime
Its pretty cool right. The peleton is like a shoal of fish. So tightly packed but seemingly flowing as one until it suddenly fragments and it all kicks off.
Reckon today will be a bit of a phoney war with a few seconds here and there, but not much major change, will depend how much work UAE can and want to do, but likely to see Pogacar move into yellow with bonuses unless a breakaway can make it to the end, tomorrow will be a big fight up the Tourmalet, can see Pogacar going for it in the last 3-4k of that climb in an attempt to distance everyone, but think Vingegaard will sit on his wheel, they could potentially ride to the final climb together depending how big a gap they get over the top, it might be in Vingegaards interest to look to distance Adam Yates to ensure they can't 1-2 him in the coming week, then a few easier days before Sundays big climb up to Puy Du Dome.
Soldato
Yep putting quite a bit of time into Pog already
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Why is that? He almost got swept last year too, right?
Soldato
Big statement there from Jonas
Soldato
He had a big crash on the finishing circuit yesterday which snapped his bike into three pieces at quite high speed as they were winding it up
Because he struggles on the best of days in the mountain, with those scrapes and the pain he's no doubt in I doubt he'll be chaperoned to the finish line after today and risk losing more of his team when they can go for stage wins later. They had a few up the road today which indicates he's saying he's not good and to leave him with minimal support.
Heck of a stage, hopefully Hindley can back it up tomorrow
Heck of a stage, hopefully Hindley can back it up tomorrow
Oh did he get caught in all of that mess yesterday? He seems like he has zero luck but seems like a nice guy on that Netflix thing
I have never realised quite how brutal it is. But I have to say I think I've found a new love (apologies to you all as I ask stupid questions)
Soldato
Looks like he made the time cut by 9 minutes
Soldato
Great stage. I watched the GCN extended highlights, which jumped directly to 50km to go... I couldn't believe they'd let Hindley get almost 4 minutes on them?! Is it just arrogance from UEA and Jumbo? "No-one is a threat to use at this point in the race". I mean, they could be right... but Hindley strikes me as one of the maybe two or three that could be a threat? (Now Mas and Carapaz are gone)
Today is a lot shorter 145k so that time cut will be tougher to hit today I reckon.
@AndyCr15 UAE have never chased the race/controlled it like Ineos/Sky used to do Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe talk about this on their podcast yesterday if you have some time to listen, saying they're a bit naive in that regard and rely on Pogacar just being head and shoulders above everyone else. Jumbo were fine as they had 3 men in the break, one of which could have got into the yellow jersey, there was nothing for them to chase. Granted WVA won't win the tour. But sometimes the DS' just don't realise who is in the group when the break is that big. Hindley was my pick for top 5, but that ride yesterday should put him above Pogacar, he's very much a slow burning rider based upon his Giro, but seems to know how to exactly pace his efforts, his win yesterday he never once looked like he was going 110%. Whereas Vingegaard pulled some real grimaces and was on his hands and knees at the end, how that plays out today I don't know, but Hindley has the capability to stay with JV and Pog, just think he'll struggle with a constant up and down pace. But he should be podium now with who else is left in the race. Also Buchman is up there as a card to play, he came 4th in 2019 and has the capability to go for 3 weeks.
Soldato
Yeah, already listened to it last night.
I don't know, I feel JV only showed some strain near the end on the flats when he was pushing to close as much as he could and no-one else would help him
I thought on the actual climb he looked pretty relaxed and in really good form.
Soldato
Nice, Pog taking it to JV. Guess JV can let time slip a bit and not work too hard as he has a minute in hand but it’s good the fight is still on. What a difference a day makes
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Caporegime
Mighty from Pogacar
Wonder how much of that was due to Vingegaard going deep doing everything on his own in the last 20k yesterday versus Pog sitting in the wheels for most of the descent and the flat. Good for the Tour anyway, still think Vingegaard will be stronger on the longer climbs come week 3, but hopefully he won't run away with it. was disappointed by how early Hindley got dropped.