Landa is a bird who wanted out of his cage, now he's sitting on a branch next to the open window of the sleeping room of the siblings who owned him.
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Landa is a bird who wanted out of his cage, now he's sitting on a branch next to the open window of the sleeping room of the siblings who owned him.
I kinda agree. But I don't think they will get rid of Kuss that easily.
They got scared after day 2 when their leader decided to read a street sign up close!
Unless Astana want to chase for Lopez then this is a breakaway day for sure.
Amongst the breakaway hopes Hirschi and Martinez are the two best winning chances. If they are both in the break then I would say Martinez but Hirschi's power on the flat gives him the better chance of getting into the break.
Amongst the GC guys Jumbo will ride conservatively and probably neutralise any attacks before the last 1-2km (although one of Lopez, Porte, Yates or Landa could get away slightly earlier without Jumbo being too concerned). Roglic would be happy to go into the time trial with 30-40 seconds and won't want Pogacar to grab bonus seconds so it will be a tempo control rather than a blistering pace. Kuss looks super strong and might be one of the three strongest climbers.
With the climbs having 20 points and 40 points available, this stage could decide the KOTM. Hirschi is great value at $13 if you agree that this is not a GC day. I don't think Rolland is strong enough and he used a lot of energy today for just a handful of points.
Amongst the breakaway hopes Hirschi and Martinez are the two best winning chances. If they are both in the break then I would say Martinez but Hirschi's power on the flat gives him the better chance of getting into the break.
Amongst the GC guys Jumbo will ride conservatively and probably neutralise any attacks before the last 1-2km (although one of Lopez, Porte, Yates or Landa could get away slightly earlier without Jumbo being too concerned). Roglic would be happy to go into the time trial with 30-40 seconds and won't want Pogacar to grab bonus seconds so it will be a tempo control rather than a blistering pace. Kuss looks super strong and might be one of the three strongest climbers.
With the climbs having 20 points and 40 points available, this stage could decide the KOTM. Hirschi is great value at $13 if you agree that this is not a GC day. I don't think Rolland is strong enough and he used a lot of energy today for just a handful of points.
I suspect Movistar will send at least 1 or 2 riders up the road. Since Verona went today, I'd guess it's Soler's turn tomorrow. Soler, IF he's found his form might be able to contest the stage, but getting a read on any of this team's form has been hard at best.
I agree with the posts above that Martin might have a dig on the Madeiline, the bizarre and completely futile effort today was pure ego; "look at me, I'm relevant honest!". I cant see anyone else on GC having a serious dig there other than Yates (despite average descending skills).
The tactic of sending decent strength riders up the road to assist the team later on hasn't really been used much at all this year. JV let Neive go today for example, but will they be more vigilant on that score tomorrow? If so, I wouldn't rule out Yates having a full blown shot from way out. He is leaving Mitchelton so will have some ambition, plus would probably want to send his next team a message that he should be their lead GC contender. He will also know he likely needs significant time on Uran and Porte in order to podium. Superman might have been desperate enough as well if he had a supporting cast.
Will Quickstep now start marking Trentin who may be the bigger (but still very small) threat? Or do they just let Bennett pace himself to the finish?
Will anyone of any ability and form give a fig about KotM?
Will the team contest continue to be impenetrable and completely fail to animate the race in any meaningful sense?
With the early intermediate sprint and Pogacar's ability for a punchy finish I think JV should allow the breakaway to win. I can see Kamna going back to back with stage wins, he looked absolutely superb today.
The tactic of sending decent strength riders up the road to assist the team later on hasn't really been used much at all this year. JV let Neive go today for example, but will they be more vigilant on that score tomorrow? If so, I wouldn't rule out Yates having a full blown shot from way out. He is leaving Mitchelton so will have some ambition, plus would probably want to send his next team a message that he should be their lead GC contender. He will also know he likely needs significant time on Uran and Porte in order to podium. Superman might have been desperate enough as well if he had a supporting cast.
Will Quickstep now start marking Trentin who may be the bigger (but still very small) threat? Or do they just let Bennett pace himself to the finish?
Will anyone of any ability and form give a fig about KotM?
Will the team contest continue to be impenetrable and completely fail to animate the race in any meaningful sense?
With the early intermediate sprint and Pogacar's ability for a punchy finish I think JV should allow the breakaway to win. I can see Kamna going back to back with stage wins, he looked absolutely superb today.
Ouch, that would make this Tour look really bad, if JV let the break win because they knew Pogacar was stronger than Roglic and they were relying on the mechanical/crosswind-time-loss of Pogacar to protect their lead... not unthinkable, but really, not what I would like to see...
I love breaks to succeed, but **, not on this stage. It's the only one where we might see some actual GC action, I want the GC contenders to go for the stage win.
Hopefully some opportunistic domestiques will try and drop Van Aert on the Madeleine
They'd just be sat in the pack not doing much anyway, may aswell try and make it a bit more interesting.
Heart says Landa to attack from a semi-decent distance out, head Roglic last 500m
Hopefully something like this. Nobody there really capable of dropping their main 2 domestiques but would be worth trying to get them on the front and tire them out earlier.
They'd just be sat in the pack not doing much anyway, may aswell try and make it a bit more interesting.
Heart says Landa to attack from a semi-decent distance out, head Roglic last 500m
Hopefully something like this. Nobody there really capable of dropping their main 2 domestiques but would be worth trying to get them on the front and tire them out earlier.
There is nothing wrong with that and he should be applauded for fighting the whole stage to even pick up three extra points at the finish today. At least someone (along with Bora and Quickstep) is valuing a jersey and a podium appearance in Paris.
I think the green jersey has been potentially excellent since they skewed the points massively for stage win. It's just been unfortunate Sagan has been so exceptional in previous years otherwise a truly dominant stage winning sprinter would be the firm favourite in the contest (making the Hushovd/Trentin tactic a slight underdog, which is probably appropriate).
I take the point. I'm not necessarily cheering for JV to do that, I think it makes more sense in a tightening contest to let the bonus seconds go out of the equation when dealing with Pogacar; they can still be aggressive in that battle without the bonus seconds. Plus UAE can always do some of the legwork to contain the breakaway if they want to contest for the stage win. Roglic has already won a stage, he has nothing to prove if he wins yellow without taking another one. It's not a negative against him that UAE lost out in crosswinds and had been weak/unlucky. It shouldn't impact on JV tactics or the satisfaction of any overall victory.
A beautiful, dramatic stage awaits with the prospect of bad weather adding to the intrigue. Yates for the win, Pog to drop Rog late on to set up a thrilling last three days. Bring it on...
Problem with this kind of stages is that they get overhyped and they overflop.
I'd really like for 2011-Contador to reincarnate in Mas and attack in Madeleine, then not screwing up ind the descent and keep doing his thing on Loze, but we'll probably get an attack from Landa on the last 10km only to be reeled in by JV and the slovenians screwing around on the last 500m with Pogacar gaining 10 secs or so.
I'd really like for 2011-Contador to reincarnate in Mas and attack in Madeleine, then not screwing up ind the descent and keep doing his thing on Loze, but we'll probably get an attack from Landa on the last 10km only to be reeled in by JV and the slovenians screwing around on the last 500m with Pogacar gaining 10 secs or so.
If Roglic thinks Pogacar is stronger, at least has the better punch (and I would tend to agree) that would be sensible tactics. It's just as a spectator it's not too great.
No I'm loving it, all power to him. Hope he pulls it off
I said as much about Bahrain earlier.
I mean, I get it. If I'm either of those teams, and Jumbo are out there dominating the race from the start, but my number 1 guy (Lopez/Landa) isn't blowing up, I'd be quite happy to sit on and wait for the big day too. If Lutsenko/Gorka/Sanchez or Mohoric/Valls/Poels have all been saving themselves, while their captains minimize time losses, to give it everything for one/two big days in the Alps, then we're in for a treat.
There's just been no indication form-wise that that's what either Landa or Lopez are doing. Or Uran, for that matter. Yates and Porte certainly aren't. And anyone else from Mas down just is either not at the races, or riding for JV.
God that feels so long ago now. We thought the whole tour would be pissing rain and watching TT.Martin do bird impersonations
Climb will be nicknamed by fans as the Col de Lozenge. Because either a) they scream and shout too much from excitement as the climb turns the GC upside down, or because b) they scream and shout too much from frustration as the finish turns out to be not much more decisive than stage 13.
Why do people keep mentioning Hirschi for those very hard mountain stages- he hasn't really shown that good climbing legs to be a favourite on a stage like this.
He was great over the pass on the stage to Marie Blanque (which I cant remember, but was a legit HC climb despite being a cat 1), but besides that you are right.
That was a great ride, but it was a case of a long solo break where he started the climb with a (4?) minute advantage and kept the GC favourites at bay, rather than battling it out with others on the climb itself . Even if he does get the freedom on this stage that he got that day (he won't), he will need at least twice the lead at the foot which, if the racing is full-on by then (hopefully it is) he also won't get.
I do agree that Hirschi is a question mark in long climbs but his climbing was amazing on Stage 9.
On the first main climb he rode away from a group containing guys like Kamna, Martinez, Formolo and Barguil. Remember both Martinez and Kamna tried to ride across a gap of about 20 seconds to him but couldn't. And that was on an 11km 8% climb.
Later, his ride on Marie Blanque was pretty phenomenal too. After soloing for 60km, to only lose about 3 minutes to the GC guys, who ascended it in record time, was outstanding.
Before that ride he certainly didn't have the track record in serious climbs but Stage 9 showed that on form he might be as strong on the climbs as any non GC rider in the race.
On the first main climb he rode away from a group containing guys like Kamna, Martinez, Formolo and Barguil. Remember both Martinez and Kamna tried to ride across a gap of about 20 seconds to him but couldn't. And that was on an 11km 8% climb.
Later, his ride on Marie Blanque was pretty phenomenal too. After soloing for 60km, to only lose about 3 minutes to the GC guys, who ascended it in record time, was outstanding.
Before that ride he certainly didn't have the track record in serious climbs but Stage 9 showed that on form he might be as strong on the climbs as any non GC rider in the race.
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