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Tour de France 2020 | Stage 18 (Méribel - La Roche-sur-Foron, 175 km)

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So...didn't watch, didn't even check what happened during the stage, so on a scale from 1 to 10 how much did I miss?
4. You missed Porte flatting on dirt road, the flight of Landani, Hirschi crashing away probable stage win and KoM, the closest thing you'll ever got to an Ineos porno, and we all missed a crazy fan being taken down by security at the finish line.

Now I realise I might have made it sound more exciting than it was.
 
I checked what I (wrongly) assumed about team classification, and if it (accidentally) coincides with having the 3 best riders on GC. In bold it is the same (13 out of 20 occasions in the last 20 years).

2000: team GC Kelme. Best 3 in GC: Kelme
2001: team GC Kelme. Best 3 in GC: Once
2002: team GC Once. Best 3 in GC: Once
2003: team GC CSC. Best 3 in GC: CSC

2004: team GC T-mobile. Best 3 in GC: US postal
2005: team GC T-mobile. Best 3 in GC: Discovery
2006: team GC T-mobile. Best 3 in GC: Rabobank
2007: team GC Discovery. Best 3 in GC: Discovery
2008: team GC CSC. Best 3 in GC: CSC
2009: team GC Astana. Best 3 in GC: Astana
2010: team GC Radioshack . Best 3 in GC: Radioshack
2011: team Garmin . Best 3 in GC: Garmin
2012: team GC Radioshack . Best 3 in GC: Radioshack
2013: team GC Saxo . Best 3 in GC: Saxo

2014: team GC AG2R . Best 3 in GC: Belkin
2015: team GC Movistar . Best 3 in GC: AG2R
2016: team GC Movistar . Best 3 in GC: Sky
2017: team GC Sky . Best 3 in GC: Sky
2018: team GC Movistar . Best 3 in GC: Movistar
2019: team GC Movistar . Best 3 in GC: Movistar


2020 currently: team GC Movistar . Best 3 in GC: Jumbo

Moviestar may try their best, but nothing ever says tour de france team classification like Radioshack 2012.
 
That doesn't prove anything, except that on MOUNTAIN stages, the best 3 on GC, are usually also the first 3 over the line, and that is where you make the big differences on GC.

However, on any other stage (incl. TT), it is usually not the same riders that count towards the team competition.
Did I say it proves anything? I merely gave some facts and statistics, because I was curious if the final GC could give an indication of the team classification. It turns out it doesn't. Or better: you have a 66% chance they are the same. And that's about it.
 
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I don't get the point. How does that explain his monster performances lately? He's not pulling for a few hundred meters like a puncher who can't climb would do. He's pulling for kilometers and drops good climbers and team leaders. Seems very legit. Please don't question my comprehension of cycling, this is just nonsense.

LOL Cav was doing it for Sky. And Van Aert is a good all-rounder unlike Cav!
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Krokro
so is carapaz faster than pogacar on that last climb when carapaz can soft pedal? I would definitely say yes. Carapaz is a great climber, even without soft pedaling he might beat pogacar now.
Without soft pedaling Pog beats Carapaz super easily. I'm pretty sure Carapaz did both climbs 5 minutes slower than Pog yesterday, which is a big difference.

The other side of the question is how will GC guys pace their effort, and I don't think they can really hold back much on the flat.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Sandisfan
Without soft pedaling Pog beats Carapaz super easily. I'm pretty sure Carapaz did both climbs 5 minutes slower than Pog yesterday, which is a big difference.

The other side of the question is how will GC guys pace their effort, and I don't think they can really hold back much on the flat.


Pogacar is doing a 36km time trial with a 6km climb at the end.

Carapaz is doing a 6km hill climb with a 30km warm up

Carapaz should win. In fact Ineos could have four riders beating Pogacar on the climb
 
Prediction about (a) top 5-7 rider(s) losing minutes (Yates, Uran) was pretty spot-on, but what a disappointment of a stage.

Van Aert seized to amaze yet again, simply mindboggling. 3th in a mountain stage in the 3rd week after having gone full gas in the entirety of the Tour. Wtf. He should forget about classics all together and go for the Tour, seriously.
 
Congrats to Kwiat on the stage win. Horrible execution by Bahrain on their plan. Caruso should have dropped sooner and not left Landa by himself for so long and should have emptied himself for Landa. Caruso looked much more interested in his own ambitions than trying to help his team leader.
 
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