Tour de France 2019 stage 8 Mâcon - Saint-Étienne 200 km

[Bardamu]

Disappointed in most riders, why did only Alaphilippe and Pinot attack? The last climb should have been raced much harder, no way Thomas is not losing time today. Frustrating to see.

Great race by De Gendt though, best breakaway rider of the peloton by a large mile. With these legs he can win LBL with an attack from the start.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

everytime you have a camera shot from front of break its being motorpaced to some extent, but if you want to have television thats the price

You do realise cameras can zoom, right?

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Im just completely speechless when it comes to Fuglsang not attacking on that last 500 km ramp on the last categorized climb. I just dont get it.

What's the hypothesis?

Does he talk out of his hindquarters or is he as dumb as he seems?

Dunno, I just think he was too passive, too scared. The Tour is the Tour, I guess thats what it does to people.

A perfect example why he was never a factor in GTs and will never be.

Who wins the Tour? (I assume you must know as the all seeing oracle)

Certainly not Birdsong.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Then we have eliminated one from the equation. I am truly impressed.

 

[Forever The Best]

Oh and also another great win by De Gendt. He has built a very nice palmares by being a breakaway specialist instead of riding for obscure top 10s in stage races.

And in the only GT he raced for GC he almost won it by doing an epic raid over Mortirolo and Stelvio and finished 3rd overall after winning the stage as well.

 

[Bolder]

What annoys me about Fuglsang is that I wouldn't actually be surprised if he could have followed the Alaphilippe attack, he just didn't immediately react. He let his team work all day, the ineos guys were isolated and he still didn't bother attacking although this was arguebly the stage that suited him best in the whole tour.

He lacks the explosiveness to go with a 200m sprint that Ala and Pinot pulled off. If he had attacked or set a high pave from the bottom of the climb, he could have likely avoided the attack from the two Frenchmen

^^This. They hit it at the perfect moment...it's a lot harder to jump on a 10 percent grade when you're not planning it vs. ramping it up to follow an attack on the flats. By the time the group had figured out what to do they Ala was already in virtual yellow.

Ineos crashed at an inopportune time, for sure. I don't think it was Thomas's fault, replay seemed to show Woods going down ahead of him. GT had to hustle up a climb which probably put him near the red. But I still don't think Ineos believes Pinot is a threat to win.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

What annoys me about Fuglsang is that I wouldn't actually be surprised if he could have followed the Alaphilippe attack, he just didn't immediately react. He let his team work all day, the ineos guys were isolated and he still didn't bother attacking although this was arguebly the stage that suited him best in the whole tour.

He lacks the explosiveness to go with a 200m sprint that Ala and Pinot pulled off. If he had attacked or set a high pave from the bottom of the climb, he could have likely avoided the attack from the two Frenchmen

^^This. They hit it at the perfect moment...it's a lot harder to jump on a 10 percent grade when you're not planning it vs. ramping it up to follow an attack on the flats. By the time the group had figured out what to do they Ala was already in virtual yellow.

Ineos crashed at an inopportune time, for sure. I don't think it was Thomas's fault, replay seemed to show Woods going down ahead of him. GT had to hustle up a climb which probably put him near the red. But I still don't think Ineos believes Pinot is a threat to win.

Well, let's wait for proper footage.

The story from several riders right now is, that they wanted to go, but dropped it when they saw the frenchmen streaming away behind the bike, and knew there was no way to close the gap.

Whether that is true or not, remains to be seen, I hope someone will post relevant footage.

 

[saganftw]

Re: Re:

everytime you have a camera shot from front of break its being motorpaced to some extent, but if you want to have television thats the price

You do realise cameras can zoom, right?

you do realize a motobike at 60 km/h creates a huge draft, right? even if its just a few % its still help to a break

 

[yaco]

Alaphalippe can do a decent ITT, so shouldn't be far away from retaining the yellow jersey.

 

[Simurgh]

They didn't (potentially) benefit from drafting before the descent, so the riders could in fact follow the acceleration, if they wished, or rather, were able to. Fuglsang wasn't able, for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Hl_zhAyeE

 

[MartinGT]

I've not seen a mass of this years tdf. But when I have Thomas seems a little isolated at the top of the final climbs. Wheres Poels?

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

everytime you have a camera shot from front of break its being motorpaced to some extent, but if you want to have television thats the price

You do realise cameras can zoom, right?

you do realize a motobike at 60 km/h creates a huge draft, right? even if its just a few % its still help to a break

Point is, it's not a problem to film from 70-80 meters away, where the draft has little effect.

I wonder if the camera bikes could be hooked up to the same GPS system all the bikes are on, and give the driver a proximity warning

I understand why it can often be hard to see behind, especially with the cameraman on your back.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

I've not seen a mass of this years tdf. But when I have Thomas seems a little isolated at the top of the final climbs. Wheres Poels?

Poels made sure that Thomas regained contact after his crash and sat up after that.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

They didn't (potentially) benefit from drafting before the descent, so the riders could in fact follow the acceleration, if they wished, or rather, were able to. Fuglsang wasn't able, for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Hl_zhAyeE

You see Fuglsang and Uran stand up and start to follow, and then at the bend (where you get a glimpse of Fuglsang 10 meters behind, en danseuse, so clearly attacking the climb), Ala and Pinot pick up the motorcycle, and - apparently - go away.

Seems absolutely plausible to me..... but I need to see the next 30 seconds, when they are on the motorcycle.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

I've not seen a mass of this years tdf. But when I have Thomas seems a little isolated at the top of the final climbs. Wheres Poels?

Today was the first time he was isolated (apart from Bernal being there)....... and it was all because of the crash, before then, Ineos was in complete control.

 

[gunara]

Some wouldn't really like the picture result of camera zooming in on things moving at such speed and swerving that much, not too mention taken from another unstable moving thing.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Some wouldn't really like the picture result of camera zooming in on things moving at such speed and swerving that much, not too mention taken from another unstable moving thing.

Time for drone camera's is nearly upon us!

 

[Vroome.exe]

Re: Re:

Some wouldn't really like the picture result of camera zooming in on things moving at such speed and swerving that much, not too mention taken from another unstable moving thing.

Time for drone camera's is nearly upon us!

Insert that gif of drone almost taking out Marcel Hirscher.

 

[Sestriere]

Re: Re:

Some wouldn't really like the picture result of camera zooming in on things moving at such speed and swerving that much, not too mention taken from another unstable moving thing.

Time for drone camera's is nearly upon us!

Insert that gif of drone almost taking out Marcel Hirscher.

 

[HelloDolly]

At the top of the climb with the bonus seconds ( the second last) Pinot & Allaphillipe had a gap of about 4 seconds at most

By the foot of next climb (last climb) they had 15 to 17 seconds ....the motos were right in front of them

Trek, Sunweb and Astana were chasing yet the gap went out . I know allaphillipe can descend but so can most of the peloton

If its unfair then it shouldnt be allowed ..simples

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Some wouldn't really like the picture result of camera zooming in on things moving at such speed and swerving that much, not too mention taken from another unstable moving thing.

Time for drone camera's is nearly upon us!

Insert that gif of drone almost taking out Marcel Hirscher.

I've been against camera drones ever since that moment. Unimaginable if a thing like this drops into the peloton

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

At the top of the climb with the bonus seconds ( the second last) Pinot & Allaphillipe had a gap of about 4 seconds at most

By the foot of next climb (last climb) they had 15 to 17 seconds ....the motos were right in front of them

Trek, Sunweb and Astana were chasing yet the gap went out . I know allaphillipe can descend but so can most of the peloton

If its unfair then it shouldnt be allowed ..simples

I don't know, there were quite a few moments of hesitation in the chasing group and not that many riders were chasing at all. The way the gap grew seemed relatively natural to me while watching

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

No one has other footage? I of course want to stamp out cheating, but I also will be pretty crushed if Ala and Pinot get regulated. They don’t control the motos, they showed panache, they’re riding strong, and Pinot is the main hope to derail Ineoas...I hope the footage is clean

 

[Orbit501]

Thank you De Gendt.
Thank you Alaphilippe
Thank you Pinot

You rode like Ciclist poets today - with panache, with courage, with guts & instincts, with passion and love for the sport .


CHAPEAU

Well said!

A joy to behold today!

 

[Broccolidwarf]

No one has other footage? I of course want to stamp out cheating, but I also will be pretty crushed if Ala and Pinot get regulated. They don’t control the motos, they showed panache, they’re riding strong, and Pinot is the main hope to derail Ineoas...I hope the footage is clean

It's not "cheating" - it never has been, the riders do not control the motorcycles.

But it's something that needs to be regulated, because it has a significant impact.