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Tour de France 2020 | Stage 19 (Bourg-en-Bresse - Champagnole, 166.5 km)

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Same thoughts here. Ewan doesn't need to finish the Giro. Just some stage wins. At the other hand, what else can he ride this year after the Giro? There isn't much for him, he could as well stay ther until the end.

There is only 1 sprinter stage in the last 8 days. I think Ewan would only try to stay in the race in the final week if he hadn't won a stage.
 
Am I right in thinking that if Sam finishes ahead of Sagan in the intermediate sprint on Sunday the jersey is secured before the Champs

He is 55 points ahead.

The intermediate is 20 points and the finish 50 points.

So effectively, as long as he loses less than 5 points to Sagan in the intermediate, the jersey is secure - baring someone getting penalised at the finish of course ;)
 
You have to know what is a race-winning move and what likely isn't. If someone comes over the top when everyone is at or over their limit as SKA did then clearly that is a race-winning move. If Bennett was able to get over to him I doubt there is another race-winning move coming for a while (nobody would have the legs at that point) and then Devenyns comes to the front and it settles down for a few minutes until it starts over again

I think that what you are suggesting is sound strategy for most favourites in most groups of this size. But I don’t think it can apply here. Bennett had 10 opponents in the group. Every single one of them knows he is a much faster sprinter. Every single one of them is an experienced classics hard man and will be convinced that he is stronger than Bennett, the only one who isn’t frequently at the pointy end of classics, in a chase situation. Every single one of them is in a do or die situation, effectively with 20 km to determine if he gets a Tour stage.

What’s more, the second and third fastest guys in the group, the two who might just about think they have a hope in a sprint and might in other circumstances settle for a while in response to a show of strength? Those are the two most determined to jump him for points reasons.

To put it another way, if I’m a DS and one of my riders is in that group and responds to an effort by Bennett by doing anything other than coming over the top of him, I will be screaming at him loud enough for the radio to rupture his eardrum.
 
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24 Big Photos from Stage 19 (more to come) — corvos/aso/bettini
http://www.steephill.tv/2020/tour-de-france/photos/stage-19/

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http://www.steephill.tv/2020/tour-de-france/photos/stage-19/
 
Congratulations to Søren Kragh Andersen for winning stage 19. Second time Mezgec finished second in such way, still one chance left. Sprinters made the stage entertaining. Kudos to Sagan, regardless of the fact Bennett more or less won the green, Sagan not being in his best shape, at least tried something. In the past couple of stages.

GC contenders having an easy day, focused on tomorrow's TT.
 
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Congratulations to Søren Kragh Andersen for winning stage 19. Second time Mezgec finished second in such way, still one chance left. Sprinters made the stage entertaining. Kudos to Sagan, regardless of the fact Bennett more or less won the green, Sagan not being in his best shape, at least tried something. In the past couple of stages.

GC contenders having an easy day, focused on tomorrow's TT.

It's still a bit of a mystery to me what happened to Bennett. On stage 13, he was on the brink of death, but in the rest of the race (apart from stage 14) he could suddenly follow all Sagan's moves.
 

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