2019 Tour de France – Stage 6 – Mulhouse–LPDBF - 157 km

[ppanther92]

Whats wrong with Bardet this year?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ala climbing like the Killer di Spoltore, rather unexpected...

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Ala climbing like the Killer di Spoltore, rather unexpected...

Now watch ASO have no high mountain stages next year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Cicco in yellow! Yes!

And I loved that Gaudu-Pinot tandem

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

Really happy about Fuglsangs performance today.

The steep gradients is not his turf, at all, so losing only 9 on Thomas is great on this kind of stage.

Ciccone takes yellow because of the bonus seconds on the 2nd last climb

Fuglsang should be quite good on these gradients no? Seeing his performances this spring, compared to Thomas who is quite a lot bigger?

They are about equal in weight and height

 

[sir fly]

Was sure Ciccone will show something at the Tour, but I thought it's gonna be a little later on.
Huge result for him.

 

[bajbar]

Re:

Thomas was a total porker couple months ago. Gotta love ineos magic.

Thoud it would appear the boost only works on riders with a British flag :surprised: A certain Colombian didn't seem much improved.

 

[Screecher]

Such an effort from Alaphilippe and for nothing. Lost the jersey anyway. That must be very frustrating.

 

[gregrowlerson]

G's performance was a bit of a surprise, but I'm not sure why some seem to be conceding the race already. The alps are a full two weeks away. Thomas gained very little time on most of his rivals, and the race will be won at the really high altitudes. A good result for Quintana, and Pinot obviously. Nice for Fulgsang, given his stage 1 crash. Good for Porte, given his low key season. And Ineos will hardly be forcing Bernal to race as a domestique yet; he lost what....ten seconds?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

Really happy about Fuglsangs performance today.

The steep gradients is not his turf, at all, so losing only 9 on Thomas is great on this kind of stage.

Ciccone takes yellow because of the bonus seconds on the 2nd last climb

Fuglsang should be quite good on these gradients no? Seeing his performances this spring, compared to Thomas who is quite a lot bigger?

No, he is more of a diesel climber, for the long grinding climbs with slightly lower percentages.

He has improved on the shorter, sharper ones, as is evident today, but it is not where he shines.

 

[Bushman]

Re:

Really happy about Fuglsangs performance today.

The steep gradients is not his turf, at all, so losing only 9 on Thomas is great on this kind of stage.

Ciccone takes yellow because of the bonus seconds on the 2nd last climb

I’m not sure I agree, Fuglsang has been very strong on steep gradients this year. The extremely steep climbs are perhaps not his cup of tea but he shouldnt be troubled by double digit gradients

 

[DFA123]

Re:

G's performance was a bit of a surprise, but I'm not sure why some seem to be conceding the race already. The alps are a full two weeks away. Thomas gained very little time on most of his rivals, and the race will be won at the really high altitudes. A good result for Quintana, and Pinot obviously. Nice for Fulgsang, given his stage 1 crash. Good for Porte, given his low key season. And Ineos will hardly be forcing Bernal to race as a domestique yet; he lost what....ten seconds?

Thomas has basically morphed into Froome 2.0. Used to be a poor climber on high mountains; now the best in the world. Used to struggle on steep climbs; now the best in the world.

We'll probably see him attack on a descent at some point, or ride off the front in a break, or win a flat TT. Not because he needs to, but just because he can.

 

[Simurgh]

Top 15 GC:

1. Giulio CICCONE
2. Julian ALAPHILIPPE + 6
3. Dylan TEUNS + 32
4. George BENNETT + 47
5. Geraint THOMAS + 49
6. Egan BERNAL + 53
7. Thibaut PINOT + 58
8. Steven KRUIJSWIJK + 1'04''
9. Michael WOODS + 1'13''
10. Rigoberto URAN + 1'15''
11. Jakob FUGLSANG + 1'19''
12. Emanuel BUCHMANN + 1'22''
13. Enric MAS + 1'23''
14. Adam YATES + 1'24''
15. Xandro MEURISSE 1'39''

 

[Carols]

Re:

Such an effort from Alaphilippe and for nothing. Lost the jersey anyway. That must be very frustrating.

He still showed more panache than the entire rest of them put together!

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

Such an effort from Alaphilippe and for nothing. Lost the jersey anyway. That must be very frustrating.

Not sure it is an effort for nothing.

He is within striking distance to take it back friday or saturday, because he made such an effort today.

- Tomorrow and monday will probably be bunch sprints.

Actually it's perfect timing, because now Trek has to do all the work tomorrow, while DQ can rest all stage for the sprint train - then Viviani wins the sprint, and Ala takes the jersey back the day after

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

Top 15 GC:

1. Giulio CICCONE
2. Julian ALAPHILIPPE + 6
3. Dylan TEUNS + 32
4. George BENNETT + 47
5. Geraint THOMAS + 49
6. Egan BERNAL + 53
7. Thibaut PINOT + 58
8. Steven KRUIJSWIJK + 1'04''
9. Michael WOODS + 1'13''
10. Rigoberto URAN + 1'15''
11. Jakob FUGLSANG + 1'19''
12. Emanuel BUCHMANN + 1'22''
13. Enric MAS + 1'23''
14. Adam YATES + 1'24''
15. Xandro MEURISSE 1'39''

Ineos, Jumbo and EF perfectly positioned, to be able to do 1-2 punches in later mountain stages.

 

[yaco]

Ineos not strong today - It was noticeable that Valverde was riding faster than Kwiatkowski on the final climb - Will be interesting to see how strong the Ineos train will be in this TDF.

 

[AlexNYC]

Re: Re:

What are the chances that someone like Alaphilippe or Valverde will be near the front before that steep finale? From what I’ve read about this stage I gather that’s not very likely, but I wonder.

Why do people keep wondering about the chances of someone who dropped like a stone in Roche aux Faucons?

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Ineos not strong today - It was noticeable that Valverde was riding faster than Kwiatkowski on the final climb - Will be interesting to see how strong the Ineos train will be in this TDF.

Pinot looks a good addition to the train though.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

G's performance was a bit of a surprise, but I'm not sure why some seem to be conceding the race already. The alps are a full two weeks away. Thomas gained very little time on most of his rivals, and the race will be won at the really high altitudes. A good result for Quintana, and Pinot obviously. Nice for Fulgsang, given his stage 1 crash. Good for Porte, given his low key season. And Ineos will hardly be forcing Bernal to race as a domestique yet; he lost what....ten seconds?

I hope you're right. With Ineos' mountain doms appearing weak, they may feel the need to recruit him at some point.

 

[movingtarget]

Thomas looked strong but the team didn't. Bardet disappointed yet again. Nibali's questions are answered same with Uran. Solid rides by Quintana, Fuglsang and Porte. Pinot looking strong. Not the right type of finish for Stephen K. Excellent rides by the winner and Ciccone.

 

[fuiers]

Looks like everybody here is having to much hard time. I myself missed the hole stage because I have to work. But firstly I wanna congratulate Teuns. Secondly well done Ciccone again. This guy is dynamite. Surely nobody picked him to wear Yellow jersey and Teuns to win the stage. Oh I do love this sport.

 

[Põhja Konn]

I actually think the gravel part made it more suitable to Thomas when compared to the purer climbers like Bernal and Quintana. He has shown several times the gradients are not a problem since becoming a GC rider. It could well be a different story when climbing repeatedly over 2000m and up against lightweight altitude natives. Still, I won't get my hopes up too much.

 

[SafeBet]

After reading the comments I understand this climb apparently didn't suit any of the best climbers in this year's Tour de France.
Amazing.

 

[Poursuivant]

Alaphilippe is a beast