2023 Tour de France

[Over The Post]

The sprinters will have needed to show real determination to get through the shock of the Tour’s stint in the Alps. They’ll be rewarded with a stage where the route avoids the hills and should facilitate their return front and centre. On the straight final kilometre, they’ll be able to get right up to maximum speed again.

 

[Orange Agent]

I agree to an extent that Pogi doesn't like the heat but it has been hot most days so far. For some reason he had some kind of tape on his stomach area and like in the TT, the colour in his face seems off. The post-race commentary of the TT on some of the pods has been interesting and might take a while to die down. Jumbo riders have produced 2 ITT's this season that have been far and away above what anybody else can do.

 

[Forward Press]

Been still somewhat following the Tour, this is a post on r/peloton about the ITT:

Insane time trial from Vingegaard. A top comment from the thread:

Trying to put this performance into perspective: A guy who's as good a climber as he is a time trialist. Who is being compared to Eddy Merckx in a way that only Hinault ever was, who 2 days ago rode the Joux-Plane faster than Pantani - most people's vote for the best climber of all time - ever did, went out and did a time trial that does all those accolades justice.

And still he was pummeled.

The greatest TT performance I knew of was Rominger at the Tour de Romandie where he put 3.8s per km into second place. I didn't think anyone would ever match that, or honestly even come close to 3.8. Indurain's greatest ever performance was 3.2 on 2nd place. As far as I know nobody's come close to 3.8....until today.

Vingegaard put 4.54 seconds per km into 2nd place. As far as I know something like this has literally never happened. It's staggering.

 

[largebus]

It was insane to watch live.
A lot of the Jumbo guys who were questioning Pog's performance on Stage 20 3 years ago will probably have nothing but crickets now

 

[Over The Post]

Wout van Aert pulled out to of the tour a few hours ago to be with his wife who is expecting their second child any day now.

 

[Sleezy]

Love it when the break gets away haha. Sucked in sprinters.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Philipsen's a bit of a campaigner isn't he?

 

[Over The Post]

Simon Geschke is out too.

The stage meanders between the numerous lakes of the Jura, but avoids climbing to the department’s summits. The Côte d’Ivory, located around 30 kilometres from the finish line, won’t prevent the sprinters from taking advantage of a gigantic launch-pad: the final straight is a touch more than eight kilometres long.

 

[eth-dog]

Think that it'll be a hard racing day to drop the sprinters. Expect EF (Cort), Lidl Trek (Mads), QuickStep (Ala), Jumbo (Laporte), Intermache (Girmay) and TotalEnergies (Sagan) to back themselves to win if the likes of Groenewegen, Philipsen and co aren't there.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Think that it'll be a hard racing day to drop the sprinters. Expect EF (Cort), Lidl Trek (Mads), QuickStep (Ala), Jumbo (Laporte), Intermache (Girmay) and TotalEnergies (Sagan) to back themselves to win if the likes of Groenewegen, Philipsen and co aren't there.

It'd be good to see Pete do something, especially if this does end up being his final tour. Have barely seen him all race.

 

[Over The Post]

WvA timed his departure well - he posted a pic to Twitter two hours ago with his newborn son Jerome

 

[largebus]

O'Connor didn't have much hope in that sprint but he telegraphed that attack for about 10 seconds before he did it.

Two excellent stages on the flat, haven't been many dull days even now the Tour is effectively done

 

[Over The Post]

The penultimate stage features an Alsatian menu that is likely to cause indigestion, even over a distance this short, as the riders face a cumulative total of 3,600 metres of climbing. If the contest for the Yellow Jersey is still alive, anything is possible: after the Ballon d’Alsace, there will be an opportunity to launch attacks on the Col de la Croix des Moinats, then a little bit further on when climbing the Col de Grosse Pierre, then on the Schlucht, before then tackling the Petit Ballon and the Platzerwasel... It’s a minefield!



So any one of five riders (but more realistically Ciccone, Gall or Vingegaard) can get the KoTM today!

 

[Sleezy]

That was one of the best post match/race interviews I've ever watched. Mohoric held absolutely nothing back.

 

[Over The Post]

I've watched the Tour for most of the last 20 years, I think the bit that will stay with me forever is Pinot going up solo through his fan club. Just great.

 

[eth-dog]

Happy for Giulio. Deserves it.

 

[eth-dog]

Nice win by Meeus. Groenewegen went too early, and Jasper is human apparently.

 

[Sleezy]

Nice win by Meeus. Groenewegen went too early, and Jasper is human apparently.

I can only assume Groenewegen knows that Jasper has his number, and his best chance is to go early and hope to catch him napping.

Wonder what Pog was doing with 1k to go? Was he really trying to lead out Mohoric?

 

[eth-dog]

I can only assume Groenewegen knows that Jasper has his number, and his best chance is to go early and hope to catch him napping.

Wonder what Pog was doing with 1k to go? Was he really trying to lead out Mohoric?

If he waited 10 more metres he wins by half a bike length.

Yeah, they're great mates. Don't be surprised if Mohoric moves to UAE at the end of this contract.

 

[yaco55]

Seriously, * off. I said it could have been better, Mezgec could have delivered him out with 100 metres to go easily.

Wrong! He lost most of his time in the first week when the weather was hot. He mostly gained time in the third week. He struggles in the heat. It's a well known thing.

Mezgec did not have the legs to take Groenewegen to 100 metres - He's not a machine!

You are obviously wrong about the 2021 Giro but that's nothing new

Is it me or is Durbridge nowhere near as good in the ITT as he used to be?

Did Jayco make a deal with the devil to give Durbo's ITT skills to Yates?

Durbridge was not at the required level at the TDF - The stage which Mohoric won which had Mezgec in the second group and Groenewegen in the third group he failed miserably up the last climb getting dropped - He stays in that group which he should have, then he he can help the second group catch the first group. He was a passenger.

 

[yaco55]

I agree to an extent that Pogi doesn't like the heat but it has been hot most days so far. For some reason he had some kind of tape on his stomach area and like in the TT, the colour in his face seems off. The post-race commentary of the TT on some of the pods has been interesting and might take a while to die down. Jumbo riders have produced 2 ITT's this season that have been far and away above what anybody else can do.

But at the same time, Jumbo has been average by their standards in ITT's in 2023, especially those that are rolling.

 

[yaco55]

That win by Meeus in stage 21 was the second biggest shock result of 2023. He'd never won a WT race, had been nowhere in sprint finishes, despite having Van Poppel as a lead out rider.

It was always likely that S.Yates would do a good result - In his previous four GT's he had 3 DNF's of which two were caused by COVID and one injury and a third at the Giro. Anyway his preparation of not racxing for 3 months worked.

 

[Over The Post]

Anybody else following the TdFF? Or just me and my other half?

 

[Orange Agent]

Anybody else following the TdFF? Or just me and my other half?

Nah I watch a lot of women's racing as well. I love the Vollering/AVV duels. They look to hate one another with a passion, makes for good racing. If the Tourmelet stage is as good as the last stage of the Vuelta this year it will be a cracker.

 

[99 Problems]

Also enjoying the women’s race. Finding SD Worx and their tactics interesting so far. They have a team that could’ve just about aimed to win every stage, but already have they not maximised possible gains for Vollering over AVV as a result.

Will all come down to who handles the Tourmalet best. I do hope moving forward they can get an additional mountain stage in so that GC isn’t essentially decided in the one day.