Agonisingly close for Schultz, I thought he was out of it about three or four times in the last few kilometres but he stuck with it well and almost timed his jump perfectly.
Agonisingly close for Schultz, I thought he was out of it about three or four times in the last few kilometres but he stuck with it well and almost timed his jump perfectly.
Yeah i was gutted for him. It was a fantastic ride. Really well calculated on the long low gradient climb at the end, making sure he was in all the moves that counted. He seemed to be the best outright climber so I wondered if he could have burnt a few more matches earlier to extend his advantage over the group containing Cort before they reached the KOM summit at 2km to go. Ultimately i think it was the 1.5 km of flat before the final ramp to the finish that allowed Cort to come back and contest the sprint. If it had been steep all the way to the line he would have won it.
Hell of a stage today
Yeah great stage. No coming back from that time loss.
The problem for Pog, apart from losing his best support riders, is that he doesn’t handle the heat. The next couple of days are supposed to be hotter than it was yesterday so I can see him losing more time rather than closing back in.
The other issue is that he may have COVID given the outbreak in the team. I know he did a lot of work early in the stage and it was hot but when he cracked he blew up spectacularly and that isn’t something that he has done before. If he had been showing failing form then it would be more understandable but he’s been blowing everyone except for Vingegaard away yet last night he barely finished ahead of the breakaway riders.
Yeah I wouldn’t be shocked if that comes out in a day or two. When he hit the wall, he really hit it.
That was absolutely a great stage to sit back and enjoy. A very good afternoon watching the full replay.
Weird start here.
Either Pogacar knows he’s on the way out or UAE know something we don’t about Vingegaard.
Bling! What a ride! Finally goes on the attack, makes the race and wins. Really proud of that one. I hope he can go on and use that as a blueprint for future results.
Can’t believe it’s been 5 years since he won a TdF stage. I knew it had been a while but that is a ridiculous wait for someone with his ability.
I agree with you about him using that ride to change the way he goes about his future. I think re-inventing himself as a breakaway specialist, a la Thomas De Gendt, is his best way of continued success. In a bunch sprint finish he’s not quick enough to beat the likes of Jakobsen & Ewan and on the uphill drags he’s not going to get over Van Aert & Van Der Poel. He can climb well enough to get over the majority of climbs and could improve that side of his riding by dropping a couple of kg’s that he won’t need if he goes away from being a sprinter.
Yeah for GTs when he is up against WVA and MVDP it makes sense. Though I think he showed at Longwy he still more than capable in uphill sprints without those two. I’m more thinking about the classics that he’s been chasing his whole career though, Milan Sanremo, Amstel and the WCC road race. He has tended to ride them so conservatively, just waiting in the final selection and praying that it all stays together so he can use his sprint. But like you said, he can climb and TT too. He shouldn’t be waiting for the race to come to him. Taking some risks by attacking puts pressure on those left behind and at least gives you more ways to win. That move with 52 km to go might not have worked out if EF riders actually talked to each other, but he took a calculated risk and it worked out. More of that please.
Roglic not starting today.
If we thought that stage in the Alps was good…
Great stage. Amazing ride from the 4 man UAE team to isolate Vingegaard. Thought we might see an earlier attack from Pog on the last climb but you can see at the end he was completely fucked. We’ll have to see how the accumulated fatigue works out tomorrow.
Also a nice ride from Aussie Nick Schultz to finish with the group of guys in the bottom half of the top 10. Nice to see him riding strong in week three.
Yeah Pogacar clearly has nothing left in the tank. Huge effort from his team, but it looks like there just probably isn’t a way back into this.
Class from Vingegaard.
I guess you can do it when you’re 2+ minutes ahead but it’s also a good psychological move. He’s pretty much just told Pogacar that he isn’t worried about him taking time today.
Great tour this year. Very glad I got to spend the last week of it in a decent time zone
Pretty wild seeing the green jersey leading the final climb. Green, yellow and white as the leading group at the death was epic to see.
Was that Jumbo recruiting Tadej?
I find it interesting that SBS are using the 1812 overture in advertising the women’s Tour de France.
Don’t they realise what the music is celebrating?