State of the Peloton 2026

[Cookster15]

you know what, I had Pog's time off. I thought he did PDB in 36 mins. I now see it was 39:41. That threw off my calculations.

Now, given the speed he was going, and the fact PDB is 1.7km shorter than ADH and about the same steepness, ADH likely is done 4:30 shorter. So Pod's pace likely would have been around ~35:10 ish. I could see another 1:30 knocked off that due to the fact the stage is a joke before ADH. So maybe 33:40 is more realistic.

I simply had a wrong value of Pog's time

Thank you. Heart attack averted.

 

[Red Rick]

you know what, I had Pog's time off. I thought he did PDB in 36 mins. I now see it was 39:41. That threw off my calculations.

Now, given the speed he was going, and the fact PDB is 1.7km shorter than ADH and about the same steepness, ADH likely is done 4:30 shorter. So Pod's pace likely would have been around ~35:10 ish. I could see another 1:30 knocked off that due to the fact the stage is a joke before ADH. So maybe 33:40 is more realistic.

I simply had a wrong value of Pog's time

1940 VAM on AdH doesn't exactly shout realistic to me. That's way more extreme than whatever PdB was, and even though Pogacar has been invicible everywhere, PdB is still a massive outlier.

 

[topcat]

The tour could be wrapped up by the time they hit the alpe. It would need the right circumstances. A close battle, Pog being pushed, the other competitors very strong and no doping accusations during the tour. Put me down for 35 minutes (6 months in advance).

 

[Tim Cahill]

Out of the original Hautacam, Ventoux, Alpe records I always thought the latter was the strongest, watch the video, he just goes from the bottom and rides everyone off. It's a pure climbers climb, because of the topography of the mountain it depends on repeated accelerations rather than a sustained wattbomb so it's harder to compare to ones of a similar length, out of the saddle sprinting for most of the climb.

I can't remembers if it's the 95 or 97 one where he belts a fan running alongside him but that adds an additional 0.1w/kg at least in my mind.

 

[Red Rick]

Out of the original Hautacam, Ventoux, Alpe records I always thought the latter was the strongest, watch the video, he just goes from the bottom and rides everyone off. It's a pure climbers climb, because of the topography of the mountain it depends on repeated accelerations rather than a sustained wattbomb so it's harder to compare to ones of a similar length, out of the saddle sprinting for most of the climb.

I can't remembers if it's the 95 or 97 one where he belts a fan running alongside him but that adds an additional 0.1w/kg at least in my mind.

Motors on AdH are so close it's a huge difference anyway

 

[Cookster15]

Motors on AdH are so close it's a huge difference anyway

Motos? But its good we are talking about this stage in February even if its only the possible time rather than who might win.

Fast times are most likely when attacked from the bottom. Often at AdH we see cat and mouse between the GC contenders in the first half of the climb before someone finally takes the initiative. 2008 Sastre was an exception. PdB had Jorgenson drill the first 5km or so before first Vingo, then Pogacar attacked. There was no point on the climb they were not riding at near 100%, hence the incredible time.