Critérium du Dauphiné 08/12 > 08/16/20

[Lequack]

Pogacar after the stage:
"Today I struggled with the heat. I probably should have drank a bit more. I didn't have the legs on the final climb and struggled a bit to find my rhythm.”
”I recovered towards the end and managed to not lose too much time. It will be a hard week but I'm confident I'll find my rhythm."

 

[Salvarani]

Alaphillipe is a fighter. He will go as far as he can, for as long as he can, if he finds himself in Yellow again. Not that he specifically will target it or change his training to actually try and win the Tour. Or any GT. It wont be a sole goal of his season. He rides to win every race he competes in. Or at least try to.

He just rides with panache. Should be evidently clear at this point.

And he was just 2nd at MSR, so Im sure he wont give up putting in those efforts anytime soon and start focusing on GTs.

 

[Jspear]

Pogacar after the stage:
"Today I struggled with the heat. I probably should have drank a bit more. I didn't have the legs on the final climb and struggled a bit to find my rhythm.”
”I recovered towards the end and managed to not lose too much time. It will be a hard week but I'm confident I'll find my rhythm."

Remco says no excuse.

 

[Escarabajo]

Yates suffered a setback with illness in July - He's still catching up.

All those 3 have good excuses if you ask me. One is old, the other one came from a big injury in 2019 and the other one is coming from illness.

 

[Lequack]

Two brothers, it's just called Two brothers

 

[Escarabajo]

Do people not think Alaphillipe can do what he did last year again I'm not expecting him to actually contend for the win but the way the route plays out seems ideal for him to take yellow then hold on long enough for french people to get their hopes up before fading again?

Not this year. very hard to get in that form with this year's lockdown.

 

[topt]

Roglic might have the same issue that he had at the Giro last year. But the big difference this year is his team. That would make a big difference. His team will help him save energy for the third week. He will be in better position.

I have a question, did Roglic train outside during the lockdown?

what exectly has Roglic done to be "to hot" right now; all he does is outsprint Bernal

 

[topt]

Yes, he did, the roads were open to cyclists in Slovenia, and the first race of any significance post-lockdown was the Slovenian nationals where he beat Pawg-AKA, Flatbread-čar.

the roads were opened only in the same county you live, so you can imagine how small that is

 

[savornin]

I think this year Ineos and especially Jumbo Visma will be too strong for Alaphilippe and even for Pinot. Really think it will be between Roglic and Bernal, with Roglic as the favorite if his form doesn't tail off... I am Dutch so hope for Dumoulin, but he's not at Roglic's level at this moment.

 

[Poursuivant]

Bernal doesn’t look as good as last year to me, I think he mightn’t podium TDF. And yes, I know there’s still a way to go but that’s what I think - the field this year is so, so stacked

 

[memyselfandI]

Sepp Kuss is a strange rider. On his day he’s one of the top climbers in the world. And then you can forget he exists for whole extended chunks of a season.

He is actually quite Tyler Hamilton lookalike. Vanishing twin, no?

 

[ppanther92]

Alaphilippe is overrated as a climber. Whoever, after last years tirreno and the 2018 wc, thinks he is a good climber, is wrong (imo). Last years tour was an anomaly. Yes, he can win the first mountain stage in a range from a break, but his limits as a top contender are somewhere around 200m elevation gain climbs.
But i like him a lot as a rider.

The thing is - with last Tour going really well GC wise, he of course wants to prove it and he even changed his training accordingly. But this will leave him at average climber level and may even strip a bit from his strengths. I hope he gets that after this year.

 

[Jspear]

Bernal doesn’t look as good as last year to me, I think he mightn’t podium TDF. And yes, I know there’s still a way to go but that’s what I think - the field this year is so, so stacked

He can still podium for sure. His team is still a great advantage over riders like Landa, Quintana, and Pinot who could prove a threat to the podium.

 

[Sciatic]

He dropped to the back of the Peleton, tried to move up but didn't have it and then called it a day. He'll need to perform over the next few days to get his tour place.

I think French people can really put their hopes into the Pinot basket, that would be reasonable and can be fun (also emotional and consuming...) and let Alaphilippe do his thing (whatever that may be, but if I was him I would lose a lot of time on stage 2 and then go for stages).

was there an argument? Or just Pinot with an “eye of the tiger” glare?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1293985673033191425

View: https://twitter.com/groupamafdj/status/1293985673033191425?s=21

 

[BlueRoads]

Love that photo.
Had thought that Alaphilippe was training climbing mostly for WC and Olympics.
Than there's G Martin... a new hope for the French...
Barguil did not look bad, either. Not amazing, but good. But Quintana will really need him, he's his only decent helper.

 

[geisterhome]

Bernal doesn’t look as good as last year to me, I think he mightn’t podium TDF. And yes, I know there’s still a way to go but that’s what I think - the field this year is so, so stacked

Are we overestimating Bernal a bit maybe? What he has shown today and at the Tour De l'Ain was resembling most of his high mountain performances at the Tour last year. It wasn't like he was head and shoulders above everyone else. He attacked at an opportune time during that downhill finish stage to Valloire and gained some seconds, then it was that shortened stage, where he went deeper than the rest of the main contenders, who were led by Laurens de Plus. The entire rest of the race he pretty much did what he did today or at the last l'Ain-Stage.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Are we overestimating Bernal a bit maybe? What he has shown today and at the Tour De l'Ain was resembling most of his high mountain performances at the Tour last year. It wasn't like he was head and shoulders above everyone else. He attacked at an opportune time during that downhill finish stage to Valloire and gained some seconds, then it was that shortened stage, where he went deeper than the rest of the main contenders, who were led by Laurens de Plus. The entire rest of the race he pretty much did what he did today or at the last l'Ain-Stage.

I think the Tignes situation was sort of forgiven, as Bernal was the favourite heading into the Tour anyway. But that disguises the fact that he was lucky. Now this year we're expecting him to be stronger again. It's hard to look past a 23-year old reigning champion, regardless of how he actually performed.

 

[Breh]

Uhm, Alaphilippe has stated several time he does not want to ride for GC. And I applaud him for that.

 

[Koronin]

Well, I'm sure that's not the only reason for TJV's success, but if it became clear that the riders not under strict lockdown had a significant advantage at the Tour after all, that would be annoying to see. I hope it's just a momentary impression.

Not only do I think this is accurate right now, I think many riders more or less expected this. You also have a few riders who live in countries that were fully locked down that didn't do nearly as much time on trainers or rollers as others even in the same circumstances for various reasons. Remember both Sagan and Valverde have stated they hate rollers and trainers. Valverde also said that through the entire lock down in Spain he only was doing just enough to hold an off season base level.
Also there are riders who just need racing to actually build form. They have a harder time doing that with just training.
At least right now there is definitely two pelotons. One where the riders where able to train outside the entire time and the second of the riders who basically spent about 2 months locked in their homes.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

I don't care much about how good a climber Alaphilippe is (probably underrated rather than overrated) but I do know that he is good enough to finish 5th in the Tour without basing his whole season around finishing 5th in the Tour. He's proven to be a better GT GC rider than most without even trying to be that

 

[ppanther92]

Are we overestimating Bernal a bit maybe? What he has shown today and at the Tour De l'Ain was resembling most of his high mountain performances at the Tour last year. It wasn't like he was head and shoulders above everyone else. He attacked at an opportune time during that downhill finish stage to Valloire and gained some seconds, then it was that shortened stage, where he went deeper than the rest of the main contenders, who were led by Laurens de Plus. The entire rest of the race he pretty much did what he did today or at the last l'Ain-Stage.

Are we underestimating Bernal a bit? He was probably the best climber in last years Tour and is currently the one who comes Roglic the closest in the preperation races. He has a super strong team and without a doubt Ineos will again improve towards the Tour. So why would he be not a favourite for the win? Because he lost 10s today?

 

[sir fly]

the roads were opened only in the same county you live, so you can imagine how small that is

Yeah... Even under the normal conditions, he's hardly able to use all gears.
Just when gets momentum to lift on 53 - border.

 

[ppanther92]

I don't care much about how good a climber Alaphilippe is (probably underrated rather than overrated) but I do know that he is good enough to finish 5th in the Tour without basing his whole season around finishing 5th in the Tour. He's proven to be a better GT GC rider than most without even trying to be that

Which in my opinion gave him the opportunity to finish so high. Gained in the hilly stages, gained in the TT, defended in the mountains. As a GC rider he will be more conservative and I am almost certain he will not be top 10 this year.

 

[Breezy1985]

I think the Tignes situation was sort of forgiven, as Bernal was the favourite heading into the Tour anyway. But that disguises the fact that he was lucky. Now this year we're expecting him to be stronger again. It's hard to look past a 23-year old reigning champion, regardless of how he actually performed.

Tibos health was where he got lucky rather than the shortened stage

 

[skippo12]

Are we underestimating Bernal a bit? He was probably the best climber in last years Tour and is currently the one who comes Roglic the closest in the preperation races. He has a super strong team and without a doubt Ineos will again improve towards the Tour. So why would he be not a favourite for the win? Because he lost 10s today?

He was the strongest climber on one single shortened stage.
I mentioned it in the Buchmann thread. He lost time to Pinot on every single uphll finish in the first two weeks. Take away the TTT and he is 14s behind Buchmann after stage 17. Take away stage 19 and he gained a few seconds on the Galibier and the following downhill. That´s it. And that wasn´t really about strength. More about Ineos having the numbers.
I agree that Bernal is one of the biggest favorites to win the Tour but I don´t think that he is levels above riders like Pinot, Buchmann or even Landa.