Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 7: Vierzon – Le Creusot, 249.1 km

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think Nibali has a better chance to podium at the Tour than medal at the Olympics

And I dont think he will let GC go ...anyway not yet and not without a fight

Nibali has no chance in hell for the GC. If you get dropped on these climbs by Asgreen, VDP and Van Aert you are not riding a GC. Period.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Movistar like any other team (outside of DSM) races in their interest, and their interest was getting as quick to the finish in order to minimize gaps up front while maximizing gaps from the back. Its not rocket science.

If you think doing the work for the race favorite is in their interest, it might as well be rocket science. Making their sponsor look like a turd is probably also not in their best interest.

 

[IndianCyclist]

This is the 2nd time they chased Carapaz. I am sure they should be ready for underhanded tactics by Ineos and take it on the chin.

 

[Valv.Piti]

If you think doing the work for the race favorite is in their interest, it might as well be rocket science. Making their sponsor look like a turd is probably also not in their best interest.

Roglic is down the road. You have numbers. Another podium-contender is up the road. You have numbers.
You like Movistar-bashing and saying illogical stuff when youre caught up in your emotions. Congratulations.

 

[LeoMontero]

Arkea is just nonsense, they are a joke.

 

[Leinster]

It is way too early andI think Tadej is happy not to be that close in the GC anymore. He does not want that yellow too soon either. why would he have followed Carapaz now? He has a margin on him already and it was not the terrain where they could take time when going together.

It would be a lot of effort for only 20 like seconds

At the time I posted that, Carapaz's lead over the Pog group had gone out to over a minute and Movistar had just gone to the front; it really looked to me like Carapaz was going to gain half a minute or more. I wasn't saying that Pog should have chased Carapaz solo, but that he should have covered Carapaz's attack when he went; that wouldn't have been a big effort, it would have been maybe a 20 second burst to get on the wheel, after which Carapaz would probably have sat up.

In the end, it worked out for Pog; he didn't have to do any chasing, and lost no time to a very dangerous rival. It's still hard to tell if Pogacar is really holding this together with his fingertips, or if he's playing it like a fiddle.

 

[Poursuivant]

Even if Ineos and Carapaz can isolate and drop Pogacar in the mountains. What happens then? Cos with the TT on stage 20, Ineos need to continually drop them and if they do get ahead of him, all he's going to do is sit on Carapaz's wheel. Carapaz needs to have 2 minutes on Pogacar by stage 20 and he's already behind. It would be a monstrous effort to get that time in the stages we have unless Pogacar cracks completely or crashes.

Agree, only way to get Pogacar in trouble is to go hard early on a stage, if Ineos and one or two other teams like Movi or Jumbo get some of their big hitters in a break, they would crush UAE. The problem is, you would still have some other team chasing cos they have missed out.

I can see Uran making the podium here

 

[Leinster]

Lesson learned. Next time, Ineos need to drill the train on the front and drop all the Movistar doms before launching Carapaz.

 

[saganftw]

At the time I posted that, Carapaz's lead over the Pog group had gone out to over a minute and Movistar had just gone to the front; it really looked to me like Carapaz was going to gain half a minute or more. I wasn't saying that Pog should have chased Carapaz solo, but that he should have covered Carapaz's attack when he went; that wouldn't have been a big effort, it would have been maybe a 20 second burst to get on the wheel, after which Carapaz would probably have sat up.

In the end, it worked out for Pog; he didn't have to do any chasing, and lost no time to a very dangerous rival. It's still hard to tell if Pogacar is really holding this together with his fingertips, or if he's playing it like a fiddle.

i think everytime you get attacked close to the mountain or hill top, its probably better to not respond right away because realistically it way harder to gain time downhill than uphill, also downhill chase is easier for more riders to join...carapaz should have attacked at the foot of the final climb, thats where a response from pogacar would have been 100% required, when he attacked i told my father "watch him do a lot of work for 15 seconds" - and even that proved to be too optimistic

 

[DaveJones2]

Great stage, bit of everything!

Such a shame that teams like Movistar & EF with zero ambition to actually hit the top step of the podium are going to be so clearly influential in nullifying the GC race.

Either put someone up there to ride with Carapaz or force the world's best ITT and GC candidate to do the work himself.

Instead, they are once again riding for 3rd/4th in GC and the irrelevant Teams classification.... Quite pathetic IMO. I'd be livid with this kind of "3rd is ok" pessimistic attitude if I was their sponsor.

 

[Volderke]

Even if Movistar got it right: does anyone want to bet a single (insert currency here) on Mas making the podium?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Roglic is down the road. You have numbers. Another podium-contender is up the road. You have numbers. Are you imbecile?
You like Movistar-bashing and saying illogical stuff when youre caught up in your emotions. Congratulations.

Roglic is down the road, you think he will magically bounce back tomorrow when his injuries are already days old? Roglic is down and out, and should he bounce back, the extra minute they made him lose isn't going to matter for whatever plan they have in the end.
Good to see you have your emotions firmly under control though. Also good to see Movistar have their emotions under control, lol. Riding for status quo is exactly what is wrong with such teams.

 

[johnymax]

Amazing stage. Obviously I'm said for Roglič, but I expected him to struggle this weekend.

Meanwhile today's stage had everything. Phenomenal ride by Mohorič, superstars in the breakaway, pressure on UAE and Pogačar, Carapaz attack (love that), a pre-race favourite losing time (hate that)...

 

[Big Doopie]

Arkea is just nonsense, they are a joke.

wtf has happened to barguil's career?

top ten, wins two stages and climber's jersey and then at arkea...?

one (out of the blue) french championship. thats it...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Lesson learned. Next time, Ineos need to drill the train on the front and drop all the Movistar doms before launching Carapaz.

They had done, the only Movis left in the bunch were Valverde, Carapaz and López. They called Erviti and García Cortina back from the break because they'd been dropped so they obviously weren't going to win the stage. We even had that comical scene where van Baarle and García Cortina were dropping back together, one to help Carapaz and the other to help chase him.

 

[SafeBet]

Even if Movistar got it right: does anyone want to bet a single (insert currency here) on Mas making the podium?

The real bet would be on Movistar not winning the team classification. They are currently 10th

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Regarding Movistar.... It's Stage 7 and the race hasn't even reached the mountains. One of the top 3 GC favorites is up the road and another has been dropped. There's 2 weeks left to test Pogacar.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Who is ganging up on him? Carapaz is the only guy he has to watch anymore. Nobody else is capable of dropping him in the mountains.
And then he has another 45 seconds+ advantage on everyone in the final TT to come anyway.

I don't see any reason why GC rivals won't attempt in the mountains what they did to Pogacar today.

 

[Fantastico]

Sht like this happens all the time with riders leaving. But I don't see those other teams not only screw over a rider, but the entire race for others as well as fans across the world because they are petty.

It's not their job to please all fans across the world, but to ride such that it fits their own ambitions. Actually, it feels that some fans are just petty about Movistar's riding style.

 

[Poursuivant]

The real bet would be on Movistar not winning the team classification. They are currently 10th

They were probably riding to protect Valverde’s top 30

 

[Netserk]

Even if Movistar got it right: does anyone want to bet a single (insert currency here) on Mas making the podium?

Sure. Carapaz is favourite to take the second step, after him it's between Vingegaard, Mas, Uran and the likes. Why not?

 

[Big Doopie]

Agree, only way to get Pogacar in trouble is to go hard early on a stage, if Ineos and one or two other teams like Movi or Jumbo get some of their big hitters in a break, they would crush UAE. The problem is, you would still have some other team chasing cos they have missed out.

I can see Uran making the podium here

agreed.

only problem is that now pog needs to make up time on van aert, so expect him to actually go on the attack (perhaps early) or go with attacks. at least over this weekend.

pog, i believe, will be flying well over the rest.

question is whether van aert is "just" Maertens (1976) or Bruyere (1978) or whether he is actually more...

will be fun, no matter -- at least this weekend, and then we will see better.

 

[carton]

So basically we learned that it's only Carapaz going after Pogacar, everyone else is fighting for the podium and hoping for the best. We only got this bit of excitement because there were no real GC threats in that group and no one was about to help UAE avoid letting a Pereiro happen. Good on Richie. And good on Mohoric, great win. And good on the van men, way to liven up the race.

Honestly, I have no problems with what Movi did. Mas is going well but he has never climbed or TTed with the best, MAL is a nice second card but he's no longer a legit threat to Pogacar, Carapaz has a time trial to go and could be a rival for the podium for both. But I literally can not understand what DirectEnergie was doing. Like, literally literally, not as some kind of rhetorical device. Even if doing UAE a favor seems farfetched as you normally need more of a pretense, just for appearance's sake. The best tactical explanation seems to be that they were pushing on the flat in order to push the pace for one of their riders to go on a climb against a full GC peloton in the closing kilometers of a dangerous mid-mountain stage and gain some time on GC, but that seems also pretty far out there. So much so that the best I've got is that they were just out there doing something -anything- to get some TV time. Which seems so ill-advised as to lead me to conclude that I must be missing something, Occam's razor and all.

 

[saunaking]

just as the commentators were talking about how intelligent carapaz was riding, he gets caught in the finish because he leaves his attack to 150 meters before the top of last climb ... truly 200 IQ

So if a move doesnt work out it's stupid?

 

[Big Doopie]

I don't see any reason why GC rivals won't attempt in the mountains what they did to Pogacar today.

let's hope, but pog may go with them...