Critérium du Dauphiné 2023, June 4 - 11

[Max Rockatansky]

As expected, very good without being super mutant, huge time gap aided by a group who had completely given up racing against him

Wait for tomorrow. He will attack on Granier and put 5 minutes into everyone.

 

[Unchained]

The last 12k could not have been any better and the camera angles showed everything.. The beautiful area w brutal roads..was hoping that there would have been less explosions.. Chavez popped and Alaphilippe looked like he stopped at the building supply and picked up a couple of bags of cement to make the climb.. And wondering after watching 3 race highlights it looks like Jumbo is really mixed on the Cervelo cockpit..more and more those swing set looking handlebars are not on every bike..

 

[kingjr]

https://www.reddit.com/r/2westerneurope4u/comments/13tx0cc

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/2westerneurope4u/comments/13tx0cc/dutchman_attempting_to_go_1_meter_above_sea_level/

Is that Tito ortiz?

 

[Escarabajo]

What’s wrong with Mas?

We are getting the inconsistent Mas again. only he knows.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Bastille of Grenoble was a career defining moment for Bernard Hinault. He crashed on the descent of the Col de Porte and was still able to win at the Bastille.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYDo11b0rFo


Was also one of the few races, where Merckx and Hinault raced against each other for the victory.

The badger had to walk in some parts of the final ramp. Slopes like these 50 years were quite special. And that stage back then was 220k and 6:30hrs. Really something special with blood all over his body and the bruises from this hard crash on the Porte descent.

After Hinault won the Dauphiné 8 seconds ahead of Bernard Thévenet, all of France discussed that he had to go to the Tour. It was decided to wait another year.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Will the winner dedicate the stage win to the late Ted Kaczynski?

 

[Nick2413]

This Max Poole guy is pretty decent.

 

[Escarabajo]

The badger had to walk in some parts of the final ramp. Slopes like these 50 years were quite special. And that stage back then was 220k and 6:30hrs. Really something special with blood all over his body and the bruises from this hard crash on the Porte descent.

After Hinault won the Dauphiné 8 seconds ahead of Bernard Thévenet, all of France discussed that he had to go to the Tour. It was decided to wait another year.

Thanks for sharing. That was good. Gosh, the gear ratios hurt my eyes. So much have changed.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

So the Skeletor tested his engine a bit and crushed the field at the end. Surprise! 1830 m/h of VAM (circa 6.5 or so w/kg) in the last 18 minutes at avg. elevation of 1800 m ASL is TdF winning stuff. Yates was strong but probably paid for too high tempo at the end - Hindley and even O'Connor reduced the gap in the last couple of km. This was a great form test for strongest TdF guys, they were finishing alone, one by one. Tomorrow is a crazy day - great fight for the 2nd in the GC. Not sure what the Skeletor will do: following wheels or going thermonuclear 50 km from the line?

 

[movingtarget]

So the Skeletor tested his engine a bit and crushed the field at the end. Surprise! 1830 m/h of VAM (circa 6.5 or so w/kg) in the last 18 minutes at avg. elevation of 1800 m ASL is TdF winning stuff. Yates was strong but probably paid for too high tempo at the end - Hindley and even O'Connor reduced the gap in the last couple of km. This was a great form test for strongest TdF guys, they were finishing alone, one by one. Tomorrow is a crazy day - great fight for the 2nd in the GC. Not sure what the Skeletor will do: following wheels or going thermonuclear 50 km from the line?

He said he still has improvement in his legs before the Tour so it sounds like he won't die wondering. No one can cope with his accelerations anyway. The final descent is a tricky one and he won't take any risks on that you would think.

 

[movingtarget]

Will the winner dedicate the stage win to the late Ted Kaczynski?

Ted probably rode a fixed wheel..............

 

[Lequack]

How many times does Vingegaard need to teach these lesser riders a lesson?

 

[Rob5091]

The weather forecast looks good as any rain could cause havoc. The Last Chance saloon for a few Tour hopefuls. Big question is how Jumbo will fare if a couple of GC guys go up the road - sit back and go steady or blow up and leave Vingegaard isloated.

 

[Red Rick]

Vingegaard could literally solo from Granier but then I also doubt because that doesn't look like optimal Tour prep for me.

 

[Cookster15]

Wait for tomorrow. He will attack on Granier and put 5 minutes into everyone.

They way he looks I am sure he could put 5 minutes into everyone but I doubt he would. Makes no sense in terms of his TdF objective.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Will there be TV broadcast from km 0 today? I guess there might be a very interesting fight to get in the break today and with a lot of climbing in the first 15 km we might get a very strong break.

 

[Monte Serra]

Will there be TV broadcast from km 0 today? I guess there might be a very interesting fight to get in the break today and with a lot of climbing in the first 15 km we might get a very strong break.

No chance. Race starts at 10:30. Coverage starts at 13:10.

 

[Rackham]

Gaudu on the attack already.

Which isn't a good sign tbh. I saw a post here yesterday (I'd need to check back to see the poster) who asked whether anyone knew what was 'normal' for this rider.

Well, what we're seeing right now is not his usual level at all - even though he can be very inconsistent.

Right now (& since April) he's been consistently terrible & he seems to be getting worse. And this is a topic of conversation in some parts right now because Gaudu wants FDJ to work entirely for him in the TdF (& there was a weird communications mishap last week when Gaudu made remark which sounded like he didn't want Pinot on the TdF team).

And then there's the fact Lenny Martinez looks better than he does at the moment, which is awkward as well.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Gaudu on the attack already.

Which isn't a good sign tbh. I saw a post here yesterday (I'd need to check back to see the poster) who asked whether anyone knew what was 'normal' for this rider.

Well, what we're seeing right now is not his usual level at all - even though he can be very inconsistent.

Right now (& since April) he's been consistently terrible & he seems to be getting worse. And this is a topic of conversation in some parts right now because Gaudu wants FDJ to work entirely for him in the TdF (& there was a weird communications mishap last week when Gaudu made remark which sounded like he didn't want Pinot on the TdF team).

And then there's the fact Lenny Martinez looks better than he does at the moment, which is awkward as well.

Gaudu attacking early is hardly a worse sign than him waiting to get dropped by 20 riders on the final climbs.

 

[Rackham]

Gaudu attacking early is hardly a worse sign than him waiting to get dropped by 20 riders on the final climbs.

I think it is a bad sign because his only purpose here is to test himself against the best before the Tour, not ride up the road & pray he can take some time back in GC by getting a headstart (or getting a top 10).

 

[BR2]

PCS looks like a great fight for the break is taking place, and there's no coverage... really, will they ever adjust the broadcasting patterns?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I think it is a bad sign because his only purpose here is to test himself against the best before the Tour, not ride up the road & pray he can take some time back in GC by getting a headstart (or getting a top 10).

But now that he's proven that he's not able to stay witht he best riders, going for a possible stage win at least show that he's still alive. But the team can of course not be satisfied with his performances here, and Madouas doesn't look to be at his best either.

 

[meat puppet]

Interesting question re how Vingo approaches the dauphine training wise.

One possibility would be to treat the race as a hard training block, during which the team also assesses what exactly needs improvement (likely threshold time to exhaustion, or threshold power).

Based on the conclusions, there might be a block targeting long efforts to build TTE, vo2max efforts to boost threshold power, or they are happy and will already begin to taper slightly but maintain quite some volume, perhaps at altitude.

If TTE is deemed lacking, going long today might be a good idea. Otherwise hell no.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Julian Alaphilippe out on the attack 3.48 down

 

[Rackham]

But now that he's proven that he's not able to stay witht he best riders, going for a possible stage win at least show that he's still alive. But the team can of course not be satisfied with his performances here, and Madouas doesn't look to be at his best either.

His attack didn't work anyway so it's a moot point.

Although the way the stage is unfolding right now looks like we're missing a lot of fun at the moment, which is a shame. Alaphilippe is a serious threat & I see Jumbo are trying to get Benoot up there.