Tour de France 2020 | Stage 17 (Grenoble - Méribel Col de la Loze, 170 km)

[Rollthedice]

Honestly, Bola del Mundo isn't that much different than Tre Cime from Cortina (if you use it without the Giau first)
Similar altitude, similar length of the final steep part and Tre Cime also goes up to 18/19%.
I kinda wish we'd see Bola del Mundo more often, they haven't used it since 2012 (when they also had Cuitu Negru, the goattrack to finish all goattracks).

Menchov won Bola followed by one Richie Porte from the break.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Pogachar to get dropped by Roglic and stage win for Roglic.
Tactical use of teammates and long range attack on the Madeline possible for some pretend Contadors (contenders).
Above possible with Dumoulin also forcing UAE to chase

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

I think we wont see anyone (maybe except G.Martin) to attack on Madeleine. Loze is so big that I think the GC guys want to save themselves for that climb.

Stage 18 will be the time for do or die.

 

[Gigs_98]

@Gigs_98 Madeleine was not planned to feature in last years Tour, this was the original stage 20:

Oops, completely mixed that up. It poses the question though of who in earth thought that stage was gonna be better with the Roselend instead of the Madeleine

 

[Red Rick]

Oops, completely mixed that up. It poses the question though of who in earth thought that stage was gonna be better with the Roselend instead of the Madeleine

Same guy who thought Grand Colombier finish was the best option on stage 15.

 

[Forever The Best]

Apparently ASO did. Albertville-Madeleine-Grandes Naves-Val Thorens would have been perfect, would be 165 km or so. Or don't include Grandes Naves and 145 km with Albertville-Madeleine-Val Thorens.

 

[Escarabajo]

I forgot that Lopez in thirsty for revenge against Pogacar. He can return the favor tomorrow!

 

[Escarabajo]

Roglic and Pogacar to do a stand still on the last climb and Uran rides away with the win!!!!

 

[Luthor]

Roglic feared a lot this stage. This stage, his crash at Dauphine and the final ITT are the reasons he wasn't that offensive. He also has a lot of pressure on his shoulders. Is he good enough to lose less than a minute against Pog? I think so, he dozed his effort quite well but it won't be easy.

 

[Red Rick]

Small note. When Roglic was shite in the 3rd week of teh Giro last year, he was also already getting dropped by Carapaz as early as stage 4 uphill finish. In 2018 he was 2nd of the main GC guy on Col de Portet while flying in Mende. The discrepancy between Roglic' performances on different climbs isn't that big.

 

[Jagartrott]

Sorry to smash your hopes, but here is how it goes:

• a decent breakaway will form and may stay ahead (though I doubt it), but the stage win is secondary here
• the favourites will be led by JV, then one other team will start pulling on the last climb - probably Astana
• Lopez will subsequently attack, but his move is countered not by JV but by the other riders that think 3rd is the best it'll get for them
• both Slovenians will neutralize each other with some half-hearted attacks in the last 4 km, with Pogacar ultimately cracking Roglic... in the final 200 m; he gains 11 seconds on Roglic
• we'll be left wondering: "what if"

 

[LeoMontero]

Quintana will try something; what that something is, I don't know. Guillaume Martin will attack.

I actually think Pogacar will take yellow here. In the last 5km, Roglic will have Dumoulin and maybe Kuss. At 10% and 2000m there's no hiding, and something that should be noted is that whenever Pogacar attacks, Roglic jumps directly on to his wheel instead of using his team. What does that tell us? Perhaps it tells us that Roglic knows his team isn't strong enough to chase him. It could be naivety from Roglic though - if it's mano a mano, Pogacar has a chance to crack him.

Let's see tomorrow, but I have a strong feeling that Pogacar will attack with 5km to go, and suddenly the Jumbo train disappears. Whenever he attacks, there's only two men in the race. They're both Slovenian.

Quintana is not going well. i know him and is not a good sign what happened today. not only that he lost 35 sec because he couldnt hang with GC conender, but also because the 2 best domestiques for the mountains ( barguil and Anacona ) went in breaway and they will be not there for help.
i think Nairo will do something on thursday, obviously if he can recover.
To finish, i really hope that he make something tomorrow and shut me down.

 

[LeoMontero]

It's sickening to think that Quintana, the ultra mythical climber, will be dropped by at least 15-20 riders on La Loze.

Didnt you see the interview that he gave to colombian reporers???
The crash from friday was awfull. He couldnt sleep on friday and saturday, and a lot more things that i cant translate. He cant recover fast enough, so most probably is that he will be dropped.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Uran to keep attacking all day long.
Van Aert to have a bad day.
Porte to safely finish with the best on his way to a GC podium.
All riders from 3-10 places in GC to ride with ambition and risk not being afraid to lose what they have.
Jumbo-Visma to refuse controlling the stage.

Subtle Porte burn

 

[Gigs_98]

Btw, is it time yet for Quintana's annual mythical climbing performance? He might attack on the Madeleine

 

[DFA123]

Honestly, Bola del Mundo isn't that much different than Tre Cime from Cortina (if you use it without the Giau first)
Similar altitude, similar length of the final steep part and Tre Cime also goes up to 18/19%.
I kinda wish we'd see Bola del Mundo more often, they haven't used it since 2012 (when they also had Cuitu Negru, the goattrack to finish all goattracks).

I've ridden both several times, and have to say that Bola del Mundo is way harder than the top part of Tre Cime. Not so much because of the profile, but the surface. It's absolutely brutal. Rough, corrugated concrete with big cracks, which probably makes it about 20% harder for the same gradients. Pictures and videos don't really do it justice. I think that's partly why it's not been used for so long. Not much fun to ride and a relatively high risk of a puncture, which no-one wants to see on a MTF.

 

[johnymax]

What will Uran do? That's the question.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

That's a big climb at the end. Not sure it's big enough for TJV to run out of doms but pretty big all the same

 

[Luthor]

What will Uran do? That's the question.

Limit his losses

 

[KZD]

Btw, is it time yet for Quintana's annual mythical climbing performance? He might attack on the Madeleine

With the injuries that he has I find it quite unlikely.

I think Lopez might actually get between Pogacar and Roglic in tomorrow's stage but we'll see.

 

[Bardamu]

What will Uran do? That's the question.

I read that he'll take yellow.

 

[DenisMenchov]

#freeLandani

 

[johnymax]

Normally Landa should thrive on this kind of stage. I'd say Lopez too, but he is usually better on those 7% gradients than on double figures gradient.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Does anyone else think it's weird how quiet Astana have been in this race ? I think they've only had 3 riders in breaks of the day so far (and won one of those stages). Nothing since Sanchez being in a doomed 4 man break last Thursday. Also nothing to set up Lopez either

 

[Blanco]

Astana or Bahrain will try tomorrow, and I mean really try, already on Madeleine. Jumbo train will be dismantled , only Dumo will left.