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rick james
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Agreed. Bernal will not be given the green light to go for top GC position unless Thomas crashes out or gets ill.
rick james said:
Agreed. Bernal will not be given the green light to go for top GC position unless Thomas crashes out or gets ill.
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I actually share the feeling a little bit. Even if it's very harsh. But he won Paris-Nice in the cross-winds, and in Switzerland he wasn't very superior to a not particularly intimidating field. In Catalunya and Paris-Nice he could not get rid of Quintana in the mountains, and Quintana has not impressed much elsewhere. Though, his performance on Vallter 2000 is probably his best climbing performance of the season even if he didn't win.
He has not put in climbing performances like in Romandie, California and the Tour last year.
But he wins his races, so it's hard to argue against him.
Valv.Piti said:
I actually share the feeling a little bit. Even if it's very harsh. But he won Paris-Nice in the cross-winds, and in Switzerland he wasn't very superior to a not particularly intimidating field. In Catalunya and Paris-Nice he could not get rid of Quintana in the mountains, and Quintana has not impressed much elsewhere. Though, his performance on Vallter 2000 is probably his best climbing performance of the season even if he didn't win.
He has not put in climbing performances like in Romandie, California and the Tour last year.
But he wins his races, so it's hard to argue against him.
Just got off the phone with my good friend Buzz Killington. He said the rumor mill has hinted that Tour organizers are bringing in a group of euthanasia specialists, which could be called on as early as the end of Thursday's stage 12 to put the GC component of the Tour out of its misery. They'll remain on standby after the ITT stage and Saturday's Tourmalet climb, in case the agony is prolonged to that extent. They're expected to be able to fly back out before the weekend is done, when any remaining GC vital functions will be relegated to numb resignation and acceptance of predestined fate, as in previous years. 
JosephK said:Just got off the phone with my good friend Buzz Killington. He said the rumor mill has hinted that Tour organizers are bringing in a group of euthanasia specialists, which could be called on as early as the end of Thursday's stage 12 to put the GC component of the Tour out of its misery. They'll remain on standby after the ITT stage and Saturday's Tourmalet climb, in case the agony is prolonged to that extent. They're expected to be able to fly back out before the weekend is done, when any remaining GC vital functions will be relegated to numb resignation and acceptance of predestined fate, as in previous years.
You declare the tour decided on the first rest day - but think it's been boring?
Seems mutually exclusive
So the 21-year-old Jasper Philipsen who might have won today if the sprinters in front of him hadn't all swerved to the right and blocked him and who has been looking so strong the whole race is out of the race because he needs to not be burned out.
How can he be burned out by riding a few mountains when he is clearly going much stronger than so many other riders of the race? Ugh.
It's the same as when the Yates brothers were pulled out in their debut (and the same man behind the decision, I think). I don't really like it. I guess there's a point of pulling the plug if he is hanging on for dear life but that really doesn't seem to be the case what with him making the first echelon on Monday.
How can he be burned out by riding a few mountains when he is clearly going much stronger than so many other riders of the race? Ugh.
It's the same as when the Yates brothers were pulled out in their debut (and the same man behind the decision, I think). I don't really like it. I guess there's a point of pulling the plug if he is hanging on for dear life but that really doesn't seem to be the case what with him making the first echelon on Monday.
“Where do you draw the line? Tomorrow we go into the mountains, and maybe Ineos are going to block the road. Do we also give the penalties for this?" A strange quote from one of the DQ bosses. It seems they don't realize why blocking the road is a problem. But it IS a problem because it is damaging to the race. For us as spectators, there is absolutely no positive sides to a team deliberately preventing others teams from attacking. So something should be done.
I don't think we have ever seen so much violence between riders as this year (it normally only appears in sprint finishes). At least, it's good to see that violent behaviour has been fined.
I don't think we have ever seen so much violence between riders as this year (it normally only appears in sprint finishes). At least, it's good to see that violent behaviour has been fined.
Mas is the forgotten rider of the Tour so far. His ride in the Vuelta was very good. The next few stages will be interesting especially with some of the younger riders on GC re Bernal, Mas and Buchman.
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Totally late to the party here, but I find that very impressive. It's one thing to win races in places where everyone expects you to gain time, but to do so in a "place" where everyone expects you to struggle…
tobydawq said:
Totally late to the party here, but I find that very impressive. It's one thing to win races in places where everyone expects you to gain time, but to do so in a "place" where everyone expects you to struggle…
Migels asked Leclercq if it was still possible to implement half stages nowadays a few days ago and Leclercq strongly negeted that idea.
To be honest, If ASO keeps going with 30 kilometers time trials and >120 kilometers mountain stages I see no single reason why they haven't been organized as half stages. Expect UCI regulations that ASO might be able to ignore anyway.
To be honest, If ASO keeps going with 30 kilometers time trials and >120 kilometers mountain stages I see no single reason why they haven't been organized as half stages. Expect UCI regulations that ASO might be able to ignore anyway.
nevele neves
BANNED
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When Thomas shows weakness then will Bernal be a team player?
Makes the most sense.rick james said:
When Thomas shows weakness then will Bernal be a team player?
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Best wait til after the TT to even ponder such hypotheticals. We could have a completely different top 10 this time tomorrow.nevele neves said:
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If they're smart it won't be a factor. Leave Bernal at the front of the race with Poels or Kwiatkowski, everyone else helps with the chase.nevele neves said:
rick james
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And sign of weakness and Bernal should have the right to ride his own race....does he have the form to do that?nevele neves said:
Sky/Ineos have been in this position several times before. Its arguable that they lost the 2011 Vuelta because of it (although now regained). Its not that they gave to worry about Thomas cracking, it's that (TT results permitting) other teams will have to attack Ineos's two riders. That puts Ineos in an incredibly strong position.
What happens today will determine the rest of the race.
What happens today will determine the rest of the race.
nevele neves
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Interesting difference now is can Alaphillipe ride the Skytrain. It's all he needs to do. No more ITT for Ineos to pull back deficits.
ClassicomanoLuigi said:
Interesting difference now is can Alaphillipe ride the Skytrain. It's all he needs to do. No more ITT for Ineos to pull back deficits.
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If it does get to that, Alaphilippe’s most important weapon is having Mas so high on gc. Mas follows Bernal, Alaf follows G, and everyone watches Kruiswijk and Pinot. Uran and Quintana will both presumably be with the group still at this point too, and it’ll be very interesting to see which splits happen and who is willing to work with/for anyone else.
Ineos will hope to isolate Alaf on the climbs tomorrow, and as for how they’ll attack him, If Kwiatkowski and Poels can’t drop him, look to Bernal’s win in the Tour of California last year for a template. https://youtu.be/d84zqGgc4w4Andy262 said:
If it does get to that, Alaphilippe’s most important weapon is having Mas so high on gc. Mas follows Bernal, Alaf follows G, and everyone watches Kruiswijk and Pinot. Uran and Quintana will both presumably be with the group still at this point too, and it’ll be very interesting to see which splits happen and who is willing to work with/for anyone else.
There has only been one mountain stage and 10th is almost 4 minutes behind the yellow jersey somehow.
Scarponi said:
Big gaps, but I think I prefer it this way with the TT’s out the way and 5 mountain stages to go. Riders know now what they have to do rather than have 10 separated by a minute where nobody wants to be the first to make a move.
TTT, plus ITT, plus crosswinds stage. Anyone who didn't lose a chunk of time on one or all of those, is in the top half of the top 10.Scarponi said:
Plus classics rider in the MJ being given a bit of GC leeway until they all realised "oh wow, he might be actually serious about this." Thomas is "only" 2.30 ahead of Quintana, which is probably the back end of the ballpark of where Nairo would have expected to be right now.
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