Tour de France 2020 | Stage 6 (Le Teil - Mont Aigoual, 191 km)

[Jagartrott]

I think QS and JV will want to take it relatively easy today. I don't think they'll be chasing any breaks. Then it'd be up to Yates' and perhaps Pogacar's teams, but I don't know they want to really risk going all out here and be found out at the end. So I guess any strong break will have a good chance to make it to the end here. Plenty of riders should also be fresh after yesterday.

 

[Lequack]

I think the breaks have been fed up by being given so little time and tightly controlled. Probably why we didn't see one yesterday. In the past breaks usually got 10+ minutes easily.

 

[Faserr]

I don't think there's a good climber who has lost time on purpose. Poels, D. Martinez, D. Martin, Zakarin, Aru and Sivakov have lost time because of crashes or physical problems. I don't see them winning a stage.

Schachmann yesterday, but he is not one of the best climbers at the moment.

 

[fuiers]

So Roglic the favorite today but can Yates hang on and keep the yellow jersey?

 

[Salvarani]

I think Dumoulin will hang around and try to limit the damage in most mt stages and then hope he is still close enough and strong enough to strike in the final ITT. But Roglic might have a good enough lead already. If Roglic fails however... then it will be interesting how far he's behind the likes of Bernal, Pogacar etc...

Yup. I think this too. First week is all about limiting damage and trying to hang on for him. Not lose too much time. Then he will begin to get better compared some of the others that might fade in the 2nd or 3rd week. While he staying pretty consistent or appearing to be stronger than his rivals. He can do damage in that ITT if he just feeling a little bit better than some of the others.

 

[Gigs_98]

I think Dumoulin will hang around and try to limit the damage in most mt stages and then hope he is still close enough and strong enough to strike in the final ITT. But Roglic might have a good enough lead already. If Roglic fails however... then it will be interesting how far he's behind the likes of Bernal, Pogacar etc...

What do you think will be the difference between the two in the TT btw? Cause I wouldn't be shocked if Roglic won the TT, but I can absolutely see Dumoulin gaining over a minute on Roglic there as well.

 

[Gigs_98]

So Roglic the favorite today but can Yates hang on and keep the yellow jersey?

Think if Roglic wins today, Yates will finish s.t. That said, even if Roglic wins and Yates finishes 2nd the time bonifications would already be enough for Roglic to take yellow, as long as Yates doesn't get any at the bonus sprint.
On another note, I think Yates will go for time bonifications at the bonus sprint.

 

[Cinemaniak]

If Dumoulin decides to launch a big attack at some point in the race, I really have to see who's going to bring him back. I can only see Bernal, Pogacar or Pinot doing this. But they might not be comfortable doing this with Roglic there.

Sivakovs injuries and him losing time is a bigger blow for INEOS than we think.

 

[HelloDolly]

I am hoping we see some shift in GC ...even if its only a few guys losing time


I think Pogacar could win the GC battle today

 

[Lequack]

Prize money so far

 

[search]

I don't think there's a good climber who has lost time on purpose. Poels, D. Martinez, D. Martin, Zakarin, Aru and Sivakov have lost time because of crashes or physical problems. I don't see them winning a stage.

Zakarin has lost time because the team asked him to, to be in a better position to go for the breakaways. So I guess he will give it a try today, but the relatively flat start may not be in his favour.

 

[Red Rick]

What do you think will be the difference between the two in the TT btw? Cause I wouldn't be shocked if Roglic won the TT, but I can absolutely see Dumoulin gaining over a minute on Roglic there as well.

Around 1s/minute. If Roglic climbs better, probably more like 0.5 or less, if Dumoulin is climbing better by then, probably more like 1.5s/min.

This obviously depends on how much work both have put in their ITT and how Dumoulin's ITT has been affected by different equipment, etc.

A big point for me was how disappointed Dumoulin was on tuesday despite not losing time. I think he expected to be up there with the best climbers in the race and he wouldn't expect that without having great training results.

 

[Earns1985]

It will be interesting to see, if GC teams also try to send riders of their team in the breakaway.
If a captain is alone at the top of the Col de la Lusette (before or behind the group of the favourites), a relais station for the final 14 km would be a great advantage.

 

[Rollthedice]

There are two more stages left until the first rest day where differences can be made so I guess today it'll be just about control from Jumbo, set the train at 400W on Lusette and good luck to anyone who tries to get away.

 

[Red Rick]

Teammates in break over Lusette isn't something I hadn't considered. That also might lead to a battle to get into the break (who am I kidding at this point), and thus to the break being more controlled?

 

[search]

I think Dumoulin will hang around and try to limit the damage in most mt stages and then hope he is still close enough and strong enough to strike in the final ITT. But Roglic might have a good enough lead already. If Roglic fails however... then it will be interesting how far he's behind the likes of Bernal, Pogacar etc...

I don't see him as particularly strong (yet) either, but if it's only a small group left after la Lusette today, and he is in there (with no breakaway ahead), I wouldn't exclude him going for a solo attack while the others are looking at Roglic. There won't be many domestiques left at that point of the race, I guess. Maybe Reichenbach

 

[Cinemaniak]

Maybe Reichenbach

Reichenbach bringing back Dumoulin? I don't see that happening...

 

[search]

Reichenbach bringing back Dumoulin? I don't see that happening...

yes, that's what I mean. There could be an opportunity to go solo with no one willing/able to chase him down.

 

[Earns1985]

Teammates in break over Lusette isn't something I hadn't considered. That also might lead to a battle to get into the break (who am I kidding at this point), and thus to the break being more controlled?

Can see Bora sending Schachmann, Mühlberger or Kämna in the break. It´s possible that Buchmann can not follow the Jumbo Train in the end of the climb. Then to have a rider to come back would be nice tactical move..

 

[Blanco]

There are two more stages left until the first rest day where differences can be made so I guess today it'll be just about control from Jumbo, set the train at 400W on Lusette and good luck to anyone who tries to get away.

It all depends whether Jumbo wants Kuss after Lucette or not. If yes, tempo will be high and not all-out and there will certainly be at least 10 guys over the top. If not, Kuss will destroy the field and then Rogla or Dumo will be launched somewhere near the top, or even after, and then we'll have a race.

 

[BertiewasbetterthanFroome]

Sivakovs injuries and him losing time is a bigger blow for INEOS than we think.

He's recovering so he can lose all the time he wants...

 

[Pantani_lives]

The Mont Aigoual features in Tim Krabbé's De Renner.

 

[bambino]

It all depends whether Jumbo wants Kuss after Lucette or not. If yes, tempo will be high and not all-out and there will certainly be at least 10 guys over the top. If not, Kuss will destroy the field and then Rogla or Dumo will be launched somewhere near the top, or even after, and then we'll have a race.

I feel Jumbo is not in any kind of hurry to spend energy to blow up the field early at this time of the race. So I'm not expecting them to do anything else than ride steady brisk tempo and Kuss launching Roglic max 500 meters before the finish. It is for the others to try breaking Jumbo right now.

 

[bob.a.feet]

The Mont Aigoual features in Tim Krabbé's De Renner.

I hope it's not that bastard Reilhan for the win.

 

[BlueRoads]

I think the crashes during the Dauphiné and the first stage have really affected this race badly. In almost every team there is an important rider or two (Sivakov, Amador, Gaudu, Pinot, Schachmann, Buchmann, Kämna, de la Cruz, Poels...) who they are waiting for to heal and get better. So everyone is even more waiting for time than they would anyway and does not want to make the race hard early on. The state of those riders will probably influence the race in the next days as well.