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Tour de France 2020 | Stage 8 (Gazeres-sur-Geronne - Loudenvielle

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Some shocking comments from Frans Maassen (Jumbo DS). He didn't exactly crucify Dumoulin, but he's not going in soft either. The initial plan was for Roglic to gain time and for Dumoulin to just follow wheels. Dumoulin then just decided to start pulling, which they couldn't stop him from doing (perhaps because the (self inflicted) damage was already done by the time the news of Dumoulin pulling had reached them), and is somewhat pointing the finger of blame towards Dumoulin. Dumoulin thinks he's not in good form, which Maassen deliberately disagrees with. What a mess they've made of this.


Well maybe a bit of a mess, but it doesn't appear to be as much of a mess as Movistar was the last two years.
 
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What? It’s 18 km from top of Col de Marie Blanque to the finish. Last 7 km is flat/slightly uphill. It seems to be around 10 GC guys that are pretty equal when it comes to strength. If two of them get at gap of 20second, don’t you think it’s to far from the mountain top to stay away?
I mean if there is a whole peloton chasing the 1-3 men group 18 kilometres would be a lot, but it won't be like that. If the climb is ridden fast enough the 1-3 men groups will be chased by other 1-3 men groups. Really, if people don't attack on a climb like that because of 18 kilometres of which most are downhill, cycling is in a dark place.
 
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I mean if there is a whole peloton chasing the 1-3 men group 18 kilometres would be a lot, but it won't be like that. If the climb is ridden fast enough the 1-3 men groups will be chased by other 1-3 men groups. Really, if people don't attack on a climb like that because of 18 kilometres of which most are downhill, cycling is in a dark place.

Remember stage 1 of Pais Vasco 2018? We so need that tomorrow. Top 8 in the Tour de France are all inside 13 seconds... after a whole week of racing and a lot of mountains... this is turning out to be a bit like the 2017 Tour. That one was close the whole time, yet we all knew the outcome 2 weeks before it ended.
 
Well it was too far away from finish to attack at Lusette (13k then, but also less downhill ofc) so who knows...

If there was a bigger climb just before Marie Blanque the peloton might be smaller, but with the profile earlier on I fear most teams will come pretty fresh into Marie Blanque and then it can be hard to create big enoug gaps to make them count.

But the fact that there is bonus seconds on top of Marie Blanque could/shoul give incentives to attack.
 
Some shocking comments from Frans Maassen (Jumbo DS). He didn't exactly crucify Dumoulin, but he's not going in soft either. The initial plan was for Roglic to gain time and for Dumoulin to just follow wheels. Dumoulin then just decided to start pulling, which they couldn't stop him from doing (perhaps because the (self inflicted) damage was already done by the time the news of Dumoulin pulling had reached them), and is somewhat pointing the finger of blame towards Dumoulin. Dumoulin thinks he's not in good form, which Maassen deliberately disagrees with. What a mess they've made of this.

Those Jumbo DS's have never filled me with confidence.

 
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Some shocking comments from Frans Maassen (Jumbo DS). He didn't exactly crucify Dumoulin, but he's not going in soft either. The initial plan was for Roglic to gain time and for Dumoulin to just follow wheels. Dumoulin then just decided to start pulling, which they couldn't stop him from doing (perhaps because the (self inflicted) damage was already done by the time the news of Dumoulin pulling had reached them), and is somewhat pointing the finger of blame towards Dumoulin. Dumoulin thinks he's not in good form, which Maassen deliberately disagrees with. What a mess they've made of this.

Absolute shambles if that's the case hah.

I guess it explains why despite Dumo burying himself Rogla was nowhere near ready to go when he pulled off.

For a team who clearly held all the cards they've done a really good job of throwing them away.

Still their race to lose but it feels like they are trying their best to make it winnable for others
 
Some shocking comments from Frans Maassen (Jumbo DS). He didn't exactly crucify Dumoulin, but he's not going in soft either. The initial plan was for Roglic to gain time and for Dumoulin to just follow wheels. Dumoulin then just decided to start pulling, which they couldn't stop him from doing (perhaps because the (self inflicted) damage was already done by the time the news of Dumoulin pulling had reached them), and is somewhat pointing the finger of blame towards Dumoulin. Dumoulin thinks he's not in good form, which Maassen deliberately disagrees with. What a mess they've made of this.
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I have an announcement to make

RABOFAIL IS BACK ON THE MENUE BOIS
 
Who knows, maybe Dumo working for Roglic might actually turn out better in the end for JV. I don't really fancy two leaders especially if one of them can't keep up with the best. It's harder to take care of two leaders in the long run. Plan B failed for Ineos too. Two leaders worked for Ineos last year but let's be honest, the field from last year is laughable comparing to this year.
 
I mean if there is a whole peloton chasing the 1-3 men group 18 kilometres would be a lot, but it won't be like that. If the climb is ridden fast enough the 1-3 men groups will be chased by other 1-3 men groups. Really, if people don't attack on a climb like that because of 18 kilometres of which most are downhill, cycling is in a dark place.
To me it looks like a stage where most riders don't really want to, then MAL and/or Landa go for it and everyone's like '*** it my legs were hurting anyway'
 
So, when does Movistar decide to ride for the Team Classification? I think tomorrow they'll put everyone that they can and their mothers in the break.


At this point I think the only two riders the GC teams wouldn't let go into the break for Movistar are Mas and Valverde. Valverde still hasn't managed to lose enough time for those team to allow him to go up the road. They could send 5 of the other 6 riders up the road if they wanted to, just keeping one to fetch water bottles and feed bags. Movistar did say before the race that they were there to go stage hunting. Wouldn't sending 4 or 5 riders in tomorrows break be a good idea for stage hunting?
 
You can rebrand the name but you can’t remove all traces of the defective DNA!

"Primoz, I've brought in a couple of old heroes to lift your spirits after todays tough stage"

In walks a depressed looking Michael Rasmussen and Laurens Ten Dam still covered in blood.

They should've just scrapped the whole team and started from scratch, it's got a Mr Burns' Baseball Team air about it.
 
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Bernal is clearly worse than in the Pyrenees last year
He's been terrible for a while. INEOS have done their best in trying to hide it, but it's glaringly obvious his back isn't healed whatsoever. He looks fine riding a steady tempo, but the slightest change of pace puts him in trouble. Now it could still come later on in the race and this conservative way Jumbo have approached this is in his favour, but if, by any chance, Jumbo wants to make a right tomorrow on Marie Blanque, things can get ugly quick. Egan doesn't get out of the saddle much when he's in good, but at this moment he just even isn't able to do so physically.
 
To me it looks like a stage where most riders don't really want to, then MAL and/or Landa go for it and everyone's like '*** it my legs were hurting anyway'


I can definitely see Landa trying something if he has the legs. he's always willing to try something. I also wouldn't be surprised if Pogacar tries something again as well.


If JV's DSs aren't happy about Dumo making his own decisions, Dumo could always switch over to Movistar. I think at this point we all know Movistar actually expects their riders to make decisions on their own. Although it does help if they communicate with each other.
 
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