Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 17: Muret – Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet, 178.4 km

[sir fly]

No surprise today... just some minor reshuffling.
Hopefully someone denies Pogačar of winning the Polka dot jersey.

 

[MartinGT]

Sorry for the interruption. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to, uh, "calm my tits." I have no idea what that means but tit calming shall commence shortly.

Have some honey and Lemon drink Kirbs. Don't want you DNS tomorrow dude.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

As expected Pogacar aimed to win this stage. Strong tempo by McNulty and Majka and series of attacks by Pogacar. These attacks looked strong but Vingegaard and Carapaz covered them. Carapaz was looking like he was barely hanging on and I was very surprised that he managed to respond to Pog's attacks. It turned out that he bluffed and attacked hard in the last kilometer! It was strongest surge of them all but Pog kept his wheel and (as expected) he won at the end. Congrats! I measured time and it was about 48'20'' (VAM almost 1730 m/h).

 

[MartinGT]

I never knew INEOS had their own show after the race? A whole show so far on them.

 

[JosefK]

Pog saving his energy for tomorrow. Today was a training ride. Tomorrow: the Tsar Bomba.

 

[T-Nielsen]

Couldn't even drop Carapaz and Vingegaard. He's just lucky the real deals like Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck aren't around anymore.

 

[Bolder]

Vinegaard was naive pulling for Pogacar. Carapaz done the right thing.

Exactly. Although Carapaz timed his attack badly.

 

[Eclipse]

I'm completely baffled by the Carapaz hate.

He had one bullet in his revolver today, he waited until the right moment, but it wasn't enough, so what?

It was his only chance against a much stronger rider.

CN forums want attacking riders, but when they attack on multiple stages and it doesn't work they get laughed at, and then when they finally elect to sit in a bit to launch one big attack they get moaned about if it works, and laughed at if it doesn't.

Ultimately if you're not riding everyone off your wheel at will you're a bit of a joke, and if you are riding everyone off your wheel you're in the clinic.

 

[dicanio_michael]

UAE wanted the stage, why would Carapaz and Vingegard have responsibility to help pulling and deliver the stage win straight to Pogacar？

Letting a stronger man pulls more is the right thing to do. It was Pogacar who attacked first. The others may not want to attack so far out. Vingegard will learn from that.

 

[jaylew]

What is Uran going to do with a fourth place???
Nothing!

TT still to come but he needs to stay close to Carapaz

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Wiggins would have won this Tour too.

On the moto?

 

[Red Rick]

As expected Pogacar aimed to win this stage. Strong tempo by McNulty and Majka and series of attacks by Pogacar. These attacks looked strong but Vingegaard and Carapaz covered them. Carapaz was looking like he was barely hanging on and I was very surprised that he managed to respond to Pog's attacks. It turned out that he bluffed and attacked hard in the last kilometer! It was strongest surge of them all but Pog kept his wheel and (as expected) he won at the end. Congrats! I measured time and it was about 48'20'' (VAM almost 1730 m/h).

1'17 faster than Quintana.

But let's be real, today was a much easier stage than 2018.

 

[T-Nielsen]

It is completely justified. Know way too much about the sport to see it disgraced yet again.

I think you are looking for the clinic.

The clinic is famous for not being here.

 

[bob.a.feet]

I can't really blame Carapaz for his ride today (although I will never lose my 'F*CK INEOS spirit), especially considering he was probably the weakest of the three and still nearly got the win.

But seeing him get dropped by Vingegaard was hilarious.

 

[SafeBet]

There's nothing that screams Enric Mas as much as climbing the pseudo relevant GC positions while being on a mediocre day.

 

[MartinGT]

LOL

According to winter its YouRan

 

[titan31]

Absolutely. I don't see any other reason for Carapaz to work. 0% reason to work. In fact, given the circumstances, Pogacar never should have asked the other riders for help. Why???

Carapaz had more reason to work than anyone. If he didn't distance Uran, he wasn't even getting on the podium. Pogacar could have done nothing and Vingegaards time trial is miles better than Carapaz's. Vingegaard and Pogacar basically just rode Carapaz on to the podium.

 

[MrTea1976]

I want Orla back.

 

[saunaking]

Hahaha Carapaz, absolute douche.

But according to Kirby, he's clever. WTF How?!

by maximizing his result vs 2 clearly stronger riders

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Clearly Pogacar got inspired by Loltour's tactics earlier. He never actually wanted to get a gap.

Interesting if anyone will pay for this tomorrow. It probably won't be Pogacar though.

 

[will-10]

Carapaz is a killer. Jonas was a fool to let him sit on, but he'll learn for next time

 

[jaylew]

Clearly Pogacar could have put minutes into everyone if he had needed to.

I don't think so. He really wanted to get rid of them but couldn't. He was definitely the strongest but I don't think by too much.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

And .... Cav ?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Mas didn't lose that much time at the end.

Yeah, he played it smart and rode at his own pace.
Sepp Kuss is still world class at playing possum, always looking great until he gets dropped.
Carapaz did what he had to do to win the stage, a single big attack near the end, but it didn't work.
Vingegaard looks a bit like the lovechild of Rasmussen and Horner.

 

[saunaking]

Carapaz had more reason to work than anyone. If he didn't distance Uran, he wasn't even getting on the podium. Pogacar could have done nothing and Vingegaards time trial is miles better than Carapaz's. Vingegaard and Pogacar basically just rode Carapaz on to the podium.

uh carapaz accomplished exactly that and even tried to pull a win out of his ass