Tour de France 2020 | Stage 9 (Pau - Laruns, 153 km)

[TomLPC]

I think there are too many riders within distance for JV to properly control the race.

Sky would just wait for the first Mountain stage and put 1 minute 30 into the nearest person then ride tempo the rest of the race, 10th would be 5 minutes down by now.

A couple of those lads will fancy going for glory 100k out in the alps hopefully.

 

[Red Rick]

Dumoulin seems a lot happier than yesterday

 

[sir fly]

I still think Rogla and Jumbo should've taken more advantage during the first week.
Bernal's getting stronger.

 

[Luthor]

Oh yes, he is definitely coming. He is sitting in 2nd position after these first 9 days while not being great at all. He is a phenomenal GC-rider simply put, now its stage 15, 17 and 18. If he has legs, I think he will win.

Bernal definitely looked strong today. Until today Quintana looked a bit better than him. Bernal is the man to beat on stage 17.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Yesterday Roglic' tactics were questionable but today I don't think he could have done much more, gave it his all from the last 2k of Marie Blanque onwards. He'll probably take some time on Pas de Peyrol and hope that he can limit his losses in the big mountain stages. If Bernal ends up winning the race by 30 seconds or less, he threw it yesterday, not today.

 

[huangho]

It seems a fair top 10 for me, JV has to control the race now, there are many riders on GC who can test Rogla...

Second week will be really interesting!

 

[Leinster]

Roglic was pretty nice to Pogacar on the top, excusing himself, when it was Pogacar who looked to the wrong side.

They both went the wrong way. Rogla crossed over the white line left to right, just as Poga crossed it the other direction. They were both very lucky.

 

[Luthor]

I still think Rogla and Jumbo should've taken more advantage during the first week.
Bernal's getting stronger.

Too many crashes for them. Half of their team and most importantly, the climbers have crashed in the last weeks. They are still good. Dumo wouldn't have resisted today for sure, the tempo was too high.

 

[movingtarget]

Bernal looked better as did Landa. Porte almost hung on but the last few hundred metres of the climb were too much for him. He would have dropped on the descent anyway. Quintana just doesn't convince me, more of the same, don't see him as a podium chance.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Congrats to Tadej Pogacar! He's most eager to attack and I'm rooting for him at this year's Tour. Too bad he lost time another day but the race is long. During this race I have reminiscences of last year's Vuelta. It could end up similarly except Bernal replacing Valverde.

 

[Red Rick]

Roglic is unable to distance relevant riders on a climb, it's not tactics, that's all he can do. Too many times we've seen this. He can win Le Tour on sprints and TT.

It's more than winning the Tour on ITTs alone

 

[Carols]

Wowza great stage!! from the Very Start to the Very End it was pretty nail biting full on race! Any whiners today should just give up the sport,

Love the Slovenians, beautiful country with 2 awesome cyclists.

Kudos Tadej! Panache and a stage win. Kudos Primoz, great ride and the Yellow Jersey! Slovenia rules

 

[Fergoose]

I think it's nice to see the camraderie between the Slovenes, a wee nation without their own team bankrolling them to success like we've seen with some teams in the past (be they Dutch, British or American). It's hard to predict against both of them being on the podium, although I do worry about Pogacar's use of energy (I thought he was a but mad to attack today after his effort yesterday. But he won the stage and took time on everyone, so for his sake I hope I continue to underestimate him).

 

[SKSemtex]

Anyone not picking two Slovenians for the podium ?

Nickname​	Race No.​	RACE​	L-R Tip​	PRE-R Tip​
Armchair cyclist​	4​	TDF_1​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Blanco​	4​	TDF_1​	Roglic​	Roglic​
BlueRoads​	4​	TDF_1​	Roglic​	Roglic​
bob.a.feet​	4​	TDF_1​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Cian​	4​	TDF_1​	Bernal​	Roglic​
drc​	4​	TDF_1​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Faserr​	4​	TDF_1​	Thomas​	Roglic​
Hayneplane​	4​	TDF_1​	Bernal​	Roglic​
Jpanula​	4​	TDF_1​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Jspear​	4​	TDF_1​	Bernal​	Roglic​
wheresmybrakes​	4​	TDF_1​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Earns1985​	5​	TDF_2​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Finn84​	5​	TDF_2​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Greenedge​	5​	TDF_2​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Jungle Cycle​	5​	TDF_2​	Roglic​	Roglic​
pink_jersey​	5​	TDF_2​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Ranagazoo​	5​	TDF_2​	Roglic​	Roglic​
senna6541​	5​	TDF_2​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Tonton​	5​	TDF_2​	Bernal​	Roglic​
Bonimenier​	6​	TDF_3​	Froome​	Roglic​
Brumdog66​	6​	TDF_3​	Pogacar​	Pogacar​
drc​	6​	TDF_3​	Pogacar​	Pogacar​
Hayneplane​	6​	TDF_3​	Pogacar​	Pogacar​
Ranagazoo​	6​	TDF_3​	Pogacar​	Pogacar​
tobydawq​	6​	TDF_3​	Roglic​	Roglic​
triley36​	6​	TDF_3​	Froome​	Pogacar​

 

[Ranagazoo]

Shoutout to ASO for finally designing a decent mountain weekend

Agreed. Lots of people (myself included) were saying the pyranees stages aren't hard enough this year. But we've had a weekend of great action and yet loads of riders are still in contention. Bring on the alps.

 

[JosephK]

Top 7 within 44 seconds. The Tour is wide open, still (after 9 stages). Better than in some years. TJV is not dominant in the way Sky were when they had the killer train plus a GC guy (Froome) that was levels above everyone else. Jumbo Visma looked great today up front, but they won't be putting two guys on the podium, and Roglic looks very good but not invincible. If Roglic does not lose form or have a mishap, I think only Bernal and Pogacar could eclipse him. Quintana/Landa may have chances, but the time trial will be a challenge for them, with 30 kilometers before the mountain starts.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Roglic is unable to distance relevant riders on a climb, it's not tactics, that's all he can do. Too many times we've seen this. He can win Le Tour on sprints and TT.

Yeah but one bad mechanical could mess up his plan.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

What did he say? Or why do you mention this? Must've just missed that

Just when we had established who was the last Swiss stage winner on the forum, he asked the question to José en Michel.

 

[SKSemtex]

Nickname​	Race No.​	RACE​	L-R Tip​	PRE-R Tip​
drc​	4​	TDF_1​	Roglic​	Roglic​
Hayneplane​	4​	TDF_1​	Bernal​	Roglic​
Ranagazoo​	5​	TDF_2​	Roglic​	Roglic​
drc​	6​	TDF_3​	Pogacar​	Pogacar​
Hayneplane​	6​	TDF_3​	Pogacar​	Pogacar​
Ranagazoo​	6​	TDF_3​	Pogacar​	Pogacar​

 

[Rollthedice]

Yeah but one bad mechanical could mess up his plan.

I said "he can" not that he will. To me what we see is the maximum he's capable of, is it enough to win? Bernal is coming to life, Pogacar is a beast, Quintana is very well in the mix.

 

[movingtarget]

Great ride by Hirschi. He will get a win soon.

 

[Salvarani]

Roglic is just riding like he is the rider to beat. People can think what they want, but he is just riding from the standpoint of being the favorite, with a great team and having his TT ability to rely on. He is explosive and can win bonus seconds. Has stayed out of crashes and problems so far. He is in the lead after the first week.

You dont have to root for him, but I dont get people that almost seems to hate him and J-V.

I know we all love an underdog, but Roglic has ridden with panache before. Now he, together with his team, has developed into the ones to beat. You ride the race differently and more defensive. Controlling. You dont gamble in the same way.

I for one dont think it looks like he or J-V is in no way unbeatable though. You can isolate him and take turns attacking. Letting him do work. Hope he runs out of steam at some point. At the same time, they will start to think about their position and might ride more defensive as the race goes on. It is usually how it goes. Lets hope there are more stages like this ahead.

This was just my thoughts. It is cool if you dont agree. I´ll be rooting for Pog and Martin for the sake of my team in the TdF game.

 

[Red Rick]

Hirschi looks like he's cried.

 

[Velolover2]

I honestly think that if the climb was another Peyresourde, Quintana would have stayed with favorites.

He needs a long climb in the 7%-9% range not double digit gradients.

 

[Luthor]

Hirschi looks like he's cried.

The guy was close twice, can't blame him.