State of the Peloton 2024

[Nick2413]

Unless the Strava segment is BS, Pogacar did 2200+ Vam for 2 minutes at the end of a 40 minute 2600m altitude climb.

His attack started with around 700m to go or about 2 min and they normally go at what 1650 VAM at that gradient so a 30% increase would be needed to put him there, no idea if that’s realistic or not.

 

[houtdffan]

I hope these guys are working with Michele Ferrari, not Scuderia Ferrari

 

[Ripper]

Unless the Strava segment is BS, Pogacar did 2200+ Vam for 2 minutes at the end of a 40 minute 2600m altitude climb.

Did I see braking into a switchback while climbing? I mean, if I saw that, it's been a while. 🤔

 

[Mayomaniac]

Too much for me. They beat the record of Quintana by almost 1:30 minutes and by more than 2 minutes with Bernal in 2019. With headwind.

So the authorities couldn't find other riders to attack than Quintana and Lopez?

Yes, I am a bit upset.

tbf, the Quintana record was set on a much harder stage in the 3rd week, when he was in the breakaway all day long. Also 40°C in the valleys that day. Not that the attack at the end wasn't freakish, but the overall time has to put into perspective.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Pogacar did roughly 6.6 Watt/Kilo over the last 20 Minutes on the Galibier, in an altitude of 2000-2650m. Pas normal.

 

[solo80k]

Cavendish is on fire, the excellent sprint in the age of 39. 💪

 

[PhiLiz]

Cavendish is on fire, the excellent sprint in the age of 39. 💪

Not discarding PED, but I think there was another kind of fuckery at play in his win today.

 

[zlev11]

why does Cavs chain always come off in the sprint?

 

[Rico044]

Hope they x-ray that bike.

 

[Nomad]

Cavendish is on fire, the excellent sprint in the age of 39. 💪

WTH? A 39 yr old out-kicking world-class sprinters 12-15 yrs younger than him? Lol.

If we look at some of the dominate sprinters back in the day they were all retire by age 39. Cipollini was 36 when he won his last Grand Tour stage, Zabel & Petacchi were both 37 when they won their last GT stages (I think Zable tried a comeback at age 40 but didn't win any GT stages). And I save the best for last: All those guys were career dopers using boatloads of gear! Lol.

This sport is getting hard to watch with a straight face.

 

[Rackham]

Bardet with the yellow, Girmay winning a stage, Cav gets his 35th... Netflix will be happy.

I wonder what's next in this fairy-tale Tour? Vingegaard doing a Finestre in week 3?

The writing is certainly on the wall.

 

[AmRacer]

Bardet with the yellow, Girmay winning a stage, Cav gets his 35th... Netflix will be happy.

I wonder what's next in this fairy-tale Tour? Vingegaard doing a Finestre in week 3?

The writing is certainly on the wall.

Pogi doing a double would also be epic. Or the Belgian win everyone dreamt of. Or Rogla finally made it.

 

[Rackham]

Pogi doing a double would also be epic. Or the Belgian win everyone dreamt of. Or Rogla finally made it.

I wish. Sadly I doubt fairy-tales extend that far. I think he'll be much better by the end but there's a world of difference between that & winning the TdF.

Personally in light of that realistic assessment, I vote for option 'outside the box': Juan Ayuso robbing everyone via a sneaky tactical coup on stage 20, taking yellow & then holding it in the ITT.

Aka the ultimate villain arc.

 

[Ripper]

I wish. Sadly I doubt fairy-tales extend that far. I think he'll be much better by the end but there's a world of difference between that & winning the TdF.

Personally in light of that realistic assessment, I vote for option 'outside the box': Juan Ayuso robbing everyone via a sneaky tactical coup on stage 20, taking yellow & then holding it in the ITT.

Aka the ultimate villain arc.

The vampire would still be happy!

 

[Mayomaniac]

The vampire would still be happy!

Matxin kissing Ayuso after the Galibier stage was a bit creepy.

 

[Netserk]

While I get why some fans don't want to compare the current peloton with Armstrong, his generation, or the EPO one, it is completely ridiculous how widespread it is to dismiss Merckx as a doper and taking it as an insult to compare current "clean" riders with him. It almost makes me wish for a big bust to expose the current state of the peloton.

 

[Ripper]

Matxin kissing Ayuso after the Galibier stage was a bit creepy.

Matxin is like Renfield.

 

[Rob5091]

Why are CN giving us a flashback to the '99 "Tour of Renewal"?
https://www.cyclingnews.com/feature...rmstrongs-1999-tour-de-france-us-postal-team/
Do they know something we don't or just like me, it seems very appropriate?

 

[noob]

Matxin kissing Ayuso after the Galibier stage was a bit creepy.

Did he literally do that? Suddenly UAE tactics makes much more sense.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Did he literally do that? Suddenly UAE tactics makes much more sense.

Kissed him on the forhead after the stage.

 

[GuntherL1]

I have this feeling that the UAE top guys will outperform everyone tomorrow. We know that they shouldn't be able to beat an in-form Evenepoel, but Ayuso and Almeida might be much closer that we all think. We'll see tomorrow.

 

[noob]

Kissed him on the forhead after the stage.

That's rather weird. Since Matxin been with these kids for so long. I need to see this to see Ayuso reaction

 

[noob]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LmCg8KL72Rk


Brutal

 

[solo80k]

I think stage 9 was really odd, totally illogical. Not only the initial break somehow survived (I don't think they had more advantage than 3 minutes at any point inside last 100 kms), but also the powerful pursuit group wasn't successful. MVDP group wasn't able to close the gap below 30 sec. Jonas was recognized as a real gravel specialist as well, glued to Pogacar almost all the time. Strange times...

 

[Ripper]

I think stage 9 was really odd, totally illogical. Not only the initial break somehow survived (I don't think they had more advantage than 3 minutes at any point inside last 100 kms), but also the powerful pursuit group wasn't successful. MVDP group wasn't able to close the gap below 30 sec. Jonas was recognized as a real gravel specialist as well, glued to Pogacar almost all the time. Strange times...

It was a really interesting stage. I mean, three of the 'Big 4' caught the break, no? And then it re-broke

Remi getting PO's was funny. I mean, I get it, but he is still a bit hot headed and really, he was focusing so much on riding on the gravel (good job) that he kept messing up his position and then burning matches to get back on Taddy's wheel. And Taddy post-match was also funny.

Glad Piddo did not win. He is a really fun MTB-XCO racer to watch, and obviously very talented, but with multiple interviews and clips from Netflix, etc., he just seems like a super entitled pr!ck.