Tour de France 2020 | Rest day 2 talk (and poll)

[md1975]

I think PR has it. But, Pogacar seems stronger as he has shown like winning yesterday. PR has said that he is unsure which Sol. rider is going to win and that Pogacar is very strong and he regrets not going with him the other day when he attacked.

 

[Cookster15]

Pogacar is on the rise but I think Roglic will hold on. But its good we have a big fight for 3rd step of the podium. Plenty to stay interested in and after no racing for so long I am just thrilled we made it to week 3 with no Virus interruptions.

I think Uran can hang in for last step on the podium as he looks in good form and when that is the case he usually does a good TT. But we can't rule out Lopez or Porte. Hopefully LRP continues his rise. I know lots complained at the lack of action in stage 15 but we are just seeing a repeat of what Skyneos dished out since 2012 but this time its Jumbo. When a strong team sets a high pace there is not much attacking to be had. How do you make an attack stick when you are already on the limit?

 

[Koronin]

In TdF 2018, the 2nd mountain stage (11th) had Cavendish and Kittel OTL, the next stage had Gaviria, Groenewegen and Greipel listed as DNF.
Best guess is they wanted the sprinters reaching Paris

Valverde's choice of words is more dramatic than simply "blow up".
Blow up is normally used figuratively speaking in sports as fundirse, quemarse or explotar

The twitter translate feature translated it as immolate. So yeah, a bit more dramatic.

 

[IndianCyclist]

I think the 2 Slovenians will not try to win at each others expense.

 

[IndianCyclist]

In a lighter vein.
Those who voted for Pogachar represent the hope of the forum.
Those who voted for Uran believe that the riders in front of him will one day miraculously disappear.
Those who voted for Porte and Landa believe that crashes are a hoax invented by the media

 

[zenoiz]

My predictions for the remainder of le Tour:
Everybody tests negative for Covid except Jerome Cousin; however, a deal is struck with Christian Prudhomme who lets him continue the race as long as he social distances off the back of the peloton. Cousin thus ends up clinching the Lanterne Rouge, much to the dismay of Roger Kluge. Meanwhile Thibaut Pinot demands a B-sample as he is desperately seeking a logical explanation for his appalling form; the B-sample comes back negative and Pinot quits the race in disgust. He will however continue on to win the Worlds in Imola and the Tour of 2021, hereby following in the footsteps of his childhood idol, Cuddles Evans.
In the fight for green, a frustrated Peter Sagan ends up pulling a Bob Jungels on Sam Bennett during an intermediate sprint; Bennett can't finish the stage and Sagan is expelled from the race, hereby maintaining his track record of winning the points jersey in every single Tour he didn't get kicked out of. Because of these shenanigans, Matteo Trentin ends up in green in Paris, securing the only win his CCC team will muster throughout the entire season.
In all remaining stages, except for the ITT and the Champs-Élysées one, Stefan Küng goes in the early break, only to find himself isolated with 150km to go; disillusioned by the lack of panache of his peers, he quits professional cycling and ends up doing bikepacking races with Svein Tuft. Mark Hirschi on the other hand, after he finally realizes he is within striking distance of the polka dot jersey, picks up where Küng left, and continues taking on long solo raids, collecting enough KOM points to secure the jersey in Paris.
In the fight for yellow, TJV under RoboDumo and WVA neutralize every single GC stage, with Pog and Rog attacking one another at the 500m to go mark, and Sep Kuss dozing off in the background. Roglič easily secures the overall after the ITT, won by Wout, who also beats the sprinters one more time on the Champs-Élysées. Finally, Pierre Rolland will win the Col de la Loze stage with an epic 80km solo, and end up being first Frenchman in GC.

 

[42x16ss]

1st and 2nd are sorted, with Porte and Landa to continue moving up the GC. It will take something big from anyone else to convince me otherwise.

 

[SafeBet]

Poll official result:

RIDER	VOTES	%
Primoz Roglic	64	61%
Tadej Pogacar	32	30.5%
Rigoberto Uran	3	2.9%
Richie Porte	3	2.9%
Mikel Landa	3	2.9%

 

[hayneplane]

Agree with the posters who want tougher time limits to make the grupetto earn their sprint in Paris. Cycling is one of the top 5 truest endurance sports and the Tour should reflect that. If it becomes WVA vs Trentin vs Alaphillipe on the Champs Elysee because the bigger fast men have missed the time cut that is fine by me.

 

[frankthetank]

Spotted this on Landa's TT bike during the rest day yesterday. Anyone know what the flash of pink on the rear derailleur / pulley wheel is?

Promise it's not spam... struggled to see how to upload an image!
https://ibb.co/12SRCpp

 

[gregrowlerson]

1st and 2nd are sorted, with Porte and Landa to continue moving up the GC. It will take something big from anyone else to convince me otherwise.

So Richie and Mikel to finish 1st and 2nd then?

 

[gregrowlerson]

I see that we went from hair cuts to time cuts.

A week is a long time on the forum

P.S. Posting now, because yesterday was also a rest day

 

[42x16ss]

So Richie and Mikel to finish 1st and 2nd then?

That would be pretty awesome lol