Recent content by Extinction

The Tour...which is now looking improbable. Don't get me wrong, because ever since the Belgian wunderkinder hit the ranks, it brought me back to the 80s, when TT prowess, excellent climbing and a penchant for monuments brought us back to pre-specislization, to a more "free cycling", when...

He arrived at the wrong moment.

You can't come back from this, neither physically, nor mentally. It's like a bufalo 🐃 against an elephant. 🐘 One is simply overpowered and must accept it or be killed.

Because Bardet is like a mother, he actually cares when an opponente goes down, like Alaphilippe in the woods in Liege. He cared for Julian at his expense. It's the mark of a great person.

Bardet: a class act.

Remco down! What a crap finish design!

He 'waited' becauses he knew he wasn't going anywhere, didn't have the strength to resist them, to thus save any chance of holding yellow. He then cracked on Superbagneres. Anyway, today is a boring stage, poorly designed.

I think it's misguided to be so worried about a fourth place tt in this race. He's a very good tter, as fourth in the Dauphine tt demonstrates, but Remco may be the best ever in the discipline, whereas Jonas and Jorgenson are each fine tters, especially this time of year. Tadej is likely just...

Hinault didn't wait, he got caught coming down and then dropped on the last climb. Over the Peyresourde, the third climb, it became obvious that Bernard didn't have every ace. He was weakening while the chasers weren't. Lemond won the stage and in the Alpes showed his superiority on the Granon...

Just goes to show you how much the head and handling the pressure counts in cycling. Bernard was such a talented and elegant rider, but just couldn't handle being the heir of Hinault and Fignon. It makes it all the more impressive Lemond slaying the badger on a French team with threats of...

I'm old enough to remember when Jean-François Bernard won the Mount Ventoux tt at the 87 Tour, taking yellow, only to fade in the race with all the weight of France resting on his shoulders.

To the bolded, yeah, he lost time to Roglic on that short rise in the initial Giro 2023 TT, if I remember correctly, in which he otherwise excelled. But I want to see Remco on HC climbs against Jonas and Tadej, before there is reason to believe.

But Contador, except for the 2009 Tour TT that he won against Cancellara, was never up against this lot. Still, Remco crushed it. Imagine, in this day and age, of Evenepole never wins the Tour, which is entirely possible. O mores, o tempora!

You keep harping on Jorgenson and Lipowitz. Are they not extremely talented professionals? Do they not have the right to crush it on the day? Calm down, Pog was good, but not great. Yet the Tour is another beast. The mountains anyway, as Vingo said, given that we have junior length TTs nowadays...

The level is relative. Last year Pog was in an annus mirabilis, but you can't expect that always, which would also be boring. He'll be good in the Tour. Jorgenson is just super right now, as his talent merits.