UAE's tactics on stage 17 were interesting. You definitely make the case for why they should have waited for stage 18. However, the reality is, they had Vine right where they wanted him--isolated on the second to last climb of the day. All Pog had to do was put in a Pog style attack and Ving loses 5 minutes on the stage and UAE just won the Tour with 4 riders. Add in the fact that Ving was due for a bad day and I think the tactics made sense. I remember watching it at the time thinking to myself, wow, Pog is going to do this.
Of course we know how it all played out, Ving was a machine, didn't have a bad day and almost won the stage anyway until Pog out sprinted him.
One point of contention---I don't necessary buy that Ving showed in 21 that he was better than Pog in the high mountains. Let's not forget that Pog put a minute and a half into Ving on stage 8 of the 21 Tour (after it was clear Ving was leading Jumbo) and he put 32 seconds into Ving on stage 9 a day later. Let's also not forget Pog put over a minute into Ving in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico. Of course, all 3 of those days were cool/ wet.
Again, dumbstruck by what happened at the 22 Tour but I suspect the weather played a big part.
Of course we know how it all played out, Ving was a machine, didn't have a bad day and almost won the stage anyway until Pog out sprinted him.
One point of contention---I don't necessary buy that Ving showed in 21 that he was better than Pog in the high mountains. Let's not forget that Pog put a minute and a half into Ving on stage 8 of the 21 Tour (after it was clear Ving was leading Jumbo) and he put 32 seconds into Ving on stage 9 a day later. Let's also not forget Pog put over a minute into Ving in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico. Of course, all 3 of those days were cool/ wet.
Again, dumbstruck by what happened at the 22 Tour but I suspect the weather played a big part.
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