Tour de France 2020 | Stage 2 (Nice Haut Pays - Nice, 186 km)

[RedheadDane]

I fear my penis theory may have gotten the forum into a risqué mood. I do apologise.

Have you... done some scientific research?

 

[Krokro]

And now it will be the same ridiculous Alaphpiti out of nowhere climbing with the best Tour just like last year. Great.

Why so much salt? Alaph climbing outta nowhere? I must have missed something..

 

[Wvv]

Strong perfomance by Greg among those lightweights, again. Really hope he can raise his arms in this Tour once more, he comes close so often.
Shame Martinez lost so much time in the end.

 

[Juan Pelota]

EF not dropping back Bettiol to help Martinez is a strange tactic...They must have felt confident he could win the stage...?

 

[Salvarani]

The time trial behind the team car might have helped.............Nibali would have been thrown off the race.

They will most likely receive a fine and a time penalty, even if that dont really matter, out of principle.

Im glad he finished though. Hopefully he can manage and recover, so that he can be of service later in the race.

 

[johnymax]

Porte is also the least exciting race contender since Leipheimer. He makes Haimar Zubeldia look like Aleksandr Vinokourov. He makes Tadej Valjavec look like Vincenzo Nibali. He makes Adam Yates look like Simon Yates.

I don't agree here. He's had some pretty epic Willunga Hill attacks during his career.

 

[jaylew]

Porte is also the least exciting race contender since Leipheimer. He makes Haimar Zubeldia look like Aleksandr Vinokourov. He makes Tadej Valjavec look like Vincenzo Nibali. He makes Adam Yates look like Simon Yates.

That is unfair and simply untrue. We've seen Porte attack plenty of times on climbs though usually in shorter stage races and not GTS. I've also seen him win a ton of races. I don't remember seeing Zubeldia win anything. Idk, maybe I saw him win a TT once or twice.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yes, and we've seen Alejandro Valverde animate countless smaller races before retreating into his shell in major ones. Richie Porte in a GT is about as beige as it gets, and as inspiring as Louis Meintjes under strict instructions to ride as defensively as possible, and the one time he ever added something to a Grand Tour, a motorbike brought it to a crashing halt after about 200m.

 

[Pantani_lives]

If Alaphilippe still has yellow after the Pyrenees the organizers will be tempted to cancel the final seven stages.

 

[BlueRoads]

If you were watching your cycling you woud have seen Hirschi was good in Autralia and good at the Dauphine

I'm not watching cycling. I'm only watching my cq-points. And they said Hirschi was a flop so far. But today he proved them wrong.

 

[jaylew]

I don't agree here. He's had some pretty epic Willunga Hill attacks during his career.

Right. Forget TdU. The guy has won over 30 races and some big ones. Both stage wins and GCs plus wore the Maglia Rosa in the Giro for a few days.

Comparing him to Zubeldia is ridiculous.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Have you... done some scientific research?

The results were... inconclusive.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Right. Forget TdU. The guy has won over 30 races and some big ones. Both stage wins and GCs plus wore the Maglia Rosa in the Giro for a few days.

Comparing him to Zubeldia is ridiculous.

He wore the maglia rosa in 2010 because he got a 13 minute time gift. Take the TDU out of it and he has won some decent races, but the TDU accounts for a high percentage of the races he's won. After a decade of being sold as a GT contender, he's now 35 and he's only once beaten the result he managed as a neo-pro with a 13 minute time gift. He's a quality rider over one week, but he adds absolutely nothing to GTs and, as a leader at least, never has done.

 

[Red Rick]

He wore the maglia rosa in 2010 because he got a 13 minute time gift. Take the TDU out of it and he has won some decent races, but the TDU accounts for a high percentage of the races he's won. After a decade of being sold as a GT contender, he's now 35 and he's only once beaten the result he managed as a neo-pro with a 13 minute time gift. He's a quality rider over one week, but he adds absolutely nothing to GTs and, as a leader at least, never has done.

He adds memes Libertine how can you ignore the memes.

 

[Koronin]

Only thing that really surprised me about that was how low down the climb Ala attacked. Left himself a fair bit of work.

Feels like this really could be a tour of surprises. Maybe Movistar will get there *** together.

Well Movistar's GC riders looked better today than they did at Burgos and the Dauphine. However it also wasn't exactly a hard raced stage either. Either way Soler's form, even with the bruised knee from yesterday, looked better.

 

[DNP-Old]

Aru and Martinez today's main GC losers. Kämna lost 10 minutes in the end. That late crash must have been worse than it looked. A shame about his and Dani's crashes.

He had no chance of competing in the general classification fight anyway. It would appear EF thought the same, given it was only Carthy waiting for him, rather than Bettiol.

 

[Blanco]

Alaf is a pretty remarkable rider. He basically said he'd win this stage; everyone knew he was going to attack on the final climb; he was towing Hirschi and Yates; had to calculate his sprint to bluff Yates off his wheel; and still won. He can win Stage 4 if he's climbing like last year; but I think that one of the big GC guys is going to attack on the last climb. Anyway, awesome to win the stage and the yj...

He won, kudos! But he didn't looked stronger than the other two. He won't win stage 4.

 

[Leinster]

Sunweb are backing Ces Bol for sprints so I guess that would have been a conflict with Matthews ambitions or maybe they need someone to win in Italy for the sponsor?

Benoot s the leader but he is not going well at alland retired from the Dauphine so bringing him to the Tour was maybe a mistake

SK Anderson, Hirchi & Roche are trying for stages and maybe KOM

There are stages on this Tour where Bol can go for the win (yesterday, Ile de Re, Paris) and stages where Matthews could go for the win (Privas, Champagnole, Lyon) and not have them stepping on each other's toes.

Nobody would love to see Roche win a stage more than I would, but there's no way he, or Kragh, or Benoot, is a better shot for a stage than Bling.

 

[BlueRoads]

Thomas de Gendt seems to be in the worst form of his life, or something.

 

[roundabout]

He wore the maglia rosa in 2010 because he got a 13 minute time gift. Take the TDU out of it and he has won some decent races, but the TDU accounts for a high percentage of the races he's won. After a decade of being sold as a GT contender, he's now 35 and he's only once beaten the result he managed as a neo-pro with a 13 minute time gift. He's a quality rider over one week, but he adds absolutely nothing to GTs and, as a leader at least, never has done.

Take the TDU out and he has won 5 major short stage races.

Unfortunately GTs are a different animal and even on an aggressive day like the stage Bardet won in 2016, he can't make a difference with his attacks.

 

[BlueRoads]

Wait, are you still discussing Porte at length here?
Well, there are lots of riders I would talk about after this stage, but Porte?
Lol, I don't mean to be mean. It's just funny to me.

 

[Faserr]

Thomas de Gendt seems to be in the worst form of his life, or something.

And then he solos 150km to a win against a 180 rider field

 

[Wvv]

Thomas de Gendt seems to be in the worst form of his life, or something.

Not really. He just waits for the right moment(s) later on in this Tour.

 

[johnymax]

And then he solos 150km to a win against a 180 rider field

Epic breakaway vintage de Gendt win incoming tomorrow.

 

[jaylew]

He wore the maglia rosa in 2010 because he got a 13 minute time gift. Take the TDU out of it and he has won some decent races, but the TDU accounts for a high percentage of the races he's won. After a decade of being sold as a GT contender, he's now 35 and he's only once beaten the result he managed as a neo-pro with a 13 minute time gift. He's a quality rider over one week, but he adds absolutely nothing to GTs and, as a leader at least, never has done.

Of, course I'm aware of how he got the MR but by definition, you're not anonymous while wearing the leader's jersey.

He's certainly underperformed in GTs, and you can't blame all of it on his crashes but comparing a guy with a ton of major wins to someone who won almost nothing his entire career isn't fair, imo.